Amidst the call for the boycott of Deepika Padukone’s Chhapaak the state government of Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) and Chattisgarh have shown support for the movie that is inspired by the life of a real-life acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
In a tweet, yesterday M.P. Chief Minister Kamal Nath wrote, “Deepika Padukone’s film on acid attack survivor, Chhapaak is releasing across the country on January 10. I declare it tax-free in Madhya Pradesh. This film which spreads a positive message regarding the treatment of acid-attack victims in the society, tells the story of their courage, struggle and their passion for life and aims to bring a change in the society’s mentality on the same”.
Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel followed the suit and made the announcement of the movie-going tax-free in the state citing similar reasons. It must be noted that both the states have Congress government and the move can be seen as opposition’s stand against the policies of the central government in whose protest the central leadership of Congress is seen active.
The entire row on the movie started ever since Deepika visited the JNU campus to show solidarity to the students who were attacked by masked attackers. Since then calls for the boycott of her movie started getting pace on social media. While many came in support of the actress others made her movie a common target.
Allegations were laid on the makers of the movie that they have changed the name of the acid attacker in the movie and have portrayed him from the Hindu religion to target and defame the Hindus. However, no substantial evidence of the same was surfaced.
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To oppose Deepika’s movie #TanhajiChallenge was also trending whereby netizens were sending free tickets to Ajay Devgan’s Tanhaji that is releasing on the same day and were tagging others to do the same. Now, as both the movie hit the theaters today we would have to see which one takes the lead based on audience remarks.
