Director Meghna Gulzar recently disclosed the influence of Deepika Padukone’s JNU visit on the box office performance of their collaborative film, ‘Chhapaak.’ In a conversation with The Indian Express, Gulzar acknowledged that the JNU incident created a ‘dent’ in the film’s reception.
The controversy unfolded in January 2020 when Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus amid the 2020 JNU attack and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act row. Participating in a protest, Deepika stood in solidarity without making any statements. The move stirred a social media debate and occurred just three days before the release of ‘Chhapaak.’
Meghna Gulzar explained, “I am sure that the answer is pretty obvious. Yes, of course, it made a dent in the film. Because the conversation went from acid violence, which I intended the film to amplify, to somewhere else. So, of course, it impacted the film. There is no denying that.”
On January 7, 2020, Deepika Padukone’s brief visit to JNU lasted about 10 minutes. Dressed in all-black as a symbol of solidarity with the students, she left without making any verbal statements. The actress had been in Delhi to promote ‘Chhapaak,’ and her visit to the university sparked chants of ‘azadi’ and became a widely discussed topic on social media.
Despite the setback with ‘Chhapaak,’ Meghna Gulzar’s upcoming directorial venture, ‘Sam Bahadur,’ starring Vicky Kaushal, is set to release on December 1. The director continues to explore societal issues through her filmmaking, addressing both historical and contemporary subjects.
