Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan recently spoke out against the "boycott Bollywood trend", highlighting how essential cinema is to life.
Bollywood films and actors, the latest example being Pathaan starring Shah Rukh Khan, have faced online abuse and trolling. In recent weeks, objections have been raised about a song from the film (Besharam Rang). There have been protests against the film and incidents of movie theatres preparing for its release being vandalised.
Kapoor, while speaking at an Indian Chamber of Commerce event in Kolkata on January 22, asked how people will be entertained if there are no films.
"I don't agree with it (the boycott trend) at all," Kapoor was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "If that (boycott of films) happens, how will we entertain, how will you have the joy and happiness in your life, which, I think everybody needs. And which cinema and films are promising, which we have always done, which films have always done."
Kapoor's own film Laal Singh Chaddha, in which she starred opposite Aamir Khan, faced boycott calls.
Boycott Pathaan chorus grows; other Bollywood films too bore the brunt of audience backlash
On social media, some pulled out old interviews of Khan, in which he had spoken about the "growing intolerance" in India. Others claimed the film, which is a remake of the Hollywood classic Forrest Gump, disrespected the Indian army.
Some others reignited the debate about Khan's 2014 PK allegedly insulting Hindu deities.
Ahead of its release in August 2022, Kapoor had appealed to audiences not to boycott the long-awaited film.
"It’s been three years, we’ve waited so long," the actor had been quoted as saying by The Indian Express. "So, please don’t boycott this film, because it’s actually like boycotting good cinema. And people have worked so hard on it; we’ve had 250 people work on this film for two-and-a-half years.”
The film collected only about Rs 60 crore in India.
Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda, who backed Aamir Khan amid the Laal Singh Chaddha controversy also faced the boycott of his film Liger.
Akshay Kumar's Raksha Bandhan and Brahmastra starring Ranbir Kapoor also suffered because of the "Boycott Bollywood" trend.
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