Deepika Padukone’s recent promotional gambit on TikTok where she asked a fan to recreate her ‘look’ of the acid-attack survivor in Chhapaak has provoked a severe backlash.
The latest to join in the chorus of naysayers is Kangana Ranaut who has spoken out against Deepika’s ill-advised marketing gimmick. “Rangoli is an acid-attack survivor and she was very hurt seeing the video. Sometimes, marketing teams tend to go overboard with their promotions, and I am sure Deepika must be having some explanation for this…The people who are hurt like my sister should be apologized to. This is not a make-up look and nobody should try and achieve it. That kind of insensitivity should be apologized for and there is no harm in doing that because we all make mistakes.”
For Deepika, Chhapaak has been a series of misfired marketing strategies, like the ill-advised visit to the JNU, the decision to exclude Laxmi Aggarwal (the real-life character who inspired the film) from most of the promotional events for the film, and now the trauma of an acid-attack survivor trivialized on social media.
