There is a fear among a section of the film industry that Deepika Padukone’s brave visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi to show solidarity with the protesting students, would affect the box-office performance of her on-release film Chhapaak.
However, the film trade is absolutely sure that Deepika has a winner on her hand.
“Any public appearance that gets talked about so extensively can only mean good business,” says Roshan Singh, a leading exhibitor of Bihar.
Another source from a leading multiplex points out earlier instances when a section of the Twitter users demanded a boycott of a star and his on-release film.
“Aamir Khan during Dangal, and Akshay Kumar during Good Newzz were two stars who were under attack when their film was being released. Dangal and Good Newzz were superhits. In fact, Akshay was under attack for one reason or another throughout 2019. All his releases were big hits. Fans of Deepika are not going to stay away from Chhapaak because of a section of the public who are labelling her pro-Left, or whatever,” says the source.
In the meanwhile, one hears that some multiplex chains are actually planning to increase the number of shows allotted to Chhapaak from Friday. This should be a cause for worry for the team of this Friday’s other big Hindi release Tanhaji.
Maybe Ajay Devgn should visit JNU.
