Deepika Padukone's JNU visit leaves Twitter divided; Sonakshi, Bhumi Pednekar laud 'Chhapaak' star

Actress Deepika Padukone's Tuesday visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to express solidarity with students who were attacked by a mob, created a stir, leaving Twitter divided.

The actress's visit came at a time when most of Bollywood's A-listers have chosen to stay silent on the rising anger and protests across the country, opposing the CAA, NRC and acts of violence on university campuses.

The 34-year-old star, who was in the National Capital for promotions of her upcoming film 'Chhapaak' - that tells the tale of an acid attack survivor, attended the meeting and stood as former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar gave a speech.



Deepika's presence on the university campus led to several trolls slamming her and calling it a promotional, PR stunt for her film. However, there was another section that lauded her for showing solidarity with the students.

Several hashtags, both positive and negative, like #DeepikaPadukone, #IStandWithDeepika, #BoycottDeepikaPadukone and #BoycottChhapaak started trending on Twitter, following her visit.

Bollywood celebrities like Sonakshi Sinha, Bhumi Pednekar were among those who tweeted in support of the actress.

Sonakshi asked a pertinent question in her tweet, "Don't visuals of bleeding students and teachers shake you up?"


Bhumi Pednekar gave Padukone a shoutout and said, "More power to you @deepikapadukone".


Richa Chadha, too, showed her support for Deepika on Twitter.


Kashyap, tweeted "Mad respect for her", pointing out that Deepika was also a producer on her upcoming film, so to take a stand that may lead to a section boycotting her showed guts.


The film-maker also changed his profile picture to that of Deepika at the protests.


Padukone's 'Chhapaak' co-star Vikrant Massey, who was also in Delhi for the film's promotion but wasn't spotted at the protest, shared pictures of the actress, saying, "Heart swells with pride."


Actor and Congress MP Raj Babbar also took to Twitter to show support for the actress.


'A Death in the Gunj' maker Konkana Sen Sharma tweeted "respect" for the actress.


Producer-director Nikhil Advani also lauded the actress saying that despite being a debut producer she chose to stand at a protest rather than at a theatre.

"As producer today @deepikapadukone would’ve been standing in the preview theatres in Mumbai waiting to hear praise being showered on her maiden production. She instead chose to stand in solidarity with #JNUstudents knowing fully well the ramifications of her actions. #RESPECT," Advani tweeted.


Screenwriter Aniruddha Guha pointed out that Padukone was not new to facing the wrath of trolls, referring to her film 'Padmaavat' that led to the actress receiving threats.

"Cynics who think @deepikapadukone’s appearance at #JNU is a publicity stunt, remember this: The right wing publicly threatened to chop her nose off, *and* delayed her film’s release, only 2 years ago. Don’t pretend like she isn’t aware of the stakes," he tweeted.


Veteran actress Shabana Azmi also echoed similar views, saying Padukone "knows what it feels to be targetted," and lauded her for showing "exemplary courage by supporting the JNU students with quiet grace."


Actor-filmmaker Prakash Raj tweeted an illustration that showed Deepika in many of her bold on-screen roles, as well as being bold in real-life, and thanked her for "being a true Indian."


Film-maker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, however, was among those who slammed the actress. He shared his views in an interview to a TV channel, and posted his statement on Twitter, saying, "Pl listen to my take on #DeepikaPadukone. By standing with this small community of anti-India students she has sent a message that she doesn’t support 98% India-loving students. What do you think?"


BJP's Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga asked people to boycott Padukone's films, tweeting, "RT if you will Boycott Movies of @deepikapadukone for her Support to #TukdeTukdeGang and Afzal Gang."


BJP's National Spokesperson Nupur Sharma, in a tweet addressed to the actress, said, "I usually avoid tweeting to Bollywood but if this is your bid to sell a movie on a woman’s fight by sharing stage with somebody penalised for sexual misconduct (he flashed himself to a woman student at JNU in 2015) then it defeats the very purpose!"


Padukone, who is the daughter of former badminton star Prakash Padukone, has chosen to stay silent ever since she left the meeting, that had been called by JNU Teacher's Association and JNUSU in response to Sunday's attack on students and teachers by a masked mob.