Akhilesh Yadav Books Cinema Hall in Lucknow for Special Screening of ‘Chhapaak’

Samajwadi Party President, Akhilesh Yadav, has organised a screening of Meghna Gulzar and Deepika Padukone’s Chhapaak for the party workers. According to reports, a cinema hall in Lucknow has been booked for the same.

Yadav’s decision is meant to show support for Padukone, who has been embroiled in controversy ever since she visited Jawaharlal Nehru University a few days ago in order to show solidarity for the students who had been protesting against violence on campus after an assault by masked, unidentified goons left more than twenty people injured on Sunday

Chhapaak, which has been directed by Meghna Gulzar, has also been produced by Deepika Padukone, It stars Deepika in the leading role as Malti, a victim of acid attack; the film is based on Laxmi Agarwal, who was attacked with acid at the age of 15 and eventually became a campaigner for rights of acid attack victims.

Tuesday, Deepika had been in town for Chhapaak promotions and decided to stop by JNU in order to extend her support to the meeting organised by protesters at the campus. The said meeting had been organised by the JNU students’ union and the teachers’ association against the attack on students by masked men and women armed with lathis and iron rods on Sunday.

While many lauded the actor for being bold enough to take a stand on the issue, she did draw flak with some calling her appearance a publicity stunt. There have also been calls to boycott the movie, with #BoycottChhapaak being one of the top trends on social media since her appearance at the university. BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was the first to call for boycott, and he was soon followed by a number of right wing supporters.

In order to support Deepika and her movie, the Kamal Nath government declared Chhapaak tax free in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. In a similar show of support, Akhilesh Yadav too booked an entire cinema hall for the movie’s screening.