Recently we have seen #BoycottBollywood trending multiple times at the time of movie releases. So much so that it has threatened Bollywood film-makers. Whether it’s Aamir’s Laal Singh Chaddha or SRK’s Pathan, people have been calling for boycott of the movies.
People have demanded for boycotting films for multiple reasons ranging from Nepotism to copied storylines to statements made by actors.
Till recently movie actors kept quiet, but now some of them have come out and shared their views on #BoycottBollywood. Here are 7 celebs who made statements recently on the trend.
1. Arjun Kapoor
Arjun Kapoor has been bashed for his statements about #BoycottBollywood, with many people calling out his arrogance. In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, he said:
“I think we made a mistake by being silent about it and that was our decency but people have started taking advantage of that. I think we made a mistake by thinking that ‘our work will speak for ourselves’. You know you don’t always need to get your hand dirty but I guess we tolerated it a lot and now people have made this a habit. We need to come together and do something about it because what people write about us or the hashtags that trend, are far away from reality. When we do films that do good at the box office, then at that time people like us not because of our surnames but because of the film.”
2. R Madhavan
While commenting on the trend, R Madhavan mentioned that if filmmakers create good movies, audience will definitely come to theatres. Rightfully, he pointed to the changing audience tastes.
“I would like to clearly state that only a few films have done better than those of Hindi stars. They are Pushpa, the KGF films, the Baahubali films and RRR. These are only six films that have worked. We can’t call this a pattern. I think the audience’s preferences have changed after the pandemic. They are consuming content from all over the world.”
3. Kareena Kapoor
Kareena Kapoor’s statements probably have been the most controversial on the topic. While earlier she had mentioned that she didn’t care about the Boycott trends, she took a u-turn near the release of her movie Laal Singh Chaddha.
With people not turning up to watch Laal Singh Chaddha in theatres, Kareena realized how she couldn’t ignore the audiences’ voices anymore. In a recent interview, RJ Siddharth Kannan asked Kareena if she was disrespectful towards the audience when she said she doesn’t take the boycott calls seriously.
4. Suniel Shetty
Suniel expressed his concerns about the trend, as it is damaging the livelihood of many employed by the film industry. In a recent interview, he mentioned:
“I hate this ‘boycott Bollywood’ campaign that is going on on Twitter. I always pray it stops because we are an industry too and there are a lot of people feeding off us. So for that sake let’s not destroy an industry that has its own legacy of good people and people who probably at some stage make mistakes. But aren’t we humans too? Give one that opportunity. I only say it’s not fair.”
5. Alia Bhatt
Alia’s recent Netflix movie ‘Darlings’ also faced the Boycott trend. Talking on the topic Alia mentioned why it is important to stop this trend.
“We need to cancel ‘cancel culture’. We need to boycott boycotts.”
6. Vijay Deverakonda
Similar to Suniel Shetty, Vijay raised the concerns about how #Boycott trends are impacting the lives of millions employed by the industry. Talking about the Nepotism debate leading to #boycott trend for his film ‘Liger’, Vijay mentioned,
“We need to address this concern since the film industry is a massive economy. If we boycott the industry, thousands of families, I mean it’s just not the actor. I mean in Liger, it’s not just me and Ananya, one film affects thousands of families.”
7. Vijay Varma
Darlings’ star Vijay Varma spoke about the trend in a recent interview. He mentioned how the trend has reached scary heights.
“It can scare you. It has just gone a bit overboard now. I feel something that you said 10 years ago could have been objectionable, and made a few people raise their eyebrows. It could be a prevalent exercise at that time, but in today’s times, it is no longer frowned upon. I feel you cannot be cancelled for something like that.”
8. Taapsee Pannu
Alongwith Anurag Kashyap, Taapsee Pannu tried to be funny about the trend. While opening up about the boycott trend in Bollywood, the filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and Taapsee Pannu shared that they feel left out of the boycott trend. And, they would like to be in the same league as that of Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar. The audience acknowledged and started trending #BoycottDobaaraa on social media. In a social media post, Taapsee had mentioned,
“I feel out of place when even biggies are being boycotted. Who wouldn’t want to be in the league of Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar? Please boycott us too. Don’t leave us.”
While we don’t disagree with some logical remarks, it is important for Bollywood filmmakers to understand why the audience are leaving them. The audience expects fresh and honest content from the industry, which unfortunately isn’t happening.
We hope the industry will understand the audience needs, and come out with good movies in the future!