Deepika Padukone earns praise from all quarters for 'quiet grace' on JNU stand, also faces boycott
Mumbai, Jan 8: Leapfrogging from the entertainment section to the front pages of newspapers for showing up at JNU, Bollywood star Deepika Padukone was on Wednesday the cynosure of national attention earning bouquets but also many brickbats on social media and elsewhere.
On Tuesday evening, Deepika made a surprise visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru University to express solidarity with the students who had been attacked.
Her decision to stand in silence with JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, who received head injuries during the attack on Sunday evening, at a public meeting in the campus prompted many in the industry and outside to praise her for her "quiet grace" and "courage". It also prompted hashtags to boycott her Friday release "Chhapaak", a film based on acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
Though several people in Bollywood have voiced their protest against the attack on students and faculty by a masked mob, Deepika is the rare Bollywood A-lister to do so.
Deepika, who faced death threats and social media vitriol for speaking out during the release of her controversial film "Padmaavat", turns producer with "Chhapaak", directed by Meghna Gulzar, making her stake even higher.
"When she was attacked over 'Padmaavat' very few came forward to support her. She knows what it feels to be targeted and she has shown exemplary courage by supporting the JNU students with quiet grace. More power to Deepika Padukone," veteran actor Shabana Azmi tweeted on Wednesday.
Swara Bhasker, who was one of the firsts from the film community to call for action against the perpetrators of Sunday violence, said "Bollywood just got JNU-ised! #LongLiveJNU #JNUProtests."
Director Anurag Kashyap said he has "mad respect" for the actor and urged people to watch her upcoming film "first day all shows".
"The female of the species is, and was, and will always be the strongest of the two #DeepikaPadukone... Let's all those who stand against the violence go to @bookmyshow and show them. Make our silent statement which will be the loudest," Kashyap, a vocal supporter of the protests against the citizenship amendment bill and the JNU attack, wrote on the microblogging site.
A day after Kashyap uploaded a cartoon of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in masks with lathis as his Twitter display picture, the director replaced it with a photo of Deepika standing in front of the JNUSU president in what appeared to be a folded hands gesture.
"Let's not forget she is also the producer of the film.. stakes are even higher," he added.
Director Vikramaditya Motwane called Deepika a "true hero".
"Deepika's stand is going to make a lot of young people question their parents, their peers and their government. Hopefully, they will go out and educate themselves and not parrot everything authority tells them," he said.
Veteran director-producer Mahesh Bhatt said, "We are a 'kingdom' of silence no longer!"
Actor Sayani Gupta, who was one of the first stars from Bollywood to ask the actors who took a selfie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year to speak up, thanked Deepika for lending a "mainstream narrative" to the movement.
"For using your position to choose the correct path. It always comes to the women and yes, they do deliver! Big love sister! #WeAreWithJNU #noplaceforfascism," Sayani said in a tweet.
Juhi Chaturvedi, the writer of the 2015 Deepika-starrer "Piku", said the actor's courage was "inspiring".
"You truly are incredible!" Juhi added.
Her "Chhapaak" co-star Vikrant Massey also tweeted the viral pictures from JNU campus and said his heart "swells with pride".
Dressed in a black high neck sweater -- changing from the red she was wearing during the film's promotion earlier on Tuesday evening -- the 34-year-old actor chose not to speak, standing by as former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar raised slogans of 'azaadi' and left by the time Aishe started speaking.
"Speak for every injustice! Deepika 'Proud of you, take care' #JNUVCMustResign", Aishe said on Facebook after the event and shared her photograph with the actor.
Kanhaiya cautioned the actor about probable trolling for her stand with JNU.
"More power to you @deepikapadukone and thank you for your solidarity and support. You might be abused or trolled today, but history will remember you for your courage and standing by the idea of India," he tweeted.
Quoting Bob Dylan's prophetic "The Times They Are a-Changin'", former JNU student Umar Khalid thanked Deepika for standing up for students and youth against "fascist bullies".
Tagging Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan, the former JNU student leader said, "Uncles, agar zameer zinda hai, to ab to kuch boldo (Uncles, if your conscience is alive, now is the time to speak up.)"
Alongside the fulsome praise came the vitriol.
Many social media users called for the boycott of the social drama, asking people to watch Ajay Devgn's "Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior" that faces off with "Chhapaak" on Friday.
"#boycottchhapaak Thank you but no thank you @deepikapadukone - cancelled ticket of 'Chhapaak'," wrote a tweeple.
"Watch #TanhajiTheUnsungWarriror #boycottChhapaak," said another, sharing "Tanhaji" poster.
"#boycottchhapaak she lost all respect."
Calling her visit a promotional stunt, a social media user said, "Shame Shame @deepikapadukone. What a move to promote your movie by standing with #TukdeTukdeGang. But we are not fools. We'll make you understand that what mistake have to done. #boycottchhapaak."
Another urged people to unfollow the actor for supporting the 'deshdrohi' (anti nationals).
"Chhapaak" co-writer Atika Chohan dismissed that actor-producer's JNU trek had anything to do with "publicity".
"Imagine taking a stand two days before your film release when it's your money and hard work on the line. This is not publicity. This is an ardent call of the conscience. I support Deepika Padukone for life, not just for Chhapaak. #ISupportDeepika," Atika tweeted.
Writer-lyricist Varun Grover also posted Deepika's picture from JNU and wrote, "Empathy can save this world. #ISupportDeepika."
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None of Adani portfolio companies subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US
New Delhi, Nov 23: None of Adani group portfolio companies, comprising 11 listed firms, have been accused of any wrongdoing, conglomerate's CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said on founder and chairman Gautam Adani's indictment on bribery charges in the US.
In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets counsel approvals.
Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that were expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US has also charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global, for "conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme".
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing," Singh said.
He hastened to add that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".
The CFO, who was the first line of defence when US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of fraud in January 2023, said the group became aware of the "specificity" of the US indictment against founder and chairman Gautam Adani two days ago.
"We were aware that something is afoot (and in February 2024 144a offering circular in Risk Factors we disclosed as such. This was the first public issuance of any of our portfolio companies or their subsidiaries or joint venture companies after our annual results of 31st March 2023)," he said.
He, however, did not state what the company had disclosed in February 2024.
Adani Group, he said, has a portfolio of 11 public companies and "none are subject to indictment (i.e. defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC)".
"None of the issuers (i.e. companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing," he said.
The indictment "relates to one contract of Adani Green, which is roughly 10 per cent of overall business of Adani Green (there is a lot more precise and comprehensive detail of this which we will elaborate in an appropriate forum)," he said.
The statement comes two days after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million (about RS 2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing (Please note that no court has ruled on this and as outlined by lawyers of DOJ these are 'allegations and accused have a presumption of innocence'). We will make a more detailed comment once we get counsel approvals to discuss what we can in public on a matter that is sub-judice," he added.
