Deepika Padukone at JNU: 'She is tall and graceful because she has a spine'

NEW DELHI: Deepika Padukone made her way to Aishe Ghosh. Holding her palms together, she bent her tall frame nearly in half to talk, briefly waved at someone in the crowd and after a few minutes, left.

The Bollywood superstar, in Delhi to promote her film Chhapaak , stopped by the embattled Jawaharlal Nehru University to lend her support to students and especially, the students’ union president, Aishe Ghosh, on Tuesday evening. During a meeting, as Ghosh and other student leaders spoke, she lurked behind them.

The students, most from groups affiliated to Left parties, were brutalized last Sunday by masked goons allegedly belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students’ group closest to the ruling party, the BJP. Ghosh received a gash on her and when Padukone greeted her, she was wearing a sizeable bandage.

The Delhi Police not only failed to stop the attack, they did not detain – let alone arrest – any of the attackers. However, they filed two cases against Ghosh on January 5 itself.

Padokone did not speak and her visit lasted just about a quarter of an hour. But her clear support for the students of JNU has caused breathless excitement on the left and right of the political divide. Some, predictably, called for the boycott of Chhapaak . Others spoke of her decision to risk her investment by showing up in JNU – she is one of the producers of the film as well – admiringly. Anurag Kashyap put the photograph of her meeting Ghosh as his display photo on Twitter. By Wednesday morning, the hashtags, #IStandwithDeepika and #DeepikaPadukone were both trending

Here are some of the funniest, angriest and most insightful remarks on her visit.

Ghosh used it to demand the "immediate removal" of the Vice Chancellor, M Jagadesh Kumar.

I hope each and every one in this country speaks up against the injustice that students in campus spaces are facing. This is not what we want our University spaces to turn into. We demand the immediate removal of the Vice Chancellor. #JNUVCMustResign https://t.co/wT3hFnBs6O

— Aishe (ঐশী) (@aishe_ghosh) January 7, 2020

Several celebrities expressed their admiration.

Thank you @deepikapadukone ... thank you for being a true INDIAN .. pic.twitter.com/eHiYNCXA1R

— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) January 7, 2020

You know why #DeepikaPadukone is tall & graceful because she has a spine.

— Maha Siddiqui (@SiddiquiMaha) January 7, 2020

Rock star @deepikapadukone ❤️ #enoughsaid

— Huma S Qureshi (@humasqureshi) January 8, 2020

Well done #DeepikaPadukone . You proved that you don't just play characters, you have character.

— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) January 7, 2020

Guts. Sheer bloody guts @deepikapadukone
Welcome to the Resistance!!
?????????????????? #DeepikaPadukone #NewYearResolutionDefendConstitution #Resistance #IndiaAgainstViolence #IndiaAgainstCAA_NPR_NRC #SOSJNU

— सुशांत सिंह sushant singh سوشانت سنگھ (@sushant_says) January 7, 2020

Twitter users also noted that most Bollywood personalities taking the side of the students are women:

Women are definitely the heroes of this movement. #CAA_NRC_Protests #DeepikaPadukone #Deepika pic.twitter.com/UGN7TQPGyz

— Nazia Erum (@nazia_e) January 7, 2020

Nice to see A-lister celebs from the Hindi film industry come out and speak. Interesting that they've all only been overwhelmingly women up until now ❤️❤️??

— Liberal Mantri (@LiberalMantri) January 7, 2020

The female of the species is, and was, and will always be the strongest of the two #DeepikaPadukone . Chhapak first day all shows . Let’s all those who stand against the violence go to @bookmyshow and show them. Make our silent statement which will be the loudest .

— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) January 7, 2020

बस नाम रहेगा तुम्हारा की तुमने बोला जब सब चुप थे। @ReallySwara @RichaChadha @deepikapadukone @sonamakapoor pic.twitter.com/eHQo8Oc1JL

— Prashant Kanojia (@PJkanojia) January 7, 2020

Twitterati pointed out that her presence made publications that would otherwise have shown scant interest in JNU cover the issue.

This is why Deepika Padukone's JNU visit was so significant. Publications with millions of subscribers which never talked about the present political situation in the country before this, are now forced to talk about it. https://t.co/XvvSEhlTz1

— Sayantan Ghosh (@sayantansunnyg) January 7, 2020

Things are so bad even Filmfare is getting political. #IStandwithDeepika https://t.co/n7RWk5HxZu

— Sucharita Tyagi (@Su4ita) January 7, 2020

This is why it's a BIG deal
Cause publications that would never cover JNU are now forced to @BazaarIndia #DeepikaPadukone pic.twitter.com/F25RwU91Q4

— BeingNita (@VinithaShetty) January 7, 2020

Some remarked on the call to boycott her film.

List of films that Bhakts tried to boycott

- Padmavat (₹580 Cr)
- PK (₹850 Cr)
- Dangal (₹2000 Cr)
- Veere Di Wedding (₹140 Cr)

Now wait for Chhapaak to become the next super hit ?

— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) January 7, 2020

#DeepikaPadukone is so tall that Bhakt trolls ka comments don't reach her only

— Atul Khatri (@one_by_two) January 8, 2020

@deepikapadukone reaction when deepak chaurashiya from kanpur blocked her on Twitter, Insta and Fb. #Chappak #DeepikaPadukone #IStandwithDeepika pic.twitter.com/77BwVVNwHK

— Rohit Thakur (@imrthakur007) January 8, 2020

To all those ‘men’ (using the term loosely) who say they won’t watch @deepikapadukone s movies: thank you! Thank you!
Hindi cinema would be in a much better place if sexually inadequate overgrown adolescents like you removed yourselves from the audience.

— vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) January 7, 2020

Some had sober observations:

Wait, I don’t understand: if @BJP4India and it’s proxies had nothing to do with the attack on JNU, then why boycott @deepikapadukone for commiserating with the the victims of that attack? https://t.co/pREXxgI778

— Aatish Taseer (@AatishTaseer) January 8, 2020

Deepika Padukone came to JNU to express solidarity...

Doesn't change anything practically but the optics of everything reminds one of the Emergency days.

— Proletarianism (@Proletarian1917) January 7, 2020

While others criticised her for allegedly 'siding with the Left':

If @deepikapadukone had better sense she could've gone to meet #Nitbhaya 's mother who won her battle after 6 bitter years to get justice. It would've been positive promotion of her movie #Chhapak rather than sit with loony #Left uncle's aunties. #JNUHiddenTruth

— Ratan Sharda ?? (@RatanSharda55) January 7, 2020

As a film critic i wont review #Chhapaak , i cant watch a movie of a lead actress who share stage with people who chants slogans to break India. Desh k gaddaro k saath jo mehez apni film k promotion liye khadi ho jaaye,uski film dekhna sharmanaak hoga. Shame on #DeepikaPadukone https://t.co/nH1ww9kUjb

— Sumit kadel (@SumitkadeI) January 7, 2020

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