'Chhapaak': Religion of acid attacker changed from Muslim to Hindu?
After actor Deepika Padukone was slammed for attending a protest at Jawaharlal Nehru University, her upcoming film Chhapaak has become the center of a heated communal debate. Several Twitter users have alleged that the film, based on the true story of an acid attack survivor, changes the name of the perpetrator from "Muslim to Hindu." Chhapaak is releasing this Friday. Here are more details.
Some Twitter users have claimed that the name of the acid attack perpetrator was changed in Chhapaak to Rajesh, commonly a Hindu name, in a bid to defame Hindus. The film is based on the true story of Laxmi Agarwal, who was attacked with acid in 2005 as a minor by a man named Naeem Khan alias Guddu.
Terming the alleged name change "defamation," BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said an advocate, Ishkaran Singh Bhandari, is drafting a legal notice against Padukone and Chhapaak's producers. Bhandari said he has directed his office to find out the name used for the acid attack perpetrator in the film. He threatened the film with legal notice if the perpetrator's name is that of a different religion.
However, Newslaundry co-founder Abhinandan Sekhri, who has watched the premiere of Chhapaak, clarified that the film makes no such change. Sekhri wrote on Twitter, "I watched the screening last night and can tell you with certainty the religion of attacker has not changed. The film has remained accurate to the case." He added, "Shocking (or maybe not) that such demonstrable misinformation is carried."
A film reviewer, who also watched a pre-screening of Chhapaak, told The Quint on the condition of anonymity that the acid attack perpetrator in the film has been named 'Babboo' aka 'Bashir Khan'. The Quint's own correspondent corroborated these details after having watched the film.
Padukone briefly attended a JNU protest on Tuesday in support of students brutalized in an attack by masked goons. The attack was claimed by a far-right Hindu outfit. Right-wing trolls have since attacked Padukone, calling to boycott Chhapaak. BJP's Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Bagga also popularized the #TanhajiChallenge, a give-away of free tickets to the screening of Tanhaji, which releases the same day as Chhapaak.
I m Giving Free Movie Ticket of TanhaJi to 10 people Giving #TanhajiChallenge to 3 people @KapilMishra_IND@NupurSharmaBJP@MODIfiedVikas
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) January 8, 2020
Pls do and Tag 3 More people for #TanhajiChallenge pic.twitter.com/W63d3yMQt6
