Deepika Padukone’s troubles have just begun. The highest-paid female actor’s latest stunt of landing at JNU campus to show solidarity with the left-leaning students has come under huge fire by the Right, as it was evident that she was turning a blind eye to the harassment and assault on ABVP members.
Many leading brands are reportedly shadow-banning Padukone’s visibility on the electronic and digital medium, and also reviewing future deals with the star.
This comes after she went to JNU on 5th January and stood with the JNUSU members who were claiming to be attacked by the ABVP and other goons of the Right. While some brands are reducing the visibility of ads featuring Deepika, others are expected to give Deepika a tough time in future deals seeking her endorsement. Padukone has a net worth of about 103 crores and endorses close to 23 brands, including Britania, Vistara Airlines, Axis Bank, L’oreal, Tanishq, among others, reported the Economic Times.
Deepika Padukone charges approximately 8 crores for brand endorsements and 10 crores for films. Such figures taking a hit due to the actor’s latest PR stunt are bound to disappoint her. While many Bollywood members like Swara Bhaskar, Vishal Dadlani and Sonam Kapoor are also known anti-establishment, they do not wield either the influence or the weightage of Deepika Padukone. In recent years, no female star has come close to Deepika Padukone’s pay scale.
A top celebrity management company said that they were speaking to their clients and making them aware of the pros and cons of speaking on political matters, as these could snowball soon into sensitive territory.
Such developments could immensely affect the actor’s professional career, which still has a long way to go in the industry. Deepika Padukone should have been better informed about standing in solidarity with the potential instigators of violence at JNU, and that she didn’t care to know about all sides of the story is something which is now beginning to show effect. Landing at a university campus three days before the launch of her film Chhapaak, Padukone was perhaps desperate to make news by pulling off a controversial stunt, which many say, was done at the behest of her PR agency’s ill-informed advise.
Not only is Deepika Padukone being shadow-banned and her visibility curtailed, but her stunt has also cost her dearly at the Box Office. Her film Chhapaak, directed by Meghna Gulzar is a colossal flop at the Box Office, and Tanhaji has effortlessly trumped it in terms of money minting. The film has been Deepika’s lowest opening so far, earning only about 4.7 crores on its day of release. It then earned slightly more on Saturday and Sunday and saw a dip to a mere 2.35 crore Monday. In totality, the film has earned only about 24 crores so far.
Chhapaak would have done much better at the Box Office had the actor not pulled off the stunt which she did at JNU. The trailer of Chhapaak had impressed many after release. Why the same sentiment was not echoed at the Box Office is something which Deepika must put thought into. While the flopping of Chhapaak was merely a short term impact of her solidarity show, the long term ramifications could be disastrous for the superstar, to the extent that she might not be even called the same in the near future. This is a lesson to all the misinformed individuals of Bollywood – do not have ill-informed opinions about anything, especially in today’s India.