Has Bollywood finally mustered the courage to take a stand?

The photo of a few prominent Bollywood personalities with Prime Minister Nerendra Modi from January 10, 2019, has been the topic of discussion ever since it had gone viral. While a section of people criticised the celebrities—often described as soft power—for giving in to the pressures of the government authorities, others applauded them for extending support to the vision of the government.

Even as this polarisation continued to exist, a lot transpired in the year that has gone by. The BJP came back to power for a second time in the summer of 2019. The special status of Jammu and Kashmir has been revoked. The issues of Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens took centrestage and a lot of people, mainly students, took to street against these. And more recently, men in masks, wielding rods, sticks and sledgehammers unleashed mayhem in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus.

A host of celebrities, including Swara Bhaskar, Anurag Kashyap, Sushant Singh, Richa Chadda and Taapsee Pannu, spoke out against the CAA and NRC.

Last week, as part of a nationwide campaign by the BJP to garner support for CAA, a private event was held with Commerce and Industry and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and BJP vice president Baijayant Panda in attendance. The Bollywood presence was limited to the likes of Ranvir Shorey, Kunal Kohli, Abhishek Kapoor, Rahul Rawail and Anu Malik. The only big names in attendance was T-Series managing director Bhushan Kumar and film producer and co-founder of Excel Entertainment Ritesh Sidhwani. While Sidhwani is believed to have left within 20 minutes of the event, Kumar had said his presence at a venue does not mean he was there to attend a private event.

READ MORE: Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Anil Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and others react to JNU violence

However, every time an issue of importance comes up, celebrities, who often choose to keep quiet mostly for the fear of losing work, are under pressure to speak up. On December 22, in an interview with THE WEEK, Meghna Gulzar, when asked about her silence on the issues concerning the country, had said, “I don’t speak about any issues, actually. That is not my nature to voice my personal ideologies on social media. There are things that I feel and things that I want to express and I do that through my films.” When asked shouldn't Bollywood celebrities with huge following take a stand, Gulzar said, “Unfortunately, what is happening is that it is not being given as a responsibility. It is actually been given as a compulsion. How dare you not speak? Why do you assume that their silence is indifference? It is unfair to do that. Nobody is under any obligation to express themselves. How did we do this when we didn’t have any social media? One must remember this.”

In the last few days, something has changed. A day after the attack in the JNU campus, a large number of celebrities came out to protest and express solidarity solidarity with the assaulted students, at Carter Road, Bandra. The gathering, which lasted for more than two hours, saw film directors Vishal Bhardwaj, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, lyricist Swanand Kirkire, actors Ali Fazal, Richa Chadda, Swara Bhaskar, Dia Mirza among others, read poetry, sing songs and recite national anthem.

While that happened, the support for the students kept growing on social media. Alia Bhatt, in a series of Instagram stories, condemned the violence and said, “any ideology that seeks to divide, oppress and promote violence is one we must strongly oppose.”

On Tuesday evening, Deepika Padukone, who was promoting her film Chhapaak in Delhi, stood in solidarity behind JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh even as the azaadi chants reverberated in the campus.

As expected, the reactions to the actor’s support for the students was polarising. #ISupportDeepika and #BoycottChhapaak trended on social media ever since she made the appearance. “Let’s not forget she is also the producer of the film…stakes are even higher. Mad respect for Deepika Padukone,” wrote Kashyap, applauding the actor.

Atika Chohan, Chhapaak’s co-writer, wrote, “Imagine taking a stand two days before your film release when it is 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.”

How much is at stake, one wonders, when a celebrity takes a stand as courageous as this? “Given the situation in the country that could affect movies in general,” says Amul Mohan, editor of the film trade magazine 'Super Cinema'. “We have seen that (the slump) for a couple of weeks. When Dabangg 3 released, the unrest in the country (with the anti-CAA, NRC protests) was at its peak. Hence the opening numbers for Dabangg really suffered. Along the same line, with the JNU attacks, I think that could be more telling than an actress going there to show solidarity with the students and how the films performs,” he adds.

One shouldn’t go by the trends on Twitter, he says. “In today’s time, it is very easy to bifurcate and populate to get it higher up on the list. That should not be a yardstick for all of us to gauge. But right now, people don’t want entertainment, they want answers and that is where the trajectory is. Having said that, I am very certain that the business of cinema will be affected – be it Chhapaak or Tanhaji, because of the unrest,” he concludes.