Boycott Kapil Sharma, Laxmmi Bomb & Now Mirzapur 2: What Does the Angry Indian Troll Want to Watch?

Bollywood

Boycott Kapil Sharma, Laxmmi Bomb & Now Mirzapur 2: What Does the Angry Indian Troll Want to Watch?

Illustration: Robin Chakraborty

As Bollywood continues to face flak for the thousands of allegations hurled at it in the last few months, the social media boycott brigade has reminded us, once again, that no one is safe from their calls.

On Wednesday morning, just a few hours after the trailer for season 2 of the popular TV series, Mirzapur was released online, social media erupted with calls for boycott. Their reasoning — the show stars Ali Faizal, and is co-produced by Farhan Akhtar, who had both come out in support for the anti-CAA and NRC agitation last year.

In particular, it was one tweet posted by Fazal in December 2019, at the height of the protests, that seems to have caught the ire of the troll brigade. “Suru majboori mein kiye thhey, ab maja aa raha hai,” the actor had posted amid the nationwide protests, referencing his character’s popular dialogue from the show. Akhtar, meanwhile, was also called out for his support to the movement, and soon labelled “anti-India”.

The latest calls for boycott comes just days after the nation’s favourite TV comedian Kapil Sharma was lambasted for parodying Arnab Goswami in a segment on his show. Dozens of fans of the news anchor had taken affront to the segment because they believe that Goswami is one of the only few fighting for “justice” for Sushant Singh Rajput.

But that isn’t all. Earlier this year, the social media warriors had also called for the boycott of Alia Bhatt-starrer Sadak 2 for “encouraging nepotism”. The same movement had led to a hashtag calling for the boycott of all films made by the “three Khans of Bollywood”.

Things are so bad that it isn’t just those who are perceived as anti-national on the receiving end of these calls. Last week, when proud nationalist actor Akshay Kumar released a video addressing the allegations cast at his industry in the last few months, he too was met with similar calls.

Many members of the boycott brigade believed that Kumar had only decided to speak out ahead of the release of his movie, Laxmmi Bomb. They also claimed the actor was taking their side only because he wanted audiences to watch his movie in theatres, which are set to open after seven months in Mumbai, on October 15. But if Kumar, who is best known for his flurry of nationalist films, isn’t safe from the vitriol, there’s no telling who is.

At this point, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that if calling for boycotts was an Olympic sport, India would come home with a gold medal every single time.

Bollywood
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