Deepika, one of the biggest superstars not just in India but Hollywood too, has shown again that she is cut from a different cloth .
When all the leading heroes, including her husband Ranveer Singh, her ex boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor, the three Khans and Akshay Kumar are all keeping a diplomatic silence over the police aided goondagardi against JNU students , Deepika originally hailing from Bangalore, reached the JNU Delhi campus to stand in solidarity with beleaguered students. She did it unobrutusively, without making the least effort to steal the limelight, which she could easily have done! But even before the students gathered to listen to former JNU student Kanhaiya Kumar could realize that Deepika was amongst them, she made her quiet exit. Her purpose was to express sympathy with the injured Aisha Ghosh, Student Union President of JNU and be seen supporting her. Her moot action spoke more than loud words could and the message hopefully reached the right ears!
Mr Modi has demonstrated often that he craves approval from celebrities and other well known and popular figures. Inviting many Bollywood stars to Delhi and doing a photo shoot with them just before general elections, getting interviewed by Akshay Kumar and having the insipid tete e tete aired over all TV channels, going into ” the wild” with an international TV celebrity, all pointed towards this need of his. And there does exist a pet coterie of his with the likes of Anupam Kher and Vivek Oberoi who are ever ready to oblige! But this time with the furore CAA and NCR is raising among youth country wide he needed celebrity support even more. It could reverse the tide of unpopularity, they reckoned.
To this end, Mumbai based Union Minister Piyush Goel had planned a get together with top stars in a Mumbai suburban 5 star hotel, but unfortunately the creme da la creme who had flown to Delhi earlier, stayed away from the dinner invite. On the contrary stars such as Producer, Director, Actor Farhan Akhtar, an icon with youth of India with films like Dil Chahta Hai under his belt, openly say in dharna against police and rightist elements goondagardi. Other smaller celebrities like Tapsi Pannoo, Swara Bhaskar and Dia Mirza stood with him along with many renowned Directors . But their collective impact was far less than the 10 minutes Deepika spent standing quietly in JNU! The others were flippantly written off as ” bought faces” but no one dares make that allegation against Ms Padokone .
Of course some Hate trollers have alleged that she did it as a publicity for her latest film Chapak. But if that was her intention, her action was counterproductive. And she is intelligent enough to know that. Annoying the superpowers of Delhi on their home turf took a lot of guts but she proved she had the mettle in her .
This one action has made her a Super Hero.
In an interview with NDTV last year she had asserted that when she felt the cause was right and her support could make a difference, she would act. And she has .
She will be remembered for this more than her hat trick of superhit films!
Sunita Mudaliar Executive Editor
