Alright, so first things first: whose bright idea was it to name this campaign as ‘Deepika Bachao’? Like, why? For real, why? ‘Deepika Bachao’ makes it sound as if Deepika Padukone was taken hostage by ISIS or Taliban or Al Qaeda, whoever is in charge now; it’s really hard to keep up these days!
Seriously? That is so dramatic coming from Shabana Azmi! It’s not like Deepika is sitting idle surrounded by security people, she is still able to go out and have fun with her boyfriend, Ranveer Singh. Shabana should have been wiser by approaching this issue to the higher ups and stress that no woman in India, celebrity or non-celeb, is safe when we have mental men who can run around and make heavy threats without facing the consequences. That is what happened and there should be a law that does something to men, who make threats like they did to Deepika.
As per the blind item by Rajeev Masand last week, Shabana Azmi launched this campaign and wanted to take it up to to the Prime Minister. She requested all the top actresses in the Hindi film industry to show their support for this campaign by putting their names on this letter. It was said that Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif and Kangana Ranaut refused to sign. We already spoke about why Kangana felt the need to not support something that Shabana Azmi was handling. We also mentioned how ironic that Shabana had the guts to ask Kangana despite knowing what she did to her during her Jaadu circus.
So, word has been going around in the news how Shabana has been waiting on these girls to sign this campaign. Kangana got win of it and decided to let her choice be known publically on why she can’t and won’t sign this campaign, but still supports Deepika. Kangana speaking out against Shabana publicly is not a surprise.
What is surprising is that she mentions in her statement that Anushka Sharma was the one to call her and ask her to sign. She refers to Anushka Sharma as a “dear friend” in her statement below. This made us think that Rajeev, in his blind item, mentioned that Anushka Sharma told Shabana that she has to call her lawyer first to confirm whether she can sign her name or not. You know what we are trying to get at, right? Is Kangana the ‘lawyer’ that Anushka was referring to? Is she the one that she went to for advice before giving her name to this petition? That’s something, isn’t it? Who knew these two were even friends?
Check out Kangana Ranaut’s explanations on why she won’t join double-sided face Shabana Azmi in this campaign to save Deepika. By the way, for the non-Hindi speakers, “Bachao” means “save”.
I was filming Manikarnika in Jodhpur when I got a call from dear friend Anushka Sharma to sign the petition written by Ms. Shabana Azmi. I explained to her that Deepika Padukone has all my support but I am a bit wary of Shabana Azmi’s investment in left-wing Vs right-wing politics. I have my own set of ideas and opinions about the current situation in our country. I am on the fence about many things and being a part of a feminist movement called Deepika Bachao led by someone who character assassinated me when I was bullied by influential men, seems to be one of them. Anushka understood but I am glad they reached out to me like I said Deepika has all my support I am an individual perfectly capable of supporting who I like without anyone’s support.
If you don’t know why Kangana is this pissed off at Shabana like if she’s her mother-in-law, it’s because Shabana called her to her home after the Jaadu drama happened. She warned Kangana to back off because the Roshans are very powerful people and can take her down. Shabana has openly supported Hrithik Roshan in this Jaadu battle.
Kangana has never hidden the fact that Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar asked her to their home and dissuaded her from “going after Hrithik” when she first alleged that he was lying about having had no relationship with her. Kangana had also said she expected more from the senior couple, but felt they were clearly in Hrithik’s corner. – Rajeev Masand
In case you need to go back in time, as in flashback, here’s the topic in which Kangana mentions the incident, but does not directly name Shabana as the culprit:
Kangana Ranaut revealed what happened between her and Hrithik Roshan