New Delhi: Two days after Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone paid a surprise visit to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi inviting extreme reactions, the Narendra Modi Government’s Skill Development Ministry has “dropped” a promotional video that had the actor speaking about acid attack survivors and Skill India, it is learnt.
“A promotional video to promote Skill India featuring Deepika Padukone was to be released on Wednesday. It was being circulated in the Shram Shakti Bhawan (Ministry office) too. But after Tuesday’s chain of events the video was abruptly dropped,” a senior official in the Ministry told a section of media. The Ministry, however, said on Thursday that it was only “evaluating” the video.
The 45-second promotional video on Skill India has the actress speaking about equal opportunities for all citizens of the country, pegging it on her film Chhapaak, a biographical drama on an acid attack survivor that was released on Friday.
The Skill Ministry had facilitated Deepika Padukone’s meeting with acid attack survivors before the video was produced.
“As part of regular process under communication and promotional activity for Skill India, the team keeps getting ideas from media houses and organisations to cross promote each other. The production team (of Chhapaak) had approached Skill India for promoting the subject of the film,” said the Ministry.
It added, “…the actors from the movie had met some acid attack survivors and specially-abled candidates from our ecosystem which are also Skill India beneficiaries inspiring them to do better in life,” said the statement.
‘Pains me’: The Chhapaak actress, who hit national headlines after she visited JNU campus Tuesday to express solidarity with JNU Students Union President Aishe Ghosh who was attacked, among others, by masked assailants Sunday last, didn’t make a statement from the campus. However, she told news channel Aaj Tak that the situation in the country “pains me” and expressed anger over “no action” in the JNU case.
Deepika Padukone has drawn praise on social media for “taking a stand.” However, some have also described her act as a “publicity stunt.”
This post was published on January 11, 2020 6:39 pm