Bollywood celebrities and their opinions on the ongoing CAA, CAB, NRC protests

On 7th January, Tuesday, Deepika Padukone stood with the students of JNU protesting against violence. As expected this move from a prominent Bollywood celebrity just two days before her movie Chapaak releases, resulted in two kinds of hashtags trending on twitter #boycottchapaak & #ISupportDeepika. While these hashtags clearly showcase two different sides, there was a third kind of hashtag that actually caught my eye #shameonbollywood. Now I understand these are tough times and being apolitical or naive is no more a privilege, but I don't think we can force people, least known personalities, to have an opinion only because WE have one. If someone does not have an opinion and chooses silence then it is their choice; in fact it is better than having a misinformed opinion in the open. Akshay Kumar being called "woh Canadian", the three Khans being repeatedly trolled and spammed for their silence or the comments on their page like "Bollywood heroines have more spine than the heroes" are all cases of domineering bullying and just because your cause is bigger than an anti social element does not justify it.

Having said that there are a lot of Bollywood celebrities who have the "spine" to have an opinion; on the bills passed, on the students being at the forefront and on Deepika Padukone's stand. I am taking the liberty (hoping that I have one) to list a few of them here, some intelligent, some thought provoking, some sarcastic, some even humorous. I have divided them into three categories - The ones who condemn the violent ways used towards protesters, the ones who are simply confused and the ones who condemn the protesters.

The ones who condemned the violent ways used towards protestors

Deepika Padukone (Actress & Producer)

Hrithik Roshan (Actor)

Swara Bhasker (Actress)

Sonam K Ahuja (Actress)

Alia Bhatt (Actress)

Vishal Bhardwaj (Director & Music Composer)

Ayushmann Khurrana (Actor)

Richa Chadha (Actress)

Rajkumar Rao (Actor)

Sonakshi Sinha (Actress)

Vicky Kaushal (Actor)

Anubhav Sinha (Director)

Parineeti Chopra (Actress)

Twinkle Khanna (Former actress & Author)

Huma Qureshi (Actress)

 

Neha Dhupia (Actress & Anchor)

Vir Das (Actor & Comedian) 

Taapsee Pannu (Actress)

Hansal Mehta (Director)

Patralekkhaa (Actress)

Atul Kasbekar (Photographer & Producer)

Mudassar Aziz (Director & Writer)

Dia Mirza (Actress & Environmentalist)

Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub (Actor)

Urmila Matondkar (Actress & Politician)

Vishal Dadlani (Singer & Music Composer)

Aditi Rao Hydari (Actress)

Renuka Shahane (Actress)

Nikhil Advani (Director)

Vijendra Singh (Professional Boxer, Actor & Politician)

Anuraag Kashyup (Director & Producer)

Shibani Dandekar (Singer, Actress & Anchor)

Kubbra Sait (Actress & Anchor)

Shruti Seth (Actress)

Soni Razdan (Actress)

Shabana Azmi (Actress)

Sayani Gupta (Actress)

Atika Chohan (Screen Writer)

Jim Sarbh (Actor)

Ali Fazal (Actor)

Neeraj Ghaywan (Director)

Tigmanshu Dhulia (Director)

Sudhir Mishra (Director)

Swanand Kirkire (Singer & Music Composer)

Sandhya Mridul (Actress)

Kamal R Khan (Producer & Film Critic)

The ones who are simply confused

Ajay Devgn (Actor & Producer)

The ones who condemn the protestors

Anupum Kher (Actor)

Paresh Rawal (Actor & Politician)

I happened to read Three Daughters of Eve which is a women's struggle of understanding God and society, separately and together; and a quote from the book stuck with me, "If you are unwilling to change, do not enter into philosophical arguments" - Elif Shafaq.

Right now our country desperately needs to learn to respect an opinion, whether it resonates with you or no, because there is a very thin line between voilence and condemning violence.