Liger targeted for boycott makes no sense

The cancerous clutches of the cancel culture are spreading themselves far and wide. The newest trend is to cancel anyone who doesn’t agree with you. Hence when Vijay Deverakonda said he was against the boycott call for Aamir Khan ’s _Laal Singh Chaddha_ , the boycott brigade directed the wheels of its wrath yatra on Deverakonda, declaring his Liger to be harmful to the nation’s health. Before we wonder at the growing arrogance of the cancel culture, let’s go back to what Vijay had to say when he was called out for comment on the boycott of Laal Singh Chaddha. Said the Liger actor, “When Aamir Khan Sir makes a Laal Singh Chaddha, it is his name that stars in the film, but there are 2000-3000 families that are being provided for. When you decide to boycott a film, you are not only affecting Aamir Khan, you are affecting thousands of families who lose work and livelihoods. Aamir Sir is someone who pulls the crowd to the theatres. I am not sure why this boycott call is happening, but for whatever misunderstanding, this is happening, please realize you are not affecting Aamir Khan alone but the economy. It is a much bigger picture.”

I know Vijay Deverakonda personally for the last six years: he is calm, coherent, unbiased and firm in his beliefs. The man knows what he is talking about and he means what he is saying. The prevalence of the cancel culture in recent months is becoming a pandemic now. It is being used as a weapon to scare anyone who doesn’t agree with a certain section of the social media, a ceaselessly toxic community of growing intolerance which gives itself too much importance in the belief that its call for action against anyone who causes it an offence, imagined or otherwise, can break a film. But here is the truth: Laal Singh Chaddha didn’t bomb because of the boycott call. It didn’t work because the young, the audience in the 16-28 bracket who are the core viewership of cinema in our country, did not connect with the film’s historicity. The anti-Sikh riots of 1984 which was part of the film’s narrative, are to today’s average youngster what the division of India into two was for us when the anti-Sikh riots happened. Like it or not, history does not interest today’s youngsters. Nor does Aamir Khan masquerading as a Sikh interest the Sikh community. Hence they, the Sikhs, respond far more favourably to Diljit Singh playing a victim of the 1984 riots in a brilliant forthcoming film entitled Jogi which will stream on Netflix next month. As for Liger, don’t worry about it. It will find its place. The blaring attention-getting bugles threatening to boycott the film (for what reason, remind me again) are way out of the league. Liger will get an audience because the youngsters connect with Deverakonda as a one-man army fighting a world that doesn’t seem to know where and how to fit him in. Sounds familiar. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram