Vijay Deverakonda bending to appease exhibitor is seriously uncalled-for

Did you know who Manoj Desai was until you saw him spewing venom at Vijay Deverakonda calling him arrogant and ‘anaconda’ for declaring that the boycott culture that has claimed many films recently, didn’t scare him.

The easiest way to get noticed on the internet is to troll a well-known celebrity. Desai, a reputed film exhibitor who distributed many of Amitabh Bachchan ’s hits in the 1980s and 90s, got his two minutes of fame when his venomous venting video went viral.

Now in an unexpected development Vijay Deverakonda (VD), reeling under the disastrous performance of his loony Liger , flew down to Mumbai especially to pacify Mr Desai, with cameras to record the sweet tender union of two warring souls, almost like Don Corleone and Virgil Sollozzo meeting to iron out their differences over Sicilian wine.

Mr Desai is of course preening in triumphant glee. It’s like Amitabh Bachchan getting down from his Mercedes to say a few soothing words to a passerby whom his luxurious car has besmirched while passing a puddle.

I think Vijay’s apology is the most ill-advised placatory move since Rattan Singh decided to accept Allauddin Khilji’s lunch invitation in Padmaavat .

It is evident that Vijay Deverakonda now feels the boycott call affected Liger; this surprises me. I grant Vijay more intelligence than this. To be bullied into an apology by a film exhibitor is nota sign of humility and modesty, it’s not even good PR, as his PR team must have convinced him.

It is pure insecurity. Would Vijay have made the same apology and that too after flying down to Mumbai to physically apologize, if Liger had clicked? This is very poor damage control, almost like posthumously paying for the drink that apparently killed Sonali Phogat. It actually sets a mildly disturbing precedent whereby protestors of every hue and ilk can get their share of the media glare by unfair demands on actors’ fragile consciences.

I remember Akshay Kumar once told me, “Yeh protest kuch nahin hota,bachchon ki terah inhe thoda sa attention chahiye.”

Sometimes the protest is for as simple a reason as ‘Show us your film’. Other times, it is a little more complicated like, ‘Dear Star, come to our corner of the world so the whole world will see us.’ Sometimes rarely, it’s also about money.

Sad that an actor of Vijay Deverakonda’s intelligence and wherewithal fell for it. Karan Johar and Dharma Productions had nothing to do with VD’s flying visit to Mumbai to say sorry to the upset exhibitor.They were as surprised as all of us.

A word of advice to Vijay Deverakonda: sack your advisors.

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.

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