Opinion | Why Arjun Kapoor, of all people, should stay silent on #BoycottBollywood debate

Boycott campaigns on Twitter have become quite a feature since the release of _Laal Singh Chaddha_ and _Raksha Bandhan_ last week. One can endlessly debate whether these boycott campaigns - led by Hindu extremists in the name of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput - are justified. However, one cannot deny that the audience holds an upper hand in this scenario - they are the ones who give Bollywood stars their fame, legitimacy and can make or break their careers. It seems Bollywood star Arjun Kapoor, whose last semi-hit was in 2017, hasn’t got the memo. The Kapoor clan member seems to have forgotten that Bollywood stars are answerable to the audience, not the other way round.

In an interview with an entertainment website, Arjun Kapoor shared his two cents on #BoycottBollywood campaign. For starters, one cannot help but wonder why exactly Arjun was even asked this question since he has failed to deliver a hit even before the #BoycottBollywood campaign started in 2020. Does his opinion even matter - one wonders? To be fair, Arjun Kapoor’s films are boycotted by audiences on account of them being substandard and Arjun’s questionable acting skills. Hinduism, Sushant Singh Rajput fans or Twitter hashtags are inconsequential here.

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In his response to the question, Arjun said, “I think we made a mistake by being silent about it and that was our decency but people have started taking advantage of that. I think we made a mistake by thinking that ‘our work will speak for ourselves’. You know you don’t always need to get your hand dirty but I guess we tolerated it a lot and now people have made this a habit.” For starters, I am sure Arjun’s fans (whoever they may be) have made a mistake by being silent on his tone-deaf comments and he has taken advantage of that. Arjun needs multiple reality checks at this point - first, nobody owes him their time and money. He has to earn it which he frankly hasn’t based on his box-office disasters. The viewers are entitled to their choice to not watch his films. He is answerable to the audience, not the other way round.

Second, he needs to know that he cannot take the audience to a theater at gunpoint and make them watch his films. That would not only be illegal but akin to third-degree torture. “We need to come together and do something about it because what people write about us or the hashtags that trend, are far away from reality,” he added. On the contrary, the social media hashtags are only doing what they should have ideally done years ago - holding Bollywood accountable for mediocre films and underestimating the intelligence of the audience. Of course, nepo kids like Arjun Kapoor who were born with a silver spoon would not like their monopoly over the industry being questioned.

To call Arjun’s comments tone-deaf and inappropriate would be an understatement. They prove just how deluded and out-of-touch Arjun and his contemporaries are with the pulse of the public. Just a week ago, Arjun was talking at length on Koffee With Karan about how he ‘fell off the wagon’ as his films have failed to impress the audience. Many KWK viewers empathized with Arjun but his statements a week later paint an entirely different picture. What not just Arjun and Bollywood honchos need to accept is that with the advent of social media, OTT and cheap Internet - the audiences are exposed to better content and will no longer accept their mediocre films like they once did.

A Bad Film Is A Bad Film

A popular post on Reddit says - ‘the best PR in 2022 is also the oldest one - word of mouth’. No matter how much hate a film gets before its release - if the film is good enough, audiences will flock to theaters in large numbers and no boycott campaign will stop them. Kartik Aaryan’s _Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2_, which was expected to tank at the box office due to an underwhelming trailer, worked wonders thanks to the word-of-mouth.

If it was indeed possible for a boycott campaign run by a group of Hindu extremists to make or break a film - then Raksha Bandhan, starring the poster boy of soft Hindutva, Akshay Kumar - wouldn’t have tanked at the box office along with Laal Singh Chaddha. Kangana Ranaut’s _Dhaakad_, one of the biggest flops of 2022, would have been a massive hit if the ‘Boycott gang’ could really make-or-break a film.

Not just Arjun, but the entire film industry needs to accept that a bad film is a bad film and blaming the boycott campaigns for its abysmal run at the box office is counter-productive. Arjun Kapoor, in particular, must understand that through comments like these - even those who do not participate in the Boycott campaigns would get antagonized and choose not to watch Bollywood films.

Statements like the one Kapoor made are akin to digging one’s own grave. They might as well prove to be the final nail in the coffin for Bollywood.

Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75. 

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