Director Meghna Gulzar, in a recent interview, said that the reception of her 2020 film Chhapaak, based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, was impacted because of Deepika Padukone’s controversial visit to JNU.

On January 27, 2020, Deepika went to participate in a protest at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, three days before the release of the film, in response to the 2020 JNU attack and the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, which sparked social media uproar. The hashtags #BoycottChhapaak and #BlockDeepika trended on Twitter.

Speaking to Indian Express Adda recently, Meghna said, “I am sure that the answer is pretty obvious. Yes, of course, it made a dent on the film. Because the conversation went from acid violence, which I intended the film to amplify, to somewhere else. So, of course it impacted the film. There is no denying that.”

Chapaak, despite being made at a budget of Rs 50 crore, could only amass Rs 55.44 crore t the box office,

Meghna is coming up with a new film Sam Bahadur, starring Vicky Kaushal, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra. The film is slated to release on December 1.