Not Nadeem, not Rajesh, it is Bashir Khan: The Chhapaak name controversy busted

A day after Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students who had been attacked, her film Chhapaak made another splash on Wednesday over the alleged name of its antagonist.

While Deepika was the focus of many a discussion on social media and beyond for showing up at a public meeting in the university, the film, based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, was also making news for quite another reason. 

In 2005, Laxmi was attacked by a man called Nadeem Khan and three others, who allegedly hurled acid at her in Delhi's upscale Khan Market. 

Since early today, the names 'Nadeem Khan' and 'Rajesh' have began trending on social media after a magazine article claimed the name of the antagonist had been changed to the latter. 

It has now come to light that the narrative in Chhapaak remains the same but the names have been changed. So, Laxmi is 'Malti' Agarwal and Nadeem becomes 'Babboo' aka 'Bashir Khan'.  

On Wednesday, an article suggested that there are people who believe the makers of Chhapaak had changed the religion of the perpetrator. This was picked up by social media and it soon became a trending topic.

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Babul Supriyo jumped into the controversy, saying it was another example of "absolute hypocrisy."

"When you say all characters are fictitious and don't have any resemblance with living beings and all of that, this is absolute hypocrisy. When you change the name which also changes the religion, it has been done very deliberately," Supriyo told a TV channel when asked to comment on the controversy. South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Biduri also called for a boycott of the movie.  

Meanwhile, Deepika's decision to go to JNU and express solidarity with the protest, has received appreciation from many quarters even as some criticised her for "supporting the leftists" and said it was a promotional stunt ahead of the release.