#BoycottPathaan is in full swing on social media sites because of Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer Pathaan and its latest song ‘Besharam Rang’. From religious identities and ideologies to the color of the clothes worn by the actors, the song has gained the attraction of many on social media platforms.
The Background Story:
The film Pathaan released its first song called ‘Besharam Rang’ on December 12 which was Composed by Vishal and Shekhar and sung by Shilpa Rao, in the song the main leads Deepika and SRK are seen dancing on a coast wearing beach wear. However, what caught the eye of most Hindutva supporters, mainly the Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra who took objection to Padukone’s costume – a saffron-colored bikini.
According to Narottam, the clothes are highly objectionable, as saffron is the color of Hindutva and the lyrics of the song are around Besharam Rang it is in a way an insult to Hindu Religion and it too hurts their sentiments.
The below graph shows the timeline of #Boycott Pathaan. It is seen that the hashtags were trending at it’s peak on 16th Dec 2022 with more than 11,500 tweets done on a single day. The number of tweets then declined gradually over a period of time.
In this DFRAC exclusive the team will try to present a whole new narrative to this trend. The report will cover:
- Sexist and Vulgar Comments on the main lead Deepika Padukone.
- Religious Hate
- Shushant Singh Rajput’s Army Amplifying the Trend
- Verified Accounts Involved in Amplifying the Trend
- Misleading/Fake Content
Sexist Comments on Deepika Padukone:
As Deepika Padukone can be seen in a highly bold avatar in the song “Besharam Rang” netizens have left no stone unturned to pass on the sexist and offensive comments and hate on her looks. Some of the posts are provided below:
- A user named Indic spectrum seems to have a problem with the dark-skin-toned “Deepika Padukone”.
- While other users have their own versions of the song and are giving it a communal angle.
- A man in the interview given to a media house held Deepika and her clothes responsible for the rape culture. He states, “if a man gets aroused after watching Deepika in such clothes and does anything wrong to one’s mother and daughter then whose fault it will be.”
Vulgar Comments on Deepika Padukone:
Not only this, many demeaning words are used to troll and show their anger towards actress Deepika Padukone for wearing a Saffron Colored Bikini in the song named Besharam Rang.
Religious Hate:
Most of the right-wing brigade came forward and gave their speeches and tried to provoke the common citizens. Even the usage of many words is such that it triggers the religious sentiments of the people. They even used, many demeaning words for the main leads of the movie Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, and also have urged the people to follow the trend of Boycott on mass level.
SSR Army Amplifying the trend:
Many users even tried to relate the suicide case of Shushant Singh Rajput’s and tried to evoke an emotional connect with the people. They appealed the audience not to watch any movie from Bollywood as these are the ones who are responsible for the death of Sushant. Many accounts of SSR army have posted on #BoycottPathan and helped in amplifying the tweets. Below collage shows how these accounts have shown their agitation towards #BoycottPathan.
Verified Accounts Involved in Amplifying the Trend:
Most of the verified accounts from right wing brigade posted on #BoycottPathan to make it on trending for example @SudarshanNewsTV, @beingarun28, @YogiDevnath2, @Sureshchavhanke, @sadhvi_prachi, @vinod_bansal, etc. The college and graph below signify the same
Fake/ Misleading Content:
Not only hate content but many misleading news are paving its way into the trend and gaining the attention and attracting many netizens.
Misleading News:
In the viral video when Shahrukh is asked by the host of the show komal Nahata about the consequences of Boycott trend on him. To which shahrukh replied, “I am not babbling. But I am not going to be moved by the wind. The bushes move in the wind. Those people who boycotted will be very happy and that too because of me.”
Many users are sharing the video claiming it to be of recent times and of Boycott Pathan row.
A verified user Suresh Chavhanke who is the editor and chief of Sudershan News TV shared the video and writes, “Means storm will have to come to ban Pathan Film #BoycottPathan #SRK.” (English Translation)
Fact Check:
To investigate the viral video, we did a keyword search and found the video of the show hosted by Komal Nahata on site called Daily Motion and the video was uploaded 7 years ago. Also, at that point the Boycott trend do not even exist.
Fake News:
Another claim is going viral on social media that Shahrukh Khan has appealed that his house will be sold if the Pathan movie flops. Sharing the claim Former President Hindu Yuva Vahini Gujarat Pradesh, Vikash Ahir said, “Shahrukh Khan made an emotional appeal! If Pathan flops, his house will be sold Let’s all help her sell her house together! #BoycottPathan.”
Source: Twitter
Fact Check
On a simple search, the DFRAC team did not find any such statement by Shahrukh Khan. Further, the DFRAC team looked at Shahrukh’s official Instagram and Twitter handles but we did not find any such statement by Shahrukh Khan.
Misleading News :
I.P Singh who is a Socialist Leader and Ex State Minister from Azamgarh UP, Samajwadi Party shared a video of Deepika Padukone where she is crying.
With the video I.P Singh tweeted, “Deepika Padukone is the daughter of Mr. Prakash Padukone, wife of film star Mr. Ranveer. What kind of atmosphere has been created by the BJP and their government regarding films in the country. These tears in the eyes…. This film will get fame all over the world and this film will do business of more than 500 crores. “
Fact Check:
The team used certain keywords and found this same video on the official YouTube channel of Live Love Laugh Foundation with the caption, “Deepika Is #NotAshamed” dated 10th October 2018.
In the video she was talking about mental illness, she was suffering at the peak point of her career. She says people often dissuade them from speaking about their struggles and seeking professional help. But that shall not be the case she is coming forward so that people too shall come forward and talk about it.
Fake News:
A news quoting BBC Hindi is getting viral on social media. It is being claimed that Shah Rukh Khan has announced to give the first-day earnings of his film ‘Pathan’ to a Pakistani NGO.
Source: Facebook
Another user has also shared the viral screengrab. Which can be seen here and here.
Fact Check:
To know the reality of the viral claim, the DFRAC team first checked the official Twitter account of BBC Hindi News. But we did not get any such news there.
In this regard, the team also searched some keywords about this on Google. But there was no such news there either. If this was the case, foreign media houses and news agencies, including India, would also have covered this news.
Conclusion:
This DFRAC Exclusive report covers all the hate that is thrown by right wing hate mongers under the #BoycottPathan. The team also have found that the hate is not only directed to the movie and its title, but also on the main leads of the movie. The troll army have made lots of memes on Deepika Padukone, also many sexist and vulgar comments are made on her. On the other hand SRK is given a lot of communal and religious hate. The hate mongers have also peddled many Fake as well as Misleading news that they think fits n their agenda of making people sentimental. The reports tries to bring out such aspects of the trending hashtag and present a clear picture.
