Deepika Should Apologize: Kangana Ranaut On Controversial Chhapaak Tiktok Challenge
Image: Instagram
As most of us know, Deepika Padukone’s recent release Chhapaak is based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal. The movie was released on January 10th and movie critics say that it was a brave attempt to capture the life of acid attack survivors with an important message to be heard. As a promotional activity, the leading actress of Chhappak, Deepika Padukone made her debut on TikTok with multiple videos that garnered more than a million views in just a few minutes. However, one among those videos received a lot of criticism where she posed a challenge to a TikTok user by the name @faby_makeup artist to recreate three of her most favorite looks which included one from Chhappak.
Twitter blew up with reactions to her TikTok challenge with people condemning her for making a video on such a sensitive issue. Many among the twitterati were displeased with how trivial Deepika Padukone made this harsh reality of acid attack survivors by dismissing it as one of her favorite looks. Among the people who expressed their disappointment, famous Bollywood celebrity, Kangana Ranaut also commented about the video in an interview with a popular news agency. She said that her sister, who had previously tweeted in support of the movie Chhapaak was very hurt by the video. Kangana opened up about how her sister, Rangoli Chandel who is an acid attack survivor needed 54 painful surgeries over five years to survive the horrifying incident. She said that she too was assaulted physically and “almost beaten to death” by her sister’s attacker. She also added that Deepika Padukone might have an explanation for making this video but she should apologize to the people who are hurt by it.
Kangana said, “It’s not a make-up look and nobody should try and achieve it with make-up products. That kind of insensitivity should be apologized for and there is no harm in doing that. We all make mistakes, don’t we? We are all humans, but what is important is that you redeem yourself and apologize” (1).
The Controversial TikTok Challenge
Acid attack Make-up ?? How low it can get ??
Shame on you !! @deepikapadukone
— Srikanth (@srikanthbjp_) January 18, 2020
In the video, Deepika asks Faby, the popular makeup artist to recreate three of her most favorite looks of all time— Shanti Priya from Om Shanti Om, Piku, and Malti from Chhapaak. Faby is a model and influencer from Mumbai and has over 3.4M followers on TikTok. She is famous for her videos on TikTok and she also has 209K followers on Instagram. Faby won the TikTok badge for being an ace comedian and is crowned a “Muser”. In the video where she is posing the challenge, Faby creates the three different looks quickly with lively music playing in the background. All three of these looks are directly taken from the posters of their respective movies.
Needless to say, the video went viral pretty soon and Deepika received a lot of criticism for it. Being the protagonist in a movie that narrates the story of an acid attack survivor and her triumph, Deepika was lashed at for calling it one of her ‘looks’ and asking the makeup artist to recreate it. Many TikTok and Twitter users felt that she trivialized a disturbing reality that defeated the purpose of the film. A large section of the internet was displeased with her and called it an insensitive promotional stunt.
How Twitter Blew Up With Reactions
Many of her fans expressed their disappointment regarding the TikTok video and were not shy to tweet about it. The internet blew up with reactions condemning Deepika for her lack of sensitivity in the video. One user tweeted, “The problem with Deepika Padukone endorsing a makeup challenge on Chhapak is that she treated it as one of her ‘looks’ and dismissed the entire trauma behind it. She proved that it was merely make up for her and she clearly doesn’t understand the depth of what survivors go through”.
Another user said, “Real colors are out. Shame on you, woman! You’re an inspiration for so many, but you won’t stop the epitome of your PR activities. Your ulte din shuru.”
Twitter users expressed their disapproval without holding back about what they felt. ”So ‘Acid Attacked Face’ has now become a challenge. This is the worst kind of promotion by @deepikapadukone. Shame on you” wrote another user.
While the intention behind why Deepika Padukone made the TikTok challenge was probably not meant to hurt sentiments, it is safe to say that it did not go well for the Chhapaak actress. She received a lot of black lash from several users on Twitter as well as TikTok and this controversial video went viral for all the wrong reasons. All we know now is that Deepika has to come out and speak about this controversy to clear the air among her audience, fans, and peers before she loses her supporters during this internet shaming. We feel sorry for her that her first experience on TikTok dragged her name through the mud and tarnished her reputation.
