Kangna Won’t Sign Deepika Bachao Campaign  

In the wake of the death threats and warnings of physical harm by radical elements, the entire film industry came forward to rally around Deepika Padukone. Only one actor refused to extend any support to Deepika. Says a well-informed source,

“It was Shabana Azmi who initiated a ‘Deepika Bachao’ campaign in the film industry. She got every major female actor to sign a petition to the Prime Minister asking for Deepika’s safety and protection. The actors who signed included Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Vidya Balan, Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra, Parineeti Chopra, Sonakshi Sinha and many others who willingly, happily and unconditionally signed the petition.”But when it came to Kangana Ranaut, Shabana was stumped.

“Kangana refused pointbank. She said an outright no to signing the Deepika Bachao petition, much to Shabana’s shock and annoyance,” says a source.

To go back a bit, Kangana and Deepika have a history of hostility going back to the time when in 2014 Deepika dedicated her award for Happy New Year to Kangana’s performance in Queen. Kangana reacted by saying she’d have preferred if Deepika had personally appreciated her performance rather than speak about it in public.

Things got worse between the two actors until it came to a point when during an interview with Rajeev Masand, Kangana confessed that Deepika and she are not friends.

A well-informed source says, “What came as a clincher was the complete silence of the industry including Deepika when Kangana battled Hrithik Roshan. Kangana probably feels no need to extend her support to anyone since no one supported her. And she is not all wrong.”

Subhash K Jha