The word nepotism does not stop following Alia Bhatt for the simple reason that she is a Nepotism product. She is Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan's daughter and her mentor is Karan Johar who is considered to be the pinnacle of Nepotism in the Bollywood industry. The diva had delivered several hits and was once the most bankable actress in Bollywood. After keeping mum for a long time over nepotism, Alia Bhatt has finally broken her silence. But it seems that she has called for trouble for herself.

In an interview with Mid-day, Alia Bhatt stated that she cannot keep defending herself. She made a statement just like Kareena Kapoor Khan and said, "I can’t keep defending myself verbally. And if you don’t like me, don’t watch me. I can’t help it." This has not gone down well with many. On social media, Alia Bhatt is trending and quite a few are severely bashing her. Some are calling her 'arrogant' and some are planning to Boycott her upcoming film Brahmastra which also stars Ranbir Kapoor.

Alia Bhatt’s recent comments in an interview have triggered a boycott call for her upcoming film, Brahmastra, with actor-husband Ranbir Kapoor. This comes after boycott calls marred the performance of one of the most anticipated movies, Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha as well as Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan. The latest boycott call for Brahmastra does not bode well for an industry that has delivered a string of big-budget flops. The boycott call also raises questions about Ranbir Kapoor’s capability of delivering a hit, following the dismal box office performance of Shamshera. 

The calls to boycott Ayan Mukerji-directorial Brahmastra were revived after Bhatt, in an interview with Mid-Day said, “I can’t keep defending myself verbally. And if you don’t like me, don’t watch me. I can’t help it.” She was responding to a question on how trolling – she has been the subject of some vicious trolling –  impacts her. 

She had further stated that it is not something she can do anything about since people have something or the other to say, but she hopes to prove to them with her movies that she is actually worth the space she occupies. She said that she does feel bad but she hopes to shut down such conversations with her movies. 

However, netizens did not take her comments well and slammed her for being “arrogant” with no gratitude towards the audience.

This campaign – like many others in recent times – has the potential to snowball into a huge boycott call. Many films have been jeopardized or already fallen to the altar of boycott calls, including Laal Singh Chaddha, Raksha Bandhan, Taapsee Pannu’s Dobaaraa, and Vijay Devarakonda-Ananya Panday’s Liger. This is over and above the spate of commercially flop movies in recent times including Attack: Part 1, Heropanti 2, Runway 34, Jersey­, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Dhaakad, Samrat Prithviraj, Anek and Jugjugg Jeeyo. 

Now, for a movie to do well in such a climate is a tall order, considering how Bollywood has rolled out one flop after another and many that have sunk without a trace. But if a movie that is made on a budget of Rs 450 crore over a span of four years faces boycott calls, then it is looking at trouble. Brahmastra needs to struggle all the more, in such a case, to recover the costs. 

Add to it the woes of being Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor – one who, despite delivering some of the biggest commercial and critical hits, is constantly at the receiving end of trolls, and one who offered one of the biggest flops of the year. 

Kapoor’s hopes are also pinned on the success of Brahmastra. The actor, despite his acting chops, has given some big flops including Saawariya (2007), Besharam (2013), Roy (2015), Bombay Velvet (2015), and Tamasha (2015), Jagga Jasoos (2017), Shamshera (2022). He would naturally be hoping for that one big hit with Brahmastra.

However, as they say, content is king. It remains to be seen how it plays out for Brahmastra as the clamor for a boycott reverberates. 

Liger faces boycott calls for its association with Karan Johar

Another forthcoming Bollywood movie Liger starring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Pandey is also being talked about a lot on social media, with new calls for a boycott coming from netizens. The internet community is calling for the Telugu movie “Liger” to be boycotted for a number of reasons, but mostly because Karan Johar is involved with it.

The upcoming sports drama, produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, is directed by Puri Jagannadh and also has Ananya Panday (yes, the one who can touch her nose with her tongue) in the lead role. It is supposed to hit theatres on the 25th of August this year. Asking to boycott the movie, a Twitter user wrote, “Don’t forget this film is also produced by Karan Johar who hates Hindi culture and listen carefully Vijay’s words he didn’t care about anything so we must unite this time also for boycott his upcoming movie.”

Actor Vijay Deverakonda is relentlessly promoting his upcoming movie Liger but since early Saturday morning, the hashtag ‘Boycott Liger’ started trending on social media. This started after Vijay supported actor Aamir Khan and his latest box office failure, Laal Singh Chaddha.

During an interview with India Today, Vijay said, “When you decide to boycott a film, you are not only affecting Aamir Khan, but you are actually affecting thousands of families who lose work and livelihoods. Aamir Sir is someone who pulls the crowd to the theatres. I am not sure why this boycott call is happening, but for whatever misunderstanding, this is happening, please realize you are not affecting Aamir Khan alone but the economy.”

Referring to these remarks by Vijay Deverakonda, a Twitter user wrote, “Vijay Deverkonda blackmails Indians for families of film making crew. Indians have taken contracts to look after these families. Vijay Jee, you must convince Bollywood why they make jokes of Hindu Deities while 80% population is Hindu in India.”

It is worth noting that two recent releases starring Bollywood celebrities Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar tanked at the box office. Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar’s Rakshabandhan both failed at the box office even with an extended weekend, amidst widespread boycott calls.

Aamir Khan’s anti-India sentiments in the past, his harsh and disparaging representation of Hindu Gods in his film PK, and his blatantly political pronouncements in the past have all contributed to Laal Singh Chaddha’s dismal performance. As far as Raksha Bandhan is concerned, the boycott calls emanated from the Hinduphobic comments made by its writer, Kanika Dhillon. Under the guise of targeting the BJP and PM Modi, she had repeatedly attacked Hindu beliefs and religious sentiments.

Another Bollywood movie Dobaara, featuring Taapsee Pannu as the lead character, has also failed to garner popular views. The film, directed by controversial filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, has largely failed to pique the interest of the audience. It was released in theatres on Friday, August 19, but had only a 2-3% occupancy rate on Day 1. A number of early screenings of the film were also reported to have been canceled.