New Delhi: As 'Laal Singh Chaddha' suffers a bad fate at the box office thanks also to the boycott calls that have led the Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor starrer to take a beating, producer Ekta Kapoor has come out in support of the film. Directed by Advait Chandan, 'Laal Singh Chaddha' has not been able to cross the Rs. 50 crores mark in its opening weekend despite releasing on an extended weekend holiday on Rakhi. The boycott trend for the film which has been fanning since last month on social media and has significantly impacted its business, trade analyst Taradn Adarsh stated on Twitter. Now, Ekta Kapoor has come out in support of Aamir Khan and the alleged 'Boycott Bollywood' trend which is now trending on Twitter asking users to boycott all major releases of other Khans like SRK's 'Pathaan' and Salman's 'Tiger 3'.
Ekta told Navbharat Times about the boycott calls, "It is so strange we are boycotting the very people who have given the best of business in the industry. All the Khans in the industry (Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan), and especially Aamir Khan are legends. We cannot boycott them. Aamir Khan can never be boycotted, the soft ambassador Aamir Khan can not be boycotted."
The boycott calls against 'Laal Singh Chaddha' exploded to an extent that a Delhi-based lawyer even filed a police complaint against Aamir Khan, Paramount Pictures (producers) and several others for allegedly ‘disrespecting the Indian Army and hurting Hindu Sentiments’, The Indian Express reported.
Despite such negative promotions around the film, both Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor had appealed to audiences to first at least watch the film and then decide for themselves. Apparently, 'Laal Singh Chaddha's rating on rating site IMDb and booking site BookMyShow was heavily tampered with to influence audience opinion. And, this was reportedly done by a majority of that section of the audience which is yet to see 'Laal Singh Chaddha'.
'Laal Singh Chaddha' is the official remake of the 1994 Hollywood classic 'Forrest Gump' starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the lead. As much a task it is to make a remake of the Oscar-winning classic, many in the audience and critics circles have lauded 'Laal Singh Chaddha'.