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Its most recent campaign was against Shah Rukh Khan’s _Pathaan_ in November. It started tamely enough – on November 2, _Gems of Bollywood_ accused _Pathaan_ of plagiarising its poster from a
Hollywood movie called _Beast_. The tweet, which said #Chorwood, was tweeted over 3,000 times. By the time the controversy over _Pathaan_’s song _Besharam Rang _began in early December,
_Gems_ had already posted _dozens_ of tweets about Khan and the movie, each with thousands of retweets. There were tweets about “_saffron lingerie_”, “_Taliban fantasies_” and “_Urduwood_”,
and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. _Kreately Media_ is a right-wing website whose Twitter account was _suspended_ last month for “anti-Islamic content”. It regularly targets Muslim
actors and films, and those who identify as “left” or “liberal”. The study said _Kreately_ has a “very large footprint in the #BoycottBollywood community, despite a fairly small follower
base”. The account used the #BoycottBollywood hashtag multiple times but the tweets can’t be recovered given the account’s suspension. But examples of its work can be found _here_, _here_,
_here_, _here_ and _here_. In just December, _Kreately_ published at least 15 posts on #BoycottBollywood and #BoycottPathan. _Jaipur Dialogues_, run by a former IAS officer, is an
organisation that claims to work towards “Sanatan Parampara” and _promises_ to “boycott every movie being made against our Dharma”. It has 1,48,000 followers on Twitter and 8,18,000 on
YouTube. In August, _Newslaundry_ had _reported_ on how it led social media storms against _Laal Singh Chaddha_, both on _Twitter_ and on _YouTube_. _Brahmastra_ was attacked for _featuring
“seasonal Hindus”_ and for, perplexingly, “_promoting Sufism_”. Pseudo-journalist Suresh Chavhanke is also part of this elite coterie of boycotters. Last year, #BoycottShahrukhKhan trended
on Twitter after Chavhanke used the hashtag to accuse Khan, Javed Akhtar and Bollywood in general of “language jihad” by prioritising Urdu over Hindi. Since then, he’s used his channel,
_Sudarshan News_, and its social media platforms to _run_ _campaigns_ _against_ Bollywood films. Shah Rukh Khan’s family was accused of promoting “_narcotic terrorism_” and Karan Johar was
accused of _insulting Indian culture_. With the able assistance of _Sudarshan News_ reporter Saagar Kumaar (see _here_, _here_ and _here_), Chavhanke also _celebrated_ the “success” of the
boycott campaign against _Laal Singh Chaddha_. There’s also the SSR community – fans of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput._ Newslaundry_ had _previously reported_ on the man at the centre of
the #JusticeForSSR campaign, managing at least 6,000 to 8,000 “volunteers” and trending specific hashtags that he chooses every morning and evening. The same group is instrumental in running
#BoycottBollywood campaigns. The study said the most direct individual activity in spreading the hashtag is “overwhelmingly dominated by SSRians” (see _here_, _here_, _here_, _here_, _here_
and _here_, for example). DO THESE TRENDS HAVE AN IMPACT? What do those in the industry, or who write about it, think of these demands to #BoycottBollywood? Neeraj Udhwani has directed and
written movies and web series like _Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji_, _Inside Edge_, _Mhaska_ and _Tripling_. He said Twitter trolling can sometimes “create bigger buzz around the film”, like
_Pathaan_, and he isn’t afraid of it. “The #BoycottBollywood trend does not affect us, as writers and directors, when it comes to creative choices,” he said. “Yes, as storytellers, we have
become sensitive and avoid certain stories that touch upon religion or politics. But that is because of the current climate. Producers don’t want to fight legal cases and hence there is a
tendency to avoid topics that can invite legal trouble. But we are certainly not afraid of paid Twitter trends carried out by vested interests.” He added that these trends are, at best,
“just a little nuisance to actors and directors”. Film critic Mayank Shekhar, who is entertainment head at _Mid-Day_, said this is an “anti-Hindi move” because “the slander is reserved only
for Hindi movies”. “It started with citing nepotism in Bollywood although the film industry in the south is entirely run by a dozen-odd film families,” he said. “No boycott hashtags are run
for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or other cinemas. This exclusive assault on Hindi language cinema by certain miscreants must be resisted by India’s governing party, BJP and its parent
organisation, RSS...No entity has as organically, globally and nationally contributed to the spread of Hindi as much as Bollywood or Hindi cinema for close to a century.” Shekhar added that
it’s “hard to tell” whether these hashtags have an impact on the box office. “A movie buff is a movie buff,” he said. “She will go to the movies or engage/entertain herself at home,
regardless of depressed, morose killjoys online.” Writer and film critic Ajay Brahmatmaj said these trends attempt to blame Bollywood for “all the evils of society”. As a result, filmmakers
are concerned about attracting controversy. “They are playing a very safe game, they avoid making movies that raise tough questions on issues,” he said. “Because of this sanitisation,
they’re unable to generate good content. It’s not good for the industry.” But one thing’s for sure, he said. “A movie with good content will not be affected by any boycott campaign.” _UPDATE
AT 7.10 PM, DEC 29: This story originally linked to examples where Gems of Bollywood used the #BoycottBollywood hashtag. These links were incorrect and have been removed. The error is
regretted._ _UPDATE AT 7 PM, JAN 5: This story incorrectly quoted Mayank Shekhar as saying the trend is an “anti-Hindu move”. This has been corrected to “anti-Hindi move”. The error is
regretted._