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As nepotism debate rages on, Sadak 2 trailer bears the brunt

The film is a sequel to Bhatt’s 1991 hit Sadak. Photo source: Twitter

1 min read . Updated: 13 Aug 2020, 12:31 PM IST Lata Jha

As the debate around nepotism and unreasonable opportunities given to actors belonging to film families continues in the wake of Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide this June, Bollywood celebrities such as Bhatt, Karan Johar, Arjun Kapoor and Ananya Pandey have been at the receiving end

New Delhi: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt returned to the director’s chair after a two-decade gap, but his journey seems to have hit a rough patch. His thriller Sadak 2, starring daughter Alia Bhatt in the lead, has notched up the most disliked trailer on YouTube since its release yesterday with around 5.3 million people giving it a thumbs down. In comparison, a little over 29,000 people have liked it.

As the debate around nepotism and unreasonable opportunities given to actors belonging to film families continues in the wake of Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide this June, Bollywood celebrities such as Bhatt, Karan Johar, Arjun Kapoor and Ananya Pandey have been at the receiving end. A campaign to make Sadak 2 the most disliked trailer on YouTube was launched by Rajput’s fans in the days leading to the launch, with several conspiracy theories suggesting the actor was denied opportunities he deserved that instead went to star kids, driving him to suicide.

“Sadak 2 trailer ...10 million dislike mission... Tribute to SSR," a user tweeted on Thursday.

Hashtags around ‘boycott Sadak 2’ trended on microblogging site Twitter as people wrote it’s time to remind the Bhatts that the public hasn’t forgotten Rajput. Slated to release in theatres this summer, Sadak 2 will start streaming on Disney+ Hotstar on 28 August as the coronavirus pandemic forces theatres to remain shut indefinitely. The film, a sequel to Bhatt’s 1991 hit Sadak, also features the original star cast Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt along with Aditya Roy Kapur.

Meanwhile, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesman Vijay Shankar Tiwari claimed that Sadak 2 ‘hurts Hindu sentiments’. While the plot of the film isn’t clear yet, the trailer sees Bhatt and Dutt taking on priests and sages who are portrayed as evil.

The undying nepotism debate also engulfed Jahnvi Kapoor-starrer Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl that started streaming on Netflix yesterday. The biographical drama that notched up a low rating of 3.1 on movie portal IMDB, has been trolled for furthering opportunities for star kids.