Actor Arjun Kapoor has been on the receiving end of hate on social media after a five-year-old tweet by author Chetan Bhagat suddenly went viral on Twitter where he announced Sushant Singh Rajput as the lead actor of the movie based on his book "Half Girlfriend".
Netizens are now sharing Bhagat's tweet and blaming nepotism for Arjun Kapoor eventually replacing Sushant Singh Rajput as the film's lead actor. In turn, Arjun Kapoor kept trending on Twitter throughout Wednesday.
"So happy to share @itsSSR will play lead in @mohit11481 directed Half Girlfriend. Shooting begins 1Q16," reads Chetan Bhagat's now viral tweet, originally posted on November 7, 2015.
So happy to share @itsSSR will play lead in @mohit11481 directed Half Girlfriend. Shooting begins 1Q16. https://t.co/dUHSVZ2FQ5— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) November 7, 2015
After Sushant Singh Rajput's untimely demise last week, netizens have concluded that he was a victim of Bollywood's nepotism and power play. Hence, there is an angry outburst on social media and star kids are being trolled.
Sharing Bhagat's old tweet, a user wrote: "So it was supposed to be Sushant in Half Girlfriend but finally given to Starkid Arjun Kapoor. On whose direction?"
"See how nepotism works in corrupted Bollywood, Arjun Kapoor got this film by removing Sushant Singh Rajput #PapaHainNa," tweeted another user.
"Aditya replaced shushant....then Ranveer replaced shushant....then legendry arjun kapoor replaced shushant.....ok how many of u believe this is just a coincidence or injustice with @itsSSR ....Pls support shushant... otherwise we might see few other shushant really soon," reads another tweet.
Several such tweets followed.
So it was supposed to be Sushant in Half Girlfriend but finally given to Starkid Arjun Kapoor. On whose direction ? https://t.co/ILwymnSeme— mthn (@Being_Humor) June 23, 2020
Arjun Kapoor did this movie finally because of Nepotism pic.twitter.com/UvkkpQttZ4— Saffron Aayush (@iDubeyAayush) June 23, 2020
Bollywood is Full Of Nepotism & HipocritesHalf Girlfriend Movie : Sushant Singh Rajput Replaced by Arjun KapoorFitoor Movie : SSR Replace by Aditya Roy KapoorBefikre Movie SSR Replaced by Ranveer Singh#justiceforSushantforum #SushantSingh #SushantSinghRajpoot pic.twitter.com/PwepMdPdOS— Abdul Raqib Saifi (@abdulraqibsaifi) June 24, 2020
Apart from this, netizens are also criticising Arjun Kapoor's acting skills.
#ArjunKapoor*People after watching Arjun Kapoor's Acting*People to Bollywood:- pic.twitter.com/BeOeeoDux0— Sarcasto (@Sarco69) June 24, 2020
Not only trolling Arjun Kapoor, netizens are also calling for boycotting all the star kids working in the film industry.
"Today I pledge that I will never watch a film produced by- Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Yashraj. And I will not watch the film starring- Sonam Kapoor, Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Ranbeer Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Ananya Pandey, Kareena Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha. #boycottbollywoodgang," announced a user.
Was nepotism the real reason for Rajput to really not get the role in 'Half Girlfriend'? An interview from 2016 seems to prove otherwise.
It seems that the hate against Kapoor is unfounded, at least to some extent. In an interview given to news platform DNA in January 2016, Rajput had said that he had to opt out of "Half Girlfriend" due to date issues as he was already signed on for Dinesh Vijan's Raabta.
In the interview, Rajput said that he did not "walk out" of the Mohit Suri film but chose to do the Vijayan film instead.
"I said yes to Dinesh Vijan long before Half Girlfriend was even offered to me. And because of a big confusion (again, because of someone else), we were told that we could shoot both films simultaneously. But it wasn’t the case because both directors wanted a particular month. So since I had said yes to Dinesh first, I had to opt out of Mohit’s film. This is the true story. But coming to the people’s perceptions, I give a damn," Rajput has been quoted by DNA.
News portals like Times of India also carried the story. In an interview to BollywoodLife, Rajput had said that there had been confusion regarding the dates for the shooting of both films. He chose Vijan's film, purportedly as he has said yes to him first.
At the time, Rajput was facing allegations of walking out of film like Half Girlfriend and Fitoor. In the 2016 DNA interview, the actor also stated that he had lost out on 12 films because he had been signed on for two films, one of which did not happen.
He also clarified that he did not have any regrets for not doing Fitoor or Ekta Kapoor's Half Girlfriend and maintain that he shared good relations with her. "Ekta called when she got to know what’s happening. She said what had happened was unfortunate and that she wasn’t aware that this was an issue created by a third person. We might not work on this project, but she has promised to work with me in the immediate future. My relationships with them are as normal as they were," he said.
(With inputs from IANS)
