A video allegedly from Benaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, which talks about the dating history of Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, has gone viral and is being called out by the online community.
The video, which is making rounds on the Internet, shows a female student, portraying Deepika’s character ‘Mastani’ as she stands at the centre of the stage. She is surrounded by male students. In the video, each male student has dressed up as individuals rumoured to be her past boyfriends or connections.
The performance looks like a satire on the actress’s idea of ‘casual dating’ which she spoke about during one of the recent episodes of the popular chat show ‘Koffee With Karan’ hosted by Karan Johar.
During the episode Deepika shared that both she and her husband Ranveer Singh were open to idea of casual dating before they got engaged.
After her appearance on the show Deepika became the subject of memes and jokes due to her perspective on ‘casual’ dating.
The already distasteful video takes an even worse turn when the students dub it ‘Deepika ki Kahaani, BHU ki Zubaani’ and start showing the pictures of the people whom the actress has allegedly dated in the past.
Netizens have strongly reacted against the video, calling the performance the “character assassination” of the actress.
One Internet user wrote, “Memes are ok but this is the character assassination of Indian actress Deepika Padukone! It just shows the mindset of the cheapest! It’s a shameful act.”
A second user wrote, “Character assassination of Deepika wasn’t enough on social media that a renowned university actually allowed it live!! just so low of them, this is truly the reason why as a society we can’t grow man.”
A third user demanded a legal action, as they wrote, “This situation unquestionably warrants a defamation lawsuit. Deepika’s legal team should take action. I’m not stating this solely as a fan; subjecting any individual to character assassination in a public setting and on the internet is a form of mental harassment.”