Most of the fans of Baahubali actor Prabhas are happy with the casting of Deepika Padukone to play the lead opposite him in Nag Ashwin's upcoming film Prabhas 21, but some are worried for two reasons.
Prabhas' 21 is another pan-India project for Prabhas and Vyjayanthi Movies had been looking for an actress with a pan-India appeal. Finally, the producers announced Deepika Padukone would play the heroine opposite the rebel star. In an official announcement, the team welcomed the Bollywood actress on board. The majority of his fans expressed their excitement over her presence in this untitled project.
Deepika Padukone is undoubtedly of the most popular and talented actresses of the Indian cinema. But the actress courted controversy after she supported leftist students' union leader Kanhaiya Kumar at JNU in Delhi. Her PR stunt went wrong with many people from the right-wing boycotting her most-talked-about film Chhapaak, which failed to get the expected amount of results last year.
The right-wing activists vowed to boycott all of the projects of Deepika Padukone and their anger and heartedness towards her are still fresh and alive in their minds. If the actress fails to impress them and change their feeling towards her, she is likely to face backlash for Prabhas 21, which is a big-ticket film. A few fans of Prabhas are worried about this issue, which might have an adverse effect on his movie.
Responding to Vyjayanthi Movies' announcement, a netizen with the handle @panipuri12345 wrote, "I will never watch this movie after Deepika went and supported Kanhaiyya Kumar who shouted anti India slogans. Prabhas is amazing and a total nationalist, plz do not partner with an opportunistic anti India vulture like Deepika."
Secondly, some fans feel that he has amassed a huge fan following across the globe through his acting in the Baahubali film series. His name is enough to pull an unprecedented crowd to cinema halls around the world. There is no need for big-name like Deepika Padukone, who only adds to its mega-budget.
The makers of Saaho did the mistake of roping in too many Bollywood actors to give it a pan-India appeal. Their presence added to its massive hype and budget but did not yield expected results. The movie failed to recover investments of the distributors in some areas. Now, Prabhas fans are worried that Vyjayanthi Movies seems to be making a similar mistake with Prabhas 21.
A few fans of Prabhas responded to Vyjayanthi Movies' announcement on Twitter and requested and alerted them about it. They said that Deepika Padukone is unnecessary expenditure and they should better invest the same amount in other technical aspects, which may yield good results for the film.
Here are some of their tweets on Deepika Padukone's casting:
Kiran P @KiranKDL
Prabhas cut out is enough to pull all all india crowd.. Deepika is unnecessary expenditure..better invest same amount in other technical aspects
Seshu శేషు @seshuwrites
Super good sign as Saaho movie too given massive hype and taken bollywood heroine and done same hungama result known everyone alltime disaster. Now same formula for this movie too what could be result be all-time blockbuster or alltime disaster Thumbs up Only my views
محمد يوسف @yousuf418
Deepika is extra weight to the budget. Please consider,better invest in tech to produce something like Lucasfilm. The Vfx behind Starwars and Mandalorian!!!
Destroyer @Destroy67578096
Hope instead of casting big names the budget is used smartly saaho lived but failed to a such extend due to storyline so give more attention to everything not only casting or location
