#BoycottToofan: Why is Bollywood star Farhan Akhtar’s film drawing flak?

Calls for another boycott in Bollywood has climbed up the charts to trend on social media, with this week’s target being Farhan Akhtar and his upcoming sports drama ‘Toofan’.

The movie, which will release on July 16 on Amazon Prime Video just in time for the Eid Al Adha break, has sparked a #BoycottToofan trend on Twitter, drawing flak from right-wing groups that are calling out the makers for promoting ‘Love Jihad’.

For those wondering, the term ‘Love Jihad’ is often used by right-wing groups to accuse men of a certain religion of converting women by marriage. This time, a fictitious character in a film stands accused of doing the same.

‘Toofan’ features Akhtar play Aziz Ali or Ajju Bhai, a goon who goes on to become a national level boxer. Along the journey, he meets and falls in love with Dr Pooja Shah, who inspires him to leave the thug life and earn a respectable living.

However, several folks on social media have objected that the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra directorial is promoting inter-faith marriages where the Hindu woman has to convert her religion.

Some of the comments raising objection include one from Manish Singh who calls himself a member of an Indian political party, as he writes: “Boycott evert movie which is against our culture and dharma BoycottToofaan.”

Twitter user Piyush Anand posted: “All this Lovejihaad agenda I will boycott all bollywood movies which always show this kind of nonsense. I am leaving the Amazon prime membership.”

“Boycott anything which stands against the culture & values of India Boycott lovejihad #BoycottToofaan movie,” Parth Anand added while retweeting a post by Arun Yadav, who claims to be a member of the BJP, that simply posted the hashtag.

Akhtar underwent intense training to prep for his role as a boxer, marking his second collaboration with Mehra, the first being ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, which released in 2013.

‘Toofan’ was originally meant for an October 2020 theatrical release, but the makers were forced to take the film to a streaming platform instead. The project had been on the backburner for months, ever since India was hit by the second wave of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.