Deepika Padukone on why she became a part of ‘Chhapaak’

Actor Deepika Padukone, who is currently on a promotion spree for her upcoming film ‘Chhapaak’, said that she wishes to create an impact with the movie.

“I wanted to work in this film and produce this film because the more this story reaches people the more it is good for society, the country, and the world,” the actor said.

“It is important to deliver the message that Laxmi and other survivors are an inspiration to us. I wanted to make this film to show what these survivors had made out of their life after going through such incidents,” she added, referring to real-life acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.

Speaking about society’s behaviour towards acid attack survivors, the ‘Padmaavat’ actor said: “As a society, we do not treat them equally, we treat them as disabled people. Their life is not different but just like ours and we should treat them like we want to be treated.”

Elaborating on the film, Padukone said that there are a lot of small but impactful societal messages that the team has tried to deliver through the film.

‘Chhapaak’ is based on the life story of Agarwal, who was attacked by a spurned lover in 2005 when she was 15. She had to undergo several surgeries and later took up the job of helping acid attack survivors and promoted campaigns against such attacks.

Her attacker, a 32-year-old man, was an acquaintance of her family.

Penned by Atika Chohan, ‘Chhapaak’ is set to hit theatres on January 9 in the UAE. It is directed by Meghna Gulzar and stars Vikrant Massey opposite Padukone.