Call it a dubious distinction, but Alia Bhatt’s ‘Sadak 2’ trailer that dropped on August 12 has reportedly created a record for being the most disliked trailer in the history of Bollywood.
Within 24 hours of its release, the trailer garnered a staggering 5 million dislikes or thumbs down, despite getting over 15 million views in total.
To be fair, the trailer of ‘Sadak 2’ — featuring Sanjay Dutt, Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur — wasn’t particularly terrible. But the online barrage of hate is a virtual act of rebellion by Bollywood fans who are resisting nepotism in the industry.
A quick glance at ‘Sadak 2’ reeks of privileged children born to acting dynasties coming together.
Aditya Roy Kapur’s is producer Siddharth Roy Kapur’s brother, while Sanjay Dutt is the son of actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis.
Alia Bhatt was born to the Bhatt film clan. Her father, uncles, her half sister and cousins are all actors or directors.
Nepotism is an issue that has been resurrected after Sushant Singh Rajput’s mysterious death in June. Was he sidelined by Bollywood’s top power brokers or did the Bhatts — the makers of ‘Sadak 2’ — play any role in Rajput’s premature death are some of the questions that are doing the rounds.
Joining the hate wagon was Kangana Ranaut’s team who took a direct jibe at award-winning director R Balki, who had earlier commented that Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt — born to privileged film families — were talented. That remark did not go down well with Ranaut’s team who have been crying hoarse about ‘nepo star kids’ and the special treatment they enjoy in the industry.
“Somebody need to find R Balki he is hiding. He said there are no better actors than Ranbir and Alia ... Sharm Karlo [have shame], thodi sharm karlo [have a little shame], brainwashi ki bhi hadd hoti hai [there’s a limit to brainwashing]. Both pappus are below average and are glorified by the mafia media, their friends and fake awards, their time is up,” tweeted Ranaut’s team along with a thumbs up about all the hate they are receiving.
Since ‘Sadak 2’s’ trailer release, there’s been a call to boycott the film as a mark of support to Rajput, who made it on his own steam and wasn’t born to a film family or with a silver spoon in his mouth.
