Bollywood: Boycott calls for Hindi films are a joke, says Taapsee Pannu

Actor Taapsee Pannu said the recent trend on social media calling for boycott of Hindi films is nothing but a "joke," one that undermines the viewers.

Pannu, whose latest film 'Dobaaraa' with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap hit the theatres in India on Friday, said she has passed the stage of "being bothered" by social media trends.

"If something like this (boycott calls and trolling) happens on a daily basis, one ceases to be bothered anymore. It becomes useless. There is a dialogue to this effect in one of my films," Pannu said during a recent press conference in India.

"I cannot talk about others in the industry, but for me and Anurag, it has become a joke," she added.

The trend of hashtags calling for a film's boycott started long ago and Aamir Khan's 'Laal Singh Chaddha' is the among the latest victims of the boycott trend. Asked to comment on the social media trends, Aamir had said he was saddened by the boycott calls and urged the audience to watch his film.

Later, similar hashtags against Akshay Kumar's 'Raksha Bandhan' popped up on online platforms. Some netizens also called for the shunning of 'Dobaaraa,' directed by Kashyap and featuring Pannu in the lead.

"If the audience like they will go to watch a film. If they don't like, they won't. But giving the boycott call is like undermining my audience's intelligence," the actor said.

Pannu denied the rumours that 'Dobaaraa' is inspired by the 2018 Spanish movie 'Mirage.'

Billed as an edgy thriller, the film also stars Pavail Gulati and Rahul Bhat.