Vijay Varma says boycott and cancel culture in Bollywood have gone ‘a bit overboard’: ‘It can scare you’

Vijay Varma has shared his views regarding the ongoing cancel culture and boycott debates in Bollywood. The latest Hindi releases– Aamir Khan-starrer Laal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar-starrer Raksha Bandhan which hit the theatres on August 11, had both faced boycott calls on social media. Also Read| Kareena Kapoor requests all ‘please don’t boycott’ Laal Singh Chaddha

Vijay, whose latest release Darlings, also faced calls for boycott close to its release, said that he also finds the cancel culture and boycott culture ‘scary.’ The actor said that he tried to understand it but has not been able to find an answer.

He told India Today, “It can scare you. It has just gone a bit overboard now. I feel something that you said 10 years ago could have been objectionable, and made a few people raise their eyebrows. It could be a prevalent exercise at that time, but in today’s times, it is no longer frowned upon. I feel you cannot be cancelled for something like that. For example, I go to a house in Rajasthan and there are leopard and tiger skins on display. When that house was probably built it was very normal to have dead animal skins on display…We have now understood how dangerous and cruel this is for the wildlife and animals. But people at that time, a family who has seen four generations of animal skins on their wall and have not educated themselves. Can we cancel them?”

Vijay further explained, “If they have not educated themselves and are not in sync with the current times, do we become so bad to them that they get cancelled in a rude way? These are thoughts I keep thinking about. I don’t really have an answer. I feel education and catching up on times is very important. But times and trends are changing so quickly. A comedian who must have said something 10 years ago, can have those lines come back to haunt him right now.”

Vijay Varma starred alongside Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah in Darlings, which released on Netflix on August 5. The film dealt with domestic abuse and how a woman and her mother take revenge against the former’s abusive husband. Upon the release of the film’s trailer, some men’s rights activists claimed the film mocked violence against men and called for its boycott.

He will be next seen in Sujoy Ghosh’s adaptation of Devotion of Suspect X alongside Kareena Kapoor and Jaideep Ahlawat. He has also started filming for the third season of Prime Video series Mirzapur.