Mohandas Pai, Kiran Shaw get into a duel over Deepika Padukone

Pic/Pallav Paliwal

Former Infosys Director Mohandas Pai and Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw took to the micro-blogging site to say that Deepika Padukone had been 'ill-advised' as she expressed her solidarity with the JNU students who were assaulted.

True very sad; @deepikapadukone was ill-advised. A good person with high values was led astray and used by Lutyens Delhi and the Khan Market Gang to further their fake narratives! @kiranshaw @PrinceArihan @ARanganathan72 @anuraag_saxena She is a wonderful human, a true Bangalurean."

As he had tagged Kiran Mazumdar Shaw in his post who had earlier called the discussion 'retrograde', she gave a stern reply. She said that the actress was not advised by anyone and decided to show up at the university to express her solidarity with the students.
She furthur wrote, Please respect an individual's rights to do what they want".

Deepika Padukone's critics also said that Mr Pai was minimising her move because she belongs to Bengaluru.

After Padukone's visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Tuesday, many appreciated her "silent solidarity", but some others criticised her for "supporting Leftists", saying it was a promotional stunt for her latest film "Chhapaak". A section of BJP leaders also criticised the 34-year- old actor over her JNU visit.

(with agency inputs)

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates