Shreya Mukherjee (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 6, 2020)

Actor Meera Chopra was in for a shock when N T Rama Rao fans started a hate campaign against her on social media. It began after her recent chat session on Twitter, when a user asked her to describe the Telugu actor in one word and she replied, “I don’t know him. I’m not his fan.” Having worked in the southern film industry, she also expressed her admiration for Telugu actor Mahesh Babu, which further irked the trolls.

“This cyber bullying needs to stop. I can be anybody’s fan in the world, it’s my choice. They (Jr NTR fans) threatened me with gang rape, throwing acid on my face, murder and even wished my parents die of Coronavirus. All this when I hadn’t said anything hurtful,” says Chopra, 36, adding, “Social media has become such a scary and toxic place. It’s amusing how people can stoop this low.”

After getting some “30,000 abuses”, the Section 375 (2019) actor decided to take legal action. “I’ve always stood up for what’s right. I’d be a hypocrite if I don’t raise my voice now. I’ve filed a complaint with Hyderabad City Police and Cyber Crime Cell. They’re looking into it and have asked me to file a complaint with Delhi Police since I’m at home now. That’s also done,” she tells us.

She even tagged Jr NTR in some tweets to bring to his notice the behaviour of his fans, hoping he’d take a stand. “Actors must be aware of their fan clubs. They must address such extreme behaviour. Fans treat actors as gods, I’m sure they’d listen to them,” says Chopra, who is planning to start a campaign to get stars to talk about such issues openly.