Social media has given the common man the power to express and challenge the status quo. However, with power comes responsibility and some tend to exploit it to spread hate or serve personal agendas. Actors and our movies have often faced the wrath of the ‘Boycott Bollywood’ brigade, and that phase raises its head occasionally. While it’s fair to question or disagree, Abhay Deol, during a conversation with us, gave his take on the cancel culture that ostracizes actors and their films.

He said, “Technology has allowed information to flow quickly, but also misinformation to flow quickly. Everybody has power. Those with a conscience and the ones with an agenda are equally powerful today. So, it’s a mixed bag. There will be people calling out the film industry for not changing as rapidly as the world. There are also those with an agenda, who just want to boycott and ban things because it serves their personal agenda. I do not believe in the cancel culture and bans.”

Abhay, who was recently seen in the web series Trial By Fire, elaborated, “For me, the human condition and people aren’t black and white. However, I support those who want a genuine change. There are people who legitimately do not watch Bollywood films because they cannot relate to it. There is a universal cinematic language that we haven’t been a part of because we are catering to our bubble. Those people are in the right to ask for a change. Those with an agenda are just taking advantage of situations. Let’s not demonize the entire Hindi film industry for making movies that have an audience.”

There’s a certain section of the audience that will go ahead and watch the film so that they can express their dislike towards it. Abhay explained, “Some people will buy tickets to hate-watch certain movies, but they will buy that ticket and that’s the truth.”