“Boycott calls are not new. Films in the 90s or perhaps even before that, too faced them. Today, the ease of accessibility via social media amplifies it. Be it religious or otherwise social media discourse work in a way that one gets polarised and opinionated,” says Mumbai-based filmmaker Pratik Kothari commenting on the recent calls to boycott bollywood films and top actors.

For filmmaker Ziba Bhagwagar, who is also the co-founder of Zero Rules production house, these calls are a result of a much coordinated and unchecked hate speech on social media arising out of the prevalent divide in the community along religious lines; which is now a regular discourse of national concern. Recent releases like Raksha Bandhan, Shamshera and Laal Singh Chaddha, all of which performed poorly at the box office, faced the wrath of a section of social media users before their releases, a trend which gave rise to hashtags like #BoycottBollywood and many others boycotting top actors like Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Taapsee Pannu and latest in the row, Ranbir Kapoor.