Chehre producer Anand Pandit breaks silence on facing backlash & boycott threats post Sushant Singh Rajput’s death

Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi starrer Chehre was supposed to release in July 2020 but was postponed due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown that forced cinema halls to shut. The movie also stars Rhea Chakraborty and it is now finally releasing on August 27. Rhea was accused by Sushant’s family of abetting his suicide. She spent nearly a month in jail on drugs-related charges and was later released on bail. Rhea has been subjected to a lot of backlash and shame on social media and Chehre too faced a lot of boycott threats.

In a recent interview with Chehre producer Anand Pandit, we asked if they anticipated this kind of scrutiny over the film when it was happening last year, he said, “As far as Rhea is concerned, she is an actress and she has done a fantastic job in our film. Then why we had to bother about what is happening in her personal life. We cannot combine these two things. They are two separate things. It’s unfortunate that in her personal life, she has gone through a lot of turmoil and all our sympathy is with her. But because of that our film will gain or face loss, or we will get traction, I don’t think so.”

There were reports that Rhea Chakraborty’s role has been chopped in Chehre. On this, Anand said, “Neither her part is chopped nor extended. If we had feared, there would have come a situation to chop her part. We were not afraid and were honest about what we are doing. We are in the business of entertainment and we have nothing to do with what has happened to somebody’s personal life.”

When the trailer was released, only in one scene there was Rhea and a section of people started trending to boycott the movie. On trolling, and the boycott movement, Pandit said, “I don’t consider social media much. If a film is of Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi, we will show them not the other characters. Rhea’s role is a bit mysterious in the film. So, we had to keep the mystery alive.”.

When asked if he would further work with Rhea or not, the producer said, “I and my director who we find suitable will cast for a movie whether she is Rhea or someone else. We have no peer pressure from any media or social media as to whom to cast and whom to not. I can’t run my business according to them, right?”

You can watch the full interview here.