Alia Bhatt in a still from Sadak 2 trailer. (Image courtesy: YouTube)

New Delhi:

The trailer of Sadak 2, starring Sanjay Dutt and Alia Bhatt, released on Wednesday morning and by late afternoon it had received a million ‘dislikes’ on YouTube – to be clear, dislikes and not likes. The trailer of a big film, especially one packed with marquee names, generally gets many more likes than it does dislikes; this has been reversed for Sadak 2 and it is unusual enough to be comment-worthy. At the time of writing this, there were 1.8 million dislikes to 1,18,000 likes on YouTube. The Internet, it appears, is making good on its declared intention of boycotting Sadak 2.

Watch the trailer of Sadak 2 here:

This intended boycott dates back to the weeks after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death on June 14, allegedly by suicide. After the 34-year-old star of Chhichhore was found dead at home in Mumbai, speculation that he was pushed to the brink in part by the alleged treatment he received from Bollywood ‘insiders’ prompted a massive outpouring of anger online against certain celebrities, among them Alia Bhatt. Alia, as Twitter reminded everyone, had spoken dismissively of Sushant on the chat show Koffee With Karan. Her proximity to filmmaker Karan Johar – rumoured to have joined other producers in shutting Sushant out of films – also triggered a backlash, amid renewed criticism of nepotism and favouritism in the film industry.

Unsurprisingly, Alia Bhatt trended for much of the day on Twitter, which has proved more than once that it can hold a grudge forever. The fact that Sadak 2 is directed by Mahesh Bhatt has also contributed to the surge of social media hate. Mr Bhatt is known to be close to actress Rhea Chakraborty, who is being questioned in the investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. Rhea, who was dating Sushant, is accused by his family of illegally transferring money amounting to Rs 15 crore from the actor’s account and driving him to suicide.

Sushant Singh Rajput’s last filmDil Bechara  released last month – the trailer of the film received a whopping 10 million likes on YouTube. Other recently released trailers have also been upvoted many more times than down – Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana’s Gulabo Sitabo, Vidya Balan’s Shakuntala Devi and even Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, starring Janhvi Kapoor who was also named on the list of ‘star kids’ social media said it would boycott.

Sadak 2 is a sequel to 1991 hit Sadak, also directed by Mahesh Bhatt and starring his daughter Pooja and Sanjay Dutt. Sanjay Dutt, who reprises his role as a driver named Ravi in the new film, announced a day before the trailer released that he was taking a break for medical treatment. Sadak 2, in which Alia Bhatt stars as a young woman working on exposing a godman, will release later this month on Disney+Hotstar. The film also stars Aditya Roy Kapur, Makarand Deshpande and Gulshan Grover.

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