Fringe outfits gain relevance when ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trends in UP

Lucknow: The ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trend has given a new lease of life to hitherto unknown fringe outfits looking for a toehold in the saffron sun in Uttar Pradesh.
These outfits hitched on to the boycott bandwagon in 2022 and made their way to headlines by targeting new films and the stars.
The Sanatan Raksha Sena in Varanasi suddenly woke up to the fact that actor Aamir Khan had made fun of Hindu deities in his film ‘PK’, released in 2014.
Eight years after PK released, the Sanatan Rakshak Sen announced a boycott of Aamir Khan’s ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ even before the film was released.
In Varanasi, the outfit went from door to door, asking people not to watch the film and even urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to ban it.
A fortnight later, in September, an outfit called Rashtriya Hindu Parishad announced war against ‘Brahmastra’ and said that those who watch the film in theatres will get their faces blackened.