Vivek Agnihotri reacts to Deepika Padukone presenting at Oscars, calls it ‘acche din’

Riz Ahmed, Troy Kotsur, Glenn Close, Jennifer Connelly, Melissa McCarthy, Zoe Saldana, Donnie Yen, Jonathan Majors and Questlove have also been named as presenters for this year. The 95th Academy Awards will be held on March 12 at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre.

Vivek tweeted Friday morning, “While travelling with #TheKashmirFiles in USA & overwhelming response of Americans, I had said that now everyone wants to increase their footprint in India. India is now the most lucrative, safe and growing market of the world. This is the year of Indian cinema. #AchcheDin.”

Vivek has previously criticised Deepika on two ocassions. He first slammed her for her visit to Delhi’s JNU campus when she made a presence at the university following violence in the campus.

He had written in a series of tweets in 2020, “Got a call from an insider at @FoxStudiosIndia. I can’t believe they had no idea about #DeepikaWithTukdeTukdeGang. They are asking if the film loses money, who’ll be answerable? Coz #DeepikaPadukone has got her professional fees, Producer’s fee, and many endorsements. I am told that it was suggested to #DeepikaPadukone to go and stand next to #Nirbhaya’s parents for a photo op. But last-minute she changed her plan because #Nirbahaya wasn’t trending whereas #JNU was. This is how it works, my dear friends.”

Last year, he had joined the controversy around Deepika’s song Besharam Rang, from the hit film Pathaan. He posted a fan video criticizing the song and wrote, “WARNING… video against Bollywood. Don’t watch it if you are a ‘secular’.”

India has three nominations this year – RRR, All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers. SS Rajamouli’s RRR has been nominated for the Best Original Song award for the song Naatu Naatu while Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes has been nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Film. Guneet Monga’s The Elephant Whisperers has been nominated in the Best Documentary Short.

Sharing the social media post by the official handle of the Academy, Deepika wrote, “#oscars#oscars95.” Her actor-husband Ranveer Singh was quick to comment with clapping emojis.