bollywood

Updated: Aug 25, 2020 11:22 IST

Actor Deepika Padukone has shared a new video that paints a true picture of India’s acid sale problem. In a ‘social experiment’ with the team of her film Chhapaak, Deepika conducted a sting operation of sorts to check how easily some shopkeepers sell acid without requiring an ID proof from the buyer.

“If someone proposes to you and you say no, raise your voice when someone harasses you, or if you fight for your rights...and someone throws acid on your face,” Deepika says in the opening of the video. She says the biggest reason why acid is thrown on people is acid itself. “Agar ye bikta nahi toh phikta nahi (It wouldn’t get thrown if it wouldn’t sell),” she says in the video.

Deepika then conducts the experiment in which she sits in a car with two cameramen and other team members while multiple actors hit multiple shops in Mumbai to buy acid. Someone plays a plumber, another a businessman, a student, a drunkard, a housewife and a street goon. They hit local grocery and hardware stores, asking for acid, while Deepika watches the interaction from her car.

Also Watch | Acid attack survivor Pramodini wants everyone to watch ‘Chhapaak’

Many actors insisted with the shopkeepers that they want the strongest acid ‘which can burn somebody’s skin’. While many shopkeepers didn’t enquire much about the buyer’s intention, only one asked for the buyer’s ID proof before he could sell him acid. The actor (who played a student) asked him to make the sale without ID but the shopkeeper didn’t agree.

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A couple of shopkeepers also asked if the buyers intended to throw it at someone’s face but even that didn’t stop them from making the sale.

At the end of the video, Deepika reveals that her team managed to buy 24 bottles of acid in just a day. This was after the Supreme Court had ordered strict regulations on the sale of acid. Real life acid attack survivors then explain those rules-- the buyer must be more than 18 year old, present an ID proof, and address proof and the seller must have a licence to sell acid and must report the sale to the police.

“I think not just shopkeepers, but it’s also our responsibility that if we ever see anyone illegally buy or sell acid, we should immediately inform the police,” Deepika says in the video.

Deepika plays the lead in Chhapaak, which is based on the story of real life acid attack survivor Laxmi Aggarwal. The film is directed by Meghna Gulzar and released on Friday, January 10. It has collected Rs 23 crore in five days of its release.

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