Members of the Entertainment Journalists' Guild of India (EJGI) have collectively decided to boycott Kangana Ranaut and demanded a public apology following an ugly spat between the national award-winning actress and a journalist.
The heated exchange took place late on Sunday during the song launch of upcoming film JudgeMentall Hai Kya, in the presence of producer Ekta Kapoor and actor Rajkummar Rao.
The members have now sent a letter to Ekta, where Kangana's behaviour has been termed as "un-called for".
The letter reads: "We, the members of Entertainment Journalists' Guild of India, demand a written public statement from you, Balaji Films and Ms Ranaut, condemning the incident and in particular Ms Ranaut's behaviour. We as a guild, collectively decided to boycott Ms Ranaut and give any media coverage.”
“Rest assured, we will not let this matter affect JudgeMentall Hai Kya in any manner and will be supportive of your film and other cast members, barring Ms Ranaut,” the letter said.
The Entertainment Journalists' Guild has been formed, in the light of the incident that happened with the reporter on July 7. It is yet to be registered. The body will safeguard the interests of our fraternity and address issues that entertainment journalists face on a daily basis be it with actors, producers or publicist, Guild member said.
The incident that happened on Sunday involved journalist Justin Rao and started when Kangana questioned the journalist over his negative comments on her last release, Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi. She also accused Justin of running a smear campaign against her, which he vehemently denied.
#WATCH Kangana Ranaut has a spat with a reporter, accuses him of smear campaign, at the 'Judgementall Hai Kya' song launch event in Mumbai. (07.07.2019) pic.twitter.com/sNuWduY3yg
— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2019
An ugly exchange followed, with others including Ekta Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao trying to intervene in order to control the situation.
Condemning Kangana's behaviour towards the journalist, a section of social media users asked the media to "boycott" her”.
“Sick mindset. If this doesn't deserve an apology now, then Bollywood media should boycott Kangana,” a user tweeted. “See this unruly behaviour of Kangana Ranaut clearly misusing her position to intimidate and falsely accuse the journalist,” wrote another user.
Following this, a group of journalists was to meet Ekta Kapoor on Tuesday to demand an apology from Kangana.
However, Kangana’s sister and manager Rangoli took to Twitter to say that the journalists would not get an apology from Kangana, and that they had made a mistake by demanding an apology.
Ek baat ka main vaada karti hoon, Kangana se apology toh nahin milegi, in bikau, nange, deshdrohi, desh ke dalal, libtard mediawalon ko, magar woh tumko dho dho kar sidha zaroor karegi ... just wait and watch, tumne galat insaan se maafi mangi hai ... pic.twitter.com/gm8UvupO3S
— Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) July 9, 2019
JudgeMentall Hai Kya is set to release on July 26.
(IANS inputs)