After Chhapaak’s release, state in North India announces pension for acid attack victims

KARACHI: As everyone had rightfully pointed out, Deepika Padukone made a very bold yet risky appearance a few days prior to the release of her film, Chhapaak: she attended a JNU rally and lent support to the students who were attacked by a masked mob, which was allegedly linked to India’s ruling party, BJP.

Read: COMMENT: Deepika Padukone just proved that she has more spine than all of Bollywood

And while people were worried that her film’s box office results might be affected by this move, turns out that her film is doing very well and is earning solid reviews for Deepika’s performance. Based on the true story of Laxmi Agarwal, it stars Deepika Padukone, who has produced the film as well, as an acid-attack survivor. “Chhaapak is a sensitive film with a delicate, yet powerful, handling of a heinous crime against women, and an important story that needs to be heard,” reported Times of India.

However, that isn’t the only impact Chhapaak has had so far. A state in Northern India has decided to take things one step further: The Uttarakhand government has announced to start a pension scheme for acid attack survivors.

According to India Today, Rekha Arya, State Women and Child Welfare Minister, announced the scheme. She said, “The government is planning to start a pension scheme under which Rs 5000-6000 will be provided every month to the survivors so that they can live a life with dignity. We will be bringing the proposal in the cabinet to get it approved to further implement the scheme. The idea is to support the brave women in achieving their dreams.”

Commenting on Chhapaak’s controversy, she said, “The film is based on struggles of someone real. So, if that person has not objected, there should be no issue for anyone else to get involved.”