Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, who is at the centre of a controversy Padmavati, has pulled out of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), that will see US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend the inauguration on November 28.
A senior official of the Telangana government said yesterday that Padukone has declined to attend the event.
The actress was expected to speak at a session on ‘Hollywood to Nollywood to Bollywood: The Path to Moviemaking’ on November 29.
Nollywood is the popular name for the Nigerian film industry.
“Earlier Deepika Padukona was expected to be in that session but now she has declined,” said Telangana government official Jayesh Ranjan.
He, however, said the reason for her decision is not known.
The official said the list of speakers was yet to be finalised as there have been several changes.
“Others have also dropped. For example, M S Dhoni was supposed to be in one of the sessions. Now he has declined. People are declining for various reasons. Because Dhoni is declining, we have to now bring in Sania (Mirza) and Gopichand,” Ranjan said.
Padukone’s move comes amid a raging row over Padmavati, which was set to be released on December 1.
Protest by Rajput groups forced the producer to postpone the release.
Some leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and rightwing groups have threatened the actress and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Some have even announced rewards for killing them.
Deepika Padukone
