No, Deepika Padukone’s ‘Chhapaak’ does not portray Muslim acid attack convict as Hindu named Rajesh

'On Tuesday, actor Deepika Padukone attended a protest meeting at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University to express solidarity with students who had been injured in violence unleashed by a masked mob on Sunday. Many have blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, for planning the violence. Padukone’s gesture irked some people, who took to social media to make #BoycottChhapaak one of the top trends on Twitter. Padukone’s Chhapaak, which will be released on Friday, has been inspired by the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Aggarwal, who was attacked by 32-year-old Naeem Khan in 2005. A section of the media has claimed that the attacker in Chhapaak has been given the Hindu name Rajesh. Among the publications making the claim was the right-wing magazine Swarajya. It based its assertion by reading the online IMDB film database, which lists the screen name of one cast members as Rajesh... Alt News contacted Newslaundry co-founder Abhinandan Sekhri who attended the screening of Chhapaak in Delhi. “I watched the special screening of the movie which was organised for acid attack survivors, and the claim on social media that the accused is portrayed as belonging to the Hindu community is false,” he said. “The person who is convicted is presented as belonging to the Muslim community, and so are his relatives, with one of them shown in a burkha.”...'