Siddharth Anand addresses rumours of rift with Deepika Padukone, explains why she’s absent from Fighter promotions

Deepika Padukone has been missing from the promotions of her highly anticipated film, Fighter, which also stars Hrithik Roshan in the lead role. The actor was also absent from the film’s trailer launch event. This fueled speculations about potential discord between Deepika and the film’s director, Siddharth Anand. Reports of them unfollowing each other on Instagram also made headlines. However, putting an end to these rumours, Siddharth addressed the issue in a recent interview, revealing the reason behind Deepika’s absence.

Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Siddharth Anand said, “This is a promotional strategy that we have taken. You will start seeing Deepika Padukone from Tuesday everywhere. People put a lot of conjectures into things. Deepika was supposed to come for the trailer launch, but she was under the weather. And now she is going to be everywhere; our strategy is such.”

Anand emphasised that the promotional plan includes showcasing Deepika extensively. He said, “Obviously, we can’t do without Deepika… Deepika and Hrithik’s pair is one of the major highlights. And it’s a huge excitement for me as a filmmaker to see both of them (together). So, I can imagine that even the audience is waiting for (her). You will start seeing them closer to the release. Also, we didn’t want too much of Hrithik and Deepika before the release. We wanted people to enjoy them on the big screen. We didn’t want that saturation.”

In another interview with News18, Siddharth also revealed that Shah Rukh Khan, shared that Shah Rukh Khan, his collaborator from the blockbuster film Pathaan, expressed admiration for the Fighter trailer. He said, ““Shah Rukh loved the trailer. In fact, I met him the day it was released. He loved the look of the villain and the stunts. According to him, the CGI appeared very seamless. He was very impressed.”

Despite the speculations, the buzz around Fighter is at all time high. The film has sold over one lakh tickets in advance for day one, amounting to Rs 3.66 crore. It is scheduled for release on January 25.