Boycott Gang

About

Boycott Gang refers to a term used to describe Indian internet users that call for repeated boycotts of various Bollywood movies on the grounds of the offending films being anti-national, anti-Hindu, obscenity, or similar negatively perceived qualities. India has a rich history of boycotts in the name of nationalism since pre-British Independence, however, the phrase "boycott gang" is used specifically to refer to internet users that became more vocal about Bollywood boycotts after the year 2020, following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. In 2022 and 2023, internet users called for the boycott of Bollywood films like Brahmhastra, Laal Singh Chaddha , and Pathaan, many of which continued to be commercially successful, leading some to believe that Boycott Gang's vocal internet presence is not reflective of wider public sentiment.

Origin

On June 14th, 2020, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) was found dead in his home in Bandra, age 34. The following months saw a wide spread media debacle over his death and the general state of Bollywood, with SSR fans voicing their disdain for an industry they believe to have caused SSR to commit suicide. In June 2020, #BoycottKhans began to trend on Twitter, due to the belief held by SSR fans that Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and various other major Bollywood actors were instrumental in SSR's death. ^[1]

Notably, early viral posts calling for Bollywood boycotts were BJP officials. On June 15th, 2020, Twitter^[2] user @doctorrichabjp posted a tweet that read, "I will boycott all films of Khans and Karan Johar / Who is with me ?" gathering over 62,000 likes in over two years (seen below, left). On June 21st, 2020, Twitter^[3] user @BjpSarojini posted a tweet that translates to, "There is news that Shah Rukh Khan has been replaced in the new Reliance Jio ad, with Akshay Khanna replacing him #BoycottKhans." The tweet gathered over 30,000 likes in over two years (seen below, right).

The earliest known mention of the phrase "boycott gang" was posted by Twitter^[4] user @ItsSohailKhan on October 16th, 2020. The tweet read, "#BiggBoss14 Premiere TRP – 2.1 / * TOP show of @ColorsTV this week * / Now where is boycott gang 🤔," gathering over 1,000 likes in over two years (seen below). The tweet is indicative of discourse surrounding boycott trend for consecutive years, where the online outrage does not reflect the Box Office collections of the movies supposedly being boycotted on a wide scale.

Spread

The boycott trend spread in various forms in the year 2021 and 2022, oftentimes targeting Bollywood as a representation of a monolithic entity. Boycotts also took the form of targeting major Muslim actors in particular, with Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan being popular targets. The boycott trends also experienced pushback from the film industry's fanbase. ^[5][6][7]

On October 10th, 2021, Instagram^[11] page @trollsrkhaters posted an image about education tech start-up Byju's temporarily pausing advertisements featuring Shah Rukh Khan,^[10] gathering over 11,000 likes in over a year (seen below, left). On November 5th, 2021, Instagram^[12] page @moviereviewsblog posted a meme about Sooryavanshi, a film internet users were calling to boycott, raking in millions at the Box Office. the post gathered over 5,500 likes in over a year (seen below, right).

On August 21st, 2022, the phrase "Boycott Gang TMKC" began to trend on Twitter, which was the first notable collective attempt to make a pro-Bollywood hashtag trend on a platform. "TMKC" stands for "teri maa ki chut," which is a Hindi cuss word meaning "Your mom's vagina." Twitter^[8] user @being___yogesh posted a tweet in support of various Bollywood actors, gathering over 2,400 likes in five months (seen below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[9] user @BackUpAdesh posted a tweet in support of Bollywood as well, this time noting that various actors are Hindu and support nationalistic ideas as a means to push back against the allegations that the industry is anti-Hindu. the tweet gathered over 3,000 likes in five months (seen below, right).

It is also worth noting that a majority of the Twitter users participating in the "Boycott Gang TMKC" trend have since had their accounts suspended, likely due to mass reporting.

Various Instagram pages made memes in reaction to the various boycott Bollywood trends that appeared on Twitter every few months. On August 24th, 2022, Instagram^[13] page @akaashbanerjee.in posted a meme about boycotts, gathering over 32,000 likes in over five months (seen below, left). Also on August 24th, Instagram^[14] page @avpjokes posted a meme about boycott trends, gathering over 2,000 likes in five months (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References