A case of mistaken identity on social media wrecked havoc in the life of filmmaker Pushpendra Singh over the weekend. Recently, Actor Satendra Soni, known for his role in Kiran Rao’s 2024 film Laapataa Ladies, recently shared a video on Instagram asking the public to help him in a financial dispute with filmmaker Pushpendra Singh. Another filmmaker who shares the same name become the victim of trolling and abuses on social media soon after the video went viral.
Speaking to us, Pushpendra says, “Once Satendra’s video went viral, I noticed I was tagged in some posts, where people were asking others to target me. I immediately asked them to stop and to be responsible before targeting someone. Satendra too shared the contact details of the filmmaker in question, so people stopped. I felt relieved but it was shortlived. The next the other Pushpendra deactivated his account, so people starting trolling and abusing me to a point where things went beyond my control.”
The filmmaker goes on to say that he has never met Satendra or his namesake. He says, “I belong to independant cinema and I rarely watch mainstream films. I was aware of the other Pushpendra because of his film Ajmer 92 that released two years ago. Even back then I had to clarify I’m not the director of that film but this time things escalated to the next level because of Satendra’s video and the media amplication that followed.” He adds that people seeing a name in a viral video, searching the first result that shows up and attacking them is a dangerous trend. He adds, “Nobody pauses to ask, is this the actual person? I understand the anger after what Satendra shared but that anger has landed on the wrong person. What bothers me is the abuse by strangers and also my reputation in the industry going for a toss, just when I was planning to mount my next independant film. I can only hope the industry takes a moment to verify before making assumptions about me.”
Sharing his thoughts about Satendra’s video he adds, “What Satendra described, being threatned and not paid, is completely wrong. No artiste should be treated that way. The industry in India has long struggled with explaoitation of character artistes, that have little recourse when things so wrong. I began as an actor after graduating from FTII. I opted out seeing the struggle. I hope what happened to him does not happen to anyonelse.”