The Truth Behind The Replacement Of Deepika Padukone For The Chairperson Position Of MAMI

Earlier on Tuesday, the newly married Bollywood star Deepika Padukone was appointed as the new chairperson of the 21^st MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. It also means that Kiran Rao stepped down as festival chairperson, a position she held since 2014. While Deepika’s replacement was hands down a surprise, as per a report published in Mumbai Mirror, Padukone’s “notable evolution into a credible actor, she connects with the youth, and her incredible work to create awareness about mental health” is the critical element to arrive at this decision.

However, reports from HuffPost suggested that apart from the reasons as mentioned above, other elements are also standing behind this appointment. This is because appointing Deepika as the chairperson can draw more financial support for the festival which is something it really needs to continue running. The official decision to elect Deepika was taken on 17 January in the meeting taking place at the office of festival director Anupama Chopra with the attendance of board members including Deepika Padukone, Zoya Akhtar, Rohan Sippy, Vikramaditya Motwane,  Vishal Bhardwaj,  Siddharth Roy Kapur, MAMI creative director Smriti Kiran and joint secretary of Maharashtra’s government Kaustubh Dhavse.

The report then suggested “the decision was unanimous” and the only person having reservations was found in none other than Padukone. The actress also said that she was not completely convinced about the idea of becoming the film festival chairperson as it is something she “has little knowledge of.” Deepika also shared that she would not make a 5-year long commitment as she’d like to be on board for one year to see “how things pan out.”

An individual said on condition of anonymity that the reason why the board wanted to have her at this position is to “keep the big sponsors happy.” The person further added,