Mumbai: Hours after a viral Reddit post claimed that social media influencers are running a paid smear campaign against ‘Border 2’ actor Varun Dhawan, the film’s producer Nidhi Dutta lashed out at the haters, calling them anti-nationals.

Referring to the viral Reddit post, an X account named CineHub posted, “The LATEST TARGET of this paid smear campaign is #VarunDhawan Certain Instagram influencers are clearly doing this on instructions, running a full-fledged agenda to malign Varun in #Border2…From BODY-SHAMING to selectively targeting his expressions, everything feels forced !! especially when his performance is actually perfectly suited for the film

Reacting to the post, Nidhi wrote, “Congratulations to all the ANTI NATIONALS THAT CAN PAY TO BRING DOWN AN ACTOR PLAYING A PVC OF THIS COUNTRY. This is YOUR FILM INDIA! Hope the audiences find and shame these people (sic).”

It all started when a Reddit user shared a screenshot of a chat, showing messages being sent to social media influencers, asking them to post negative reviews about Varun’s performance and expressions in the song ‘Ghar Kab Aaoge’.

Check out the viral post here:

Reacting to the trolls, Varun offered a measured response when an Instagram user asked him, “Bhai, aapki acting par sawaal utha rahe hain log. Uske liye kya bolega? (Bro, people are questioning your acting skills. What would you say to that?)”.

Varun replied, “@sahjaan_18 yehi sawaal ne gaana hit kar diya. Sab enjoy kar rahe hain — rab di mehar. (These very questions made the song a hit. Everyone is enjoying it. God is kind.)”

Directed by Anurag Singh, ‘Border 2’ is a sequel to J. P. Dutta’s 1997 blockbuster war drama ‘Border’.

The film features Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty, alongside Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Anya Singh and Medha Rana.

Based on the 1971 India–Pakistan war and real-life events during the war, ‘Border 2’ is slated to hit theatres on January 23.