Highlights:
- Fans noticed Deepika Padukone and Farah Khan were not following each other on Instagram.
- This sparked immediate speculation of a feud over Farah's on-air comments.
- Farah Khan has directly addressed the rumours, calling them a "fake controversy."
- She revealed a long-standing pact to avoid Instagram communication with Deepika.
- The situation highlights how quickly online speculation can spiral from minor incidents.
Another day, another Bollywood storm in a teacup. This time, the internet's detective work landed on Deepika Padukone and Farah Khan's Instagram profiles, where a perceived 'unfollow' sparked a tidal wave of gossip. Farah Khan cracked a few jokes on her YouTube channel, and let's just say the internet ran with it. Everyone immediately connected her remarks to all that news about Deepika's new rules for her workday. But what actually went down is, as usual, a lot simpler than the headlines would have you believe.
Workday gossip turns viral Deepika Padukone Farah Khan Instagram pact sparks online frenzy Getty Images
What really happened with the Instagram unfollow fiasco?
Turns out, there was no unfollowing spree because there was nothing to unfollow. Farah Khan swiftly shut down the rumours, explaining that she and Deepika have never followed each other on the platform. In fact, it was a conscious choice. The director revealed a pact made years ago on the sets of Happy New Year. They agreed to skip the Instagram formalities: no follows, no public birthday posts, and stick to direct messages and phone calls instead. So much for that digital feud.
Farah Khan's Instagram story Instagram Screengrab/farahkhankunder
Were Farah Khan's comments a direct dig?
In her vlogs, Farah's banter with her cook, Dilip, included a line about "Deepika Padukone ab sirf 8 ghanta shoot karti hai" and it was instantly dissected as a critique. But Farah's clarification paints a different picture. She insists the comment was a light-hearted jab to tease Dilip about his own two-hour workdays and not a pointed remark aimed at the actor. She even mentioned being among the first to visit Deepika and Ranveer after their daughter Dua was born. Context, it seems, is the first casualty in the race for a viral story.
Why does this minor incident spark major news?
It's a familiar pattern. A snippet of conversation, a social media glitch, or a red carpet moment gets isolated and amplified into a narrative. Deepika Padukone's work hour demands are a genuine industry topic, so any comment gets grafted onto that storyline. Outlets and social media feeds need content, and a fallout between a legendary director and her mentee is irresistible fuel. It almost creates a feedback loop where speculation is reported as news, which in turn generates more speculation.
What does this reveal about modern celebrity culture?
This entire episode brings to light the bizarre space where celebrities now exist, a space where a private pact must be explained publicly and a joke to a cook becomes a national headline. The line between their real lives and the online narrative about their lives is constantly blurred. For stars like Deepika Padukone, every professional decision and every old friend's quip becomes a story online for the internet to dissect, often missing the human reality underneath the noise.
