Bollywood stars vote with pride, show off inked finger

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan stepped out with wife Jaya, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya to cast their votes, looking cool and calm in white.

Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan also turned up with his wife Pinky, daughter Sunaina and son Hrithik in tow. Hrithik's former father-in-law Sanjay Khan came out to vote with his son Zayed and daughter Farah Khan Ali.

Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan brought along her two-year-old son Taimur Ali Khan to cast her vote.

Adding some colour and drama to a polling booth here was Ranveer Singh, who sported eclectic sunglasses and bright clothes.

Kangana Ranaut wore a sari, and even Urmila Matondkar, the Congress candidate from the Mumbai North seat, chose a desi avatar to cast a vote.

Salman Khan (centre) arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Mumbai on Monday.   Sujit Jaiswal / AFP

Actors Salman Khan and Aamir Khan also cast their vote, as did Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Varun Dhawan, Rekha, Kiran Rao, Shankar Mahadevan, Paresh Rawal, Ravi Kishan, Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Kailash Kher, Mahesh Bhatt, Aahana Kumra, Dia Mirza, Sonu Sood, Pooja Bhatt, Divya Dutta, Sonali Bendre Behl, Goldie Behl, Anupam Kher, Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan, Athiya Shetty, Esha Deol, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora and Twinkle Khanna.

"This is the moment that matters... Every vote is a voice that counts," tweeted Priyanka along with a selfie showing off her inked finger.

Aamir, dressed casually, cracked a joke as the media approached him for a byte, but made a point about the importance of voting.

Actress Deepika Padukone on Monday cast her vote for the Lok Sabha elections and shared a selfie with her inked finger, setting aside speculation about her citizenship.

"Never has there been any doubt in my mind about who I am or where I'm from. So for those of you confused on my behalf... please don't be! Jai Hind! Proud to be an Indian go vote," Deepika wrote in her tweet.

Her post was in reference to speculation about her citizenship since she was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In a video online, Deepika is also seen fielding a question on her citizenship at a press event.

She said: "I hold an Indian passport... from where do you get this information anyway."

Actor Rahul Bose returned to Mumbai from shooting in Hyderabad to vote and then quickly made his way back to the shoot.

Pooja said it was gratifying to see a long line of voters outside a polling station in Bandra.

"Well done Bandra! You make me proud! Big thank you to all the volunteers and to police personnel keeping vigil," she tweeted before going to cast her vote.

Actress Divya Dutta urged: "Vote, not because just your life depends on it. Vote because an entire nation does. One vote can make the difference. Be your change." Filmmaker Prakash Jha, who has had a tryst with politics, went to vote with his daughter.

"Both, respectfully, for our different preferences! But we voted for the peace, prosperity and pride of our beloved India. And most of all, the dignity of each of our brothers and sisters of this great nation." Madhuri wrote: "Voting is our right, let's use it wisely! The future of our country is in our hands. Let's do our duty and vote for India." R. Madhavan, who went to a polling booth with his wife, urged the youth to give "no excuses" for not voting.

Actress Gul Panag wrote: "Go out and vote. Because the future depends on it. And not just our future, but the future of the next generation too. Every vote counts." This election season, the film fraternity has been visibly divided over support for the competing political parties.

While star candidates like Urmila and Sunny Deol are fighting elections, the BJP used Bollywood's soft power and engaged celebrities like Aamir, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, A.R. Rahman, Ayushmann Khurrana and Alia Bhatt to appeal to citizens to come out and vote.

On its part, the Congress mobilised Twitter to send out a Bollywood celeb-led message to citizens: "Vote karo, magar soch samajh ke" via a video featuring Kalki Koechlin, Varun Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Nandita Das, Swara Bhasker, Vishal Dadlani, Renuka Shahane and many more.

Indo-Asian News Service