Deepika Padukone shows her spine

Deepika Padukone hit out at big media where it hurts - taking too much advantage of their reach. On Sunday the Entertainment section of Times Of India tweeted a video of Padukone with the caption, "ÖMG! Deepika Padukone's cleavage show!" Padukone tweeted back, "YES!I am a Woman.I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??" She further said, "Dont talk about Woman's Empowerment when YOU don't know how to RESPECT Women!"

The Times of India clearly did not expect this and appeared to be at a loss of how to react. In what seemed like a further faux pas, it replied, "It's a compliment! You look so great that we want to make sure everyone knew! :)”

This sent Twitter users into outrage mode against the newspaper all of Sunday. #IStandWithDeepikaPadukone trended all day on Twitter. Several Bollywood celebrities and hundreds of fans have come out in support of the actress and #IStandWithDeepikaPadukone was the top trend on Twitter in India on Monday.

"Appalled....shocked and disgusted at the level of disrespect shown. Deepika or any women in the world cannot and should not stand for this!!" tweeted producer, director Karan Johar.

It is not the first time that news websites have tried to project and highlight a woman's body for getting more views but ToI's Sunday experience should be more than a lesson in ethical entertainment journalism. Perhaps the publication didn't expect such a massive backlash given its recent push on Women Ahead and other campaigns. They didn't expect Deepika Padukone to speak up but she did. As the handle @madversity tweeted, "They think Deepika Padukone has a cleavage, I think she has a spine."

Nimrat Kaur tweeted: "Dear @TOIEntertain... with this 'compliment' , I shudder to think who this 'everyone' is you're reaching out to?"

Picture Courtesy Deccan Chronicle