India, July 1 -- A fter actor Satendra Soni's video went viral, social media was flooded with outrage against the accused, filmmaker Pushpendra Singh. However, in a case of mistaken identity, much of the online backlash was directed at another filmmaker who shares the same name. This Pushpendra Singh is known for directing Laila Aur Satt Geet (2020), which won him the Best Director award at the 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). The filmmaker tells us, "Once Satendra's video went viral, I was tagged in posts where people were asking others to target me. I asked them to stop. Satendra, too, shared the concerned filmmaker's contact details, so people stopped. I felt relieved, but it was short-lived. The next day, the other Pushpendra deactivated his account, and people again started trolling and abusing me, to a point where things went beyond my control." While condemning what Satendra allegedly went through, Pushpendra says he is also grappling with the fallout of being wrongly identified. "The industry in India has long struggled with the exploitation of character artistes, so I understand the anger [against the accused]. But what bothers me is the abuse from strangers. My reputation in the industry is taking a hit. I can only hope people take a moment to verify before making assumptions about me," he says....