Deepika Padukone takes on India's 'leading' newspaper

It was a top-angle shot and a tweet under the TOI Entertainment (@TOIEntertain) handle that screamed 'OMG: Deepika Padukone's cleavage show' that had the actress see red. A livid DP retorted: 'Supposedly India's 'LEADING' newspaper and this is 'NEWS'!? YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!? Dont talk about woman's empowerment when YOU don't know how to RESPECT women!'.
Soon after, a steady flow of support from friends and colleagues followed. The hashtag &IStandWithDeepikaPadukone began trending.

First Stand
Among the first to react were filmmakers and designers who tweeted thus:
Ritesh Sidhwani: Shocked! What it takes to get attention. Our media needs to be more responsible and sensitive.
Homi Adajania: We just slam ourselves back into the dark ages! Reputed channels inciting regressive shit. What are they thinking?! Sad!
Designers Gauri and Nainika: Sexist and utterly sad that instead of covering true talent, the media resorts to such low means to attract readership.
Masaba Gupta: Three cheers to breasts and cleavage. We don't see pics of men who wear unflattering pants, the penis is holy or what?'

Girls Stand Together
In an unprecedented move, actresses industrywide took a united stand for DP, without mincing words 
Some tweeted...:
Priyanka Chopra: Well done @deepikapadukone ! Taken a stand for all of us.
Huma Qureshi: More power to @deepikapadukone, that's how you shut them up.
Ileana D'Cruz: Absolutely disgusting that this is what they choose to write about! Good on you for speaking up against this bullshit!
Esha Gupta: @deepikapadukone well said, proud of you. Thank you for doing this. Women power.
Aditi Rao Hydari: Thank you for this! About time! RESPECT
Sophie Choudry: Media attacks a celeb's personal & professional life all the time but this is a new low! Thank you for speaking out! Shame!
Suchitra Krishnamoorti: Problem with Indian media is they consider themselves so powerful as to write rubbish and get away with it. Kudos Deepika, for taking a stand.
Others sent in personal reactions...:
Dia Mirza: Deepika has stirred up a hornest's nest. A section of the media has for years treated women in the entertainment industry disgracefully. Some papers use their entertainment pages to objectify women. I know many people who have unsubscribed from these publications. The irony of it is that these same publications get paid hefty amount of money from us for sponsored stories. It was about time someone reacted.
Gauahar Khan: It makes my blood boil. I am glad Deepika gave back as good as she got. Just because we are public figures doesn't mean we should allow any kind of behaviour.
Malaika Arora: "Way to go, girl. She said it exactly the way it should be. Put the yellow journalists in their place.
Nimrat Kaur: The fearlessness and intolerance for such pepper-spray worthy reportage is what all of us should display. Only Deepika has dared to show us what role models are made of.
Reema Kagti: "It's good that Deepika stood up for herself. A section of the media has hit an all-time low. The way the Shweta Prasad case was handled last week made that quite apparent."

What Some Men Tweeted:
Karan Johar: Appalled, shocked and disgusted at the level of disrespect shown. Deepika or any women in the world cannot and should not stand for this!!
Shoojit Sircar: Eve-teasing of different kind.
Gaurav Kapur: So the TOI has done something crude and classless again! I'm not surprised. I stopped subscribing to it years ago. Listen TOI, you want to be a junky tabloid then go ahead. I mean, you already are. Just don't pretend to be a national 'news'paper'.
Arjun Kapoor tried to be politically correct and tweeted in a superficial manner, saying: We have hit a new low today...forget complimenting a woman have the ability to respect a woman first.

What DP's men said
While Deepika's ex-boyfriend Sidhartha Mallya voiced his opinion through two strongly worded tweets, current beau Ranveer Singh sent out a message late in the night. Sid said: 'Proud of @deepikapadukone for standing up and speaking her mind. Too many others in this country would have sat on the fence and kept quiet.' He again tweeted when TOIENtertain called the link a 'compliment. His tweet said: And the @TimesofIndia response may just have to go down as one of the most idiotic, shambollic and stupid responses of all time. Bravo.' Ranveer though barely mentioned the issue and seemed to be rather superficial, saying: @deepikapadukone way to let 'em know! #LikeABoss @TOIEntertain TUM se yeh ummeed nahi thi #SMH #owned.

The Media, Too
Among the many journalist tweets that poured in, this was one that put it quite well
Barkha Dutt: Good for you @deepikapadukone - nothing embarrasses misogynists more than some plainspeak!

And Then It Got Worse
Noticing that Deepika had decided to take a stand about the link that they had tweeted, @TOIEntertain sent out a message, perhaps in a bid to make peace. It only ended up aggravating the situation further. The tweet read: It's a compliment! You look so great we want to make sure everyone knew!
The following tweets sum up the outrage that followed...
Nimrat Kaur: with this 'compliment' , I shudder to think who this 'everyone' is you're reaching out to?
Farah Khan: Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. @deepikapadukone doing just that!! (N THATS how u pay a compliment )
Arjun Kapoor: We have hit a new low today...forget complimenting a woman have the ability to respect a woman first...
Boman Irani: Complimenting a lady is a grace reserved for gentlemen! I stand on a tall tall chair and applaud you @deepikapadukone

—With inputs from Subhash K Jha