Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2019 blockbuster ‘Kabir Singh’ led by Shahid Kapoor drew the ire of several critics and viewers. The film portrayed Shahid as an aggressive man who considers his girl his property. The film drew criticism for the depiction of toxic masculinity and its glorification. Despite the flack, the title became a box-office success, emerging as one of the top releases of the year. Kiran Advani got her breakthrough after she starred as the docile Preeti in the film. Even after a few years, the film continues to be a subject of discussion, especially when the oeuvre of Vanga is talked about. Now, the actor has made an audacious claim.
In his recent conversation with Faye D’Souza, Shahid Kapoor claimed that men like Kabir Singh exist and women do fall in love with him. He said, “It is not really about who I am. It is about who we all can be. Who we all choose to be. What we all want to be and your learning has to be from that and you cannot make films that are never addressing what is happening in life.”
He also added, “I don’t think a lot of things that Kabir did was acceptable at all. I would not accept a guy like that. But do guys like that exist? Do girls like that fall in love with guys like that? Yes, they do! So why can’t we make a movie about it? You walk away, you decide what you like what you don’t like. That’s really up to you, as an audience.”
Following ‘Kabir Singh,’ another film by Vanga, ‘Animal’ faced similar criticism for glorifying violence and toxic masculinity. The film, led by Ranbir Kapoor emerged as a top-grosser and is up for a sequel. Moreover, the controversial nature of the film continues to stir a debate around the responsibility of cinema to glorify the right kind of characters and slam the problematic ones.
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Released in 2019, ‘Kabir Singh’ starred Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani in lead roles. The film was the official Hindi remake of Vanga’s own Telugu blockbuster ‘Arjun Reddy’ headlined by Vijay Deverakonda.
Meanwhile, hahid’s last was ‘Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya’ opposite Kriti Sanon. His next is ‘Deva,’ which will release in theatres on January 31.