Kabir Singh Is Not A Hero. He’s A Sexist, Abusive Alcoholic. It Scares Us That It’s Doing Well At The Box Office
When you’re in the business of creating content, one thing that both – explicitly and implicitly needs to be kept in mind is the kind of audience you want to target with what you’re creating. Public acclaim is the highest form of validation and motivation for the creators, followed closely by box office numbers. You want the audience to love your movie and go to the theatres to watch it. But you also want the audiences to remember the characters, and their lines. For the movie to leave an impact. And while that’s great, it should scare the bejeezus out of us that a movie like Kabir Singh, that’s toxic and misogynistic is raking in the numbers.
The Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani-starrer romantic drama that hit the screens recently has closed at almost 70 crores in its first weekend, with approximately 25+ crores on Sunday itself. If these numbers are anything to go by, it gives the movie the second best Sunday of the year so far, after Bharat’s collection of 27.9 crores on its Sunday. Now while the numbers really are impressive, the movie in hand – not so much.
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The entire movie felt like a 3-hour wait for a ball drop that would make all of his sexist, temperamental, drinking and smoking, raging libido issues seem valid, except nothing happens. He’s like this because this is how he is. No, you sexist f***ing director, he’s like this because he has issues. He’s not a hero. He’s an abusive alcoholic. So you understand when we struggle to find a connection between the raging numbers and the raging toxicity that was Kabir Singh. We want to knock the director Sandeep Singh in the head and introduce him to the concept of women having agency. Of them not being only objects of men’s desires.
U are the nth moron trying to make such a false equivalence. A woman singing lustily & celebrating her own sexuality isn’t likely to cause violence & isn’t the same thing as a man grabbing a woman without her consent,kissing her apart from several other such toxic masculine acts https://t.co/d0efQmxKbV
— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) June 23, 2019
I'm serious about this thought that Misogyny is "Infectious" have been noticing the narrative around #KABIRSINGH past few days..What a terribly misogynistic and extremely violent film! Arjun Reddy was bad enough and now this remake! Am I surprised it's doing well …Well Well!
— Vani Tripathi Tikoo (@vanityparty) June 25, 2019
I refuse to watch 'Kabir Singh', much as I admire Shahid Kapoor. Stalking is stalking. No justification. Zero tolerance recommended.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) June 24, 2019
Kabir Singh, whose trailer itself gave us chills down the spine, has made it to the Top 20 weekends of all time. This is worrying considering that movies like Uri or Raazi, with powerful messages and substance, could only close at 46 and 32 crores respectively. The drawn comparison is not just sad but enough reason for us to rethink what we are and aren’t promoting. Singer Sona Mohapatra, a CBFC Member and now Shobha De, all have come forward to call out the rubbishing misogynistic content that this movie has to offer, and we are in complete agreement with them on it. And as Shobha De said, much as she admires Shahid Kapoor, there needs to be zero tolerance to this kind of film-making.
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Think about it, do we really need such exposure or acclaim for a movie that is everything wrong with the male-dominated society? Especially after knowing the fact that movies as such always have a stronger influence on people, and the last time I checked, a crass, offensive and clearly troubled character who’s unapologetic doesn’t need to become a hero. In fact, he should be jailed for his aggressions, just so we are sending out the right message.
