Misogynists Who Didn't See Problem With Kabir Singh Booed at Manmarziyaan's Rumi, Says Taapsee Pannu

Kabir Singh has been doing exceptionally well at the box office. Film's lead actors Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani are also being lauded for their moving performances. But its director, Sandeep Reddy Vanga, has been widely criticised for "glorifying" toxic masculinity and "normalising" violence against women in the movie.

The director later justified the violence in the film, saying, "When you are deeply in love and deeply connected to a woman (and vice versa), if you don't have the liberty of slapping each other, then I don't see anything there."

Citing an aspiring model's murder case, in which her boyfriend allegedly killed her by crushing her head on suspicion of her "character" in Nagpur, actress Taapsee Pannu took an indirect jibe at the filmmaker. The actress tweeted, "Or maybe let’s just say they were madly in love with each other n (and) this ‘act’ was to validate his TRUE love for her."

Now, in an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Taapsee has shared her views on the film.

“Kabir Singh and Arjun Reddy are not the only films glorifying misogyny, there are several others too but not to this extent. That is one of the reasons why I do the kind of films I do, there should be a counter narrative too. I know I’ll never be able to match up to the numbers of this film but that won’t deter me. We are on the cusp of a change and I am not going to give up now,” the actress said.

“The problem is not showing flawed characters… The problem is when you glorify them and make what they are doing seem heroic. This character is so revered that whatever he does is not just accepted, it is celebrated,” she added.

Asked if she thinks the audience would be equally accepting of a “female Kabir Singh”, she said, “She was probably not a female Kabir Singh, but Manmarziyaan’s Rumi Bagga was a flawed character too, and ended up losing her love and getting divorced. The same misogynist people who didn’t see a problem with Kabir, booed Rumi. We aren’t oblivious to the double standards of our society.”

Vanga's justification caused more outrage, with actresses like Samantha Akkineni, Kubra Sait and Renuka Shahane slamming the director for opining that the women who had said they were uncomfortable with the film had not experienced real love. "I feel these women who were talking about this have never been in love... If you can't slap, touch your woman wherever you want, kiss, use cuss words, I don't see emotion there. There's nothing unconditional about that then," he said in the interview.

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