In a recent interview to a portal, filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga defended his controversial blockbuster, Kabir Singh. A remake of Sandeep’s 2017 Telugu hit Arjun Reddy, Kabir Singh was criticised for romanticising its titular hero’s misogynistic behaviour, including his ill-treatment of his partner. Asked to specify his intentions behind such a portrayal, Sandeep contended that physical expression — including violent gestures like slapping — is emblematic of ‘honest’ love.
“When you are deeply in love and deeply connected to a woman, and vice versa, there’s a lot of honesty in it. if you don’t have the liberty of slapping each other, then I don’t see anything there,” he told the interviewer.
Addressing a scene where Kabir (Shahid Kapoor) kisses Preeti (Kiara Advani) on their first meeting, Sandeep reasoned that if the girl was uncomfortable, she would have slapped him. “She slapped him a couple of times in the film. And she slapped him without a reason. Kabir has a reason to slap. And if you can’t slap, and if you can’t touch your woman wherever you want, and if you can't kiss, and you can't use cuss words, I don’t see emotion there. Then, it’s all margins and papers,” he told the portal.
The director called the film’s detractors ‘pseudos’, saying they have never experienced love ‘in the right way’. On the characterisation of Preeti as a timid, submissive person, Sandeep countered, “There are a few girls who are like this, and don’t talk much. That has nothing to do with her intellect. She’s not dumb.”
His statements drew strong reactions on social media. Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan (Masaan, Sacred Games 2) tweeted, “Utterly disrespectful! Insensitive comments on women and how they need to be treated. That Freudian slip with the name was the saving grace.”
Actor Gulshan Devaiah wrote, “Hello Mr Sandeep Reddy Vanga maybe you are pissed off and that’s why you’re saying what you are, but now I am pissed too... so here is how I articulate my pissed off-ness to you. Guess I am never getting work from your side, but I’ll survive.”
Kabir Singh has earned Rs 218.60 crore at the box-office so far. The film is expected to touch the 300 crore mark by the end of week 3.