Looks like the left liberals have got another issue of national importance to worry about. In the recently released Hindi remake of South Indian blockbuster Arjun Reddy, Kabir Singh, the left liberal intelligentsia have now found their new punching bag, further exposing their own double standards in terms of dealing with creative content.
Directed by the original director Sandeep Reddy Vanga himself, Kabir Singh is the Hindi adaptation of the Telugu sleeper hit Arjun Reddy, which had released in 2017. Starring Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani etc. in principal roles, Kabir Singh is the tale of a self-destructive surgeon, whose life goes on a downward spiral after his girlfriend is forcefully married to someone else.
Ever since the movie has hit the theaters, it has evoked extreme reactions.
#KabirSingh glorifies & normalises stalking abusive relationships , rape & violence.
Violence isn't love. Toxic domination is not cool.#KabirSinghReview— RavishingTwinkle (@ravishingtwink) June 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/damansachdeva01/status/1141920819024498689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1141920819024498689&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindustantimes.com%2Fbollywood%2Fkabir-singh-evokes-extreme-reactions-on-twitter-some-say-toxic-domination-is-not-cool-others-feel-shahid-kapoor-is-just-insanely-talented%2Fstory-QbCV4jEUwmhtbHIlHcR4YP.html
While some were overwhelmed by the unconventional premise of the movie, others drew a comparison with the original movie. However, the left-liberal intelligentsia was apparently aghast on the unapologetic portrayal of the protagonist, which clearly violated their standards of ‘an ideal man’. According to these people, through the celebration of ‘toxic masculinity’, Kabir Singh will revive the archaic, ‘patriarchy’ and ‘misogyny’ which, as a society, we have completely left behind.
Needless to say, the movie was bashed left, right and center by the left-liberal critics and the intelligentsia, who have criticized the movie for allegedly glorifying misogyny and ‘toxic masculinity’. NDTV’s infamous critic Saibal Chatterjee, who interestingly rated otherwise average movies like Kalank, Ek Ladki ko Dekha to Aisa Laga, Veere Di Wedding etc. rather favorably, rated this movie 1.5 /5.
Raja Sen of the Hindustan Times rated this movie as ‘injurious to health’, while controversial artist Sona Mohapatra slammed Shahid Kapoor for choosing this movie, accusing him of having no social responsibility. Probably she never heard of Shahid’s apt reply to one reporter who posed the same questions, made almost a month before the release of the movie. Notorious critic from Film Companion Sucharita Tyagi even went to the extent of alleging the movie of promoting rape, kidnapping etc. in her movie review.
Though disgusting and extremely atrocious, this was not entirely unexpected. While Kabir Singh is itself not without flaws, the way elite critics have heckled the movie; it speaks for itself how hard their interests have been hit by the same. However, some vigilant netizens exposed the hypocrisy of such left liberal critics. Popular newspaper The Hindu rated the original movie Arjun Reddy as a ‘landmark film’, while Kabir Singh, which is no way different from the original, was rated as follows –
Kabir Singh is a Hindi remake of the Telugu movie Arjun Reddy. Same content but two different reviews from @the_hindu . Why you ask? That's how media works. 'Demand and supply'. @the_hindu produces a demand for hatred and then will supply hatred with a pen. #KabirSingh pic.twitter.com/wGX1j0bpku
— Mia Malala (@Yourtimesup_02) June 22, 2019
While some may give the excuse of the different critics reviewing the movies, the truth is that neither the premise of the movie was different, nor would be the editorial policy of The Hindu any different. By promoting such hypocritical stance, isn’t ‘The Hindu’ promoting the linguistic hatred only elite intellectuals are too notorious for?
This only goes on to prove how left liberals are some of the most hypocrite people ever known. When Haider openly mocked the genocide of Kashmiri Pundits, demonized Indian soldiers as bloodthirsty foot soldiers of an oppressive regime, we were told that PK is just a movie, one shouldn’t be offended by the blatant contempt it showed towards the Sanatana Dharma. They even gave sermons on how Padmaavat must not be looked at with contempt, but treated just a movie, despite the movie glorifying the atrocities committed by the Turkish Sultanate shamelessly.
However, all the sermons and the sweet talk went for a talk when Aditya Dhar released the theatrical trailer for his debut movie Uri – The Surgical Strike. Based on the heroic cross border operations, the movie was an eyesore for the very left liberals, who ran week long campaigns against the same. The Wire openly addressed it as an example of ‘toxic hyper-nationalism’ being unjustly ‘glorified’ in the runup to the 2019 elections.
Ironically, the same left liberals would sing paeans for movies like Sanju, which was way more misogynistic and cheap than what Kabir Singh actually is. They even had no objections when Shahid had played way worse character in Udta Punjab on the basis of morality, but went aghast when ‘Kabir Singh’ portrayed an unapologetically foul-mouthed man with a self-destructive attitude.
I guess they’re still under the impression that freedom of speech and expression is a one-way road. However, these left-liberal critics have probably forgotten the old adage, ‘Forbidden fruit is the sweetest.’ The more you sermonize someone not to do something, the more that person is attracted towards doing exactly the same thing.
And this is why Kabir Singh, though not as flawless as ‘Uri’, has managed to pull the crowds to the theaters, all thanks to the hypocritical attitude of the left liberal intelligentsia. As of now, the movie has earned a whopping Rs. 42.20 crores and counting on the box office, and the elite critics won’t like that for sure.
