In a candid chat with Neha Dhupia on her podcast, Kiara Advani talks about the criticism she received for playing a character as submissive and silent as Preeti in Kabir Singh.
Picture Courtesy: Official Instagram Account/Kiara Advani and YouTube
Kiara Advani had a roller-coaster 2019 with two of her films, Kabir Singh and Good Newwz emerging as one of the biggest hits of that year. While the latter was a rib-tickling comedy, the former was a dark romantic outing. Critics claimed the film endorsed violence and toxic masculinity. Kiara faced criticism from the audience for choosing a character as submissive and silent as Preeti.
On the latest episode of JioSaavn's #NoFilterNeha Season 5, Kiara opened up on her professional and personal life. The actress also reacted to the reactions she got for her character in the Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film. Kiara said, "I feel like and I realize this only because of Kabir Singh that there's certain characters, today what people know me, even after a certain body of work, they can't get over certain character that you've played. They feel like this is you. It becomes larger than life. That's what happened with Preeti. I was happy when Guilty came out and Good Newwz came out and people were like okay, wow, she's a versatile actress and you know I've got all the critical acclaim for. But, with Kabir, I think, it was, I was very nervous before the film release because I was aware that section of backlash would come because we saw it happen with the first film. So, we knew it would happen."
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Did the actress expect a backlash of such magnitude? "We didn't expect the extent of it because of course with the Hindi Film Industry, it's a larger audience and the way the film reached out to people. I feel I have never in my career had every single person from my fraternity message me and tell me what a fantastic job I had done. I remember you coming out of our screening, like crying and hugging me and everyone was like you know, it was like you only see Preeti outburst at the end in that last scene. And, for me that scene justified everything. For me, that scene showed her strength, she wasn't just going to just go back to the man she loved. She decided to raise a child on her own, she left, she left him, she left the man her parents forced her to marry. I just felt she was not the woman that maybe other people saw her to be till that interval and I felt unfortunate for those people who did have the comments of misogyny and all of that which of course there is a part of the character but that’s something that was always known to the audience when you see it in the promos also."
"Unfortunately, some people just made the slap, the whole movie about one slap, it was not about one slap. That's not something that I stand for. And, that's not something that I would ever stand for and that's not something Preeti stood for, either. Because, she left him, she's like no way, you have ruined whatever we've had this entire issue and she doesn't go back to him and he comes finding her and even in that moment she doesn't want to see his face but they have a confrontation and that's what their climax scene, I think was 20 minutes long, where everything is discussed, argued and I guess, love is love at the end of the day. They both come back together. There's a reason why till today I get so many messages about the film and I know it’s a character that is always whoever knows me will always have Preeti associated in their mind when they think of me. It’s just a, like some characters, some with actors, you always think of that character when you think of that actor so", she concluded.
Also Read: Shahid Kapoor On Kabir Singh Criticism: Why Is Everyone After My Movie?
Kabir Singh was the Hindi remake of the Telugu hit Arjun Reddy. The original blockbuster starred Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey. Helmed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who also directed the original film, it also starred Soham Majumdar, Arjan Bajwa, Suresh Oberoi, Nikita Dutta and Kamini Kaushal in pivotal roles. Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Murad Khetani, Krishan Kumar, and Ashwin Varde, the film had released on June 21 last year.
On the work front, Kiara has Shershaah with Sidharth Malhotra, a film on the life of Captain Vikram Batra. She also has Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 with Kartik Aaryan and Tabu, Laxmmi Bomb with Akshay Kumar, and Indoo Ki Jawaani with Aditya Seal.
Also Read: 1 Year Of Kabir Singh: Kiara Advani Gets Nostalgic, Shares Unseen Pictures
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