Gently weighing in on Kabir Singh

No I didnt watch Sandeep Reddy Vangas Kabir Singh when it released in theatres Id seen Vangas Arjun Reddy in Telugumdashabout a young obsessive lover with serious anger management issues that Kabir Singh is a scenebyscene remake ofThe original hadnt quite left me moved or even deeply impressed Its best to avoid a film especially for reviewing purposes if you can already recognise a prejudice within before walking into its intended remake Would I do the same if Mani Ratnam decided to remake Kaatru Veliyidai 2017 in Hindimdashanother mildly neurotic lovestory centred on a hero with selfrestraint issues Hell yeahBut thats because personally as a viewer I find it hard to empathise with a flawed lead whose flaws outweigh any reasons that you might want to root for himhermdashmainly in a romance which is so much about wanting the girl to get together with the guy in the first placeSuch prejudices I notice even extend in some peoples cases towards certain actors whose offscreen actions they dont approve of And so they hate on the fellows films regardless Having so bought into the celebrity culture they start to believe that a movie with a 300plus crew scripting onwards is entirely an actors sole piece of work Okay Im specifically referring to certain folk who dont like say Salman Khan as a public person And given that predisposition should simply not be watching Salman Khan in a picture Though anybody who says they dont hold similar biases isnt entirely lying Just that they dont know Biases more often than not in such matters seem to reside in the unconscious A prejudice on the other hand at its core comes to the foreSo why did I go watch Kabir Singh in the cinema finally Because when a movie directed by a South Indian director in Hindi releasing on a nonfestivalvacation weekend starring a leading man hardly at the top of his gamemdashloaded with every reason to fail yet surpassing even the producers expectations to become the sleeper blockbuster of the year raking in numbers that the Khans SalmanAamirShahrukh are unable to touchmdashswiftly inches close to R200 crore at the boxoffice you go in to watch the audience Rather than the movie itselfWhich is what I did with an eye on the screen of course The hall was halfpacked on a day when Mumbai was nearly flooded The genderratio was more in favour of women than usual Most of the films detractors I observed on social media attributed their hate to an inherent misogyny in the movie that glorifies its lead charactermdashthe tough guy who preys on a prettymuch muted girl who in turn falls for him But did she have a choiceThat would equally apply to Arjun Reddy starring the hulklike Vijay Devarakonda Only that babyface Shahid Kapoor as Kabir Singh looks far less intimidating To a point you wonder how he manages to spread so much dehshat horror in his medschool with his presence alone But you go along not so hardThis is hot on the heels of Padmaavat where Kapoor played a relatively chomumeek Ratan Singh before the beastly Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji Kabir Singh isnt a part you would instantly associate with the teetotaller KapoorWhich explains a lot of what audiences have been repeatedly seeking latelymdashwatching their actors transform before the bigscreen anticasting as its called in the service of popular entertainment Rather than simply catching stars from the days of yore That performance draws you in And nobody thinks Kapoor is personally condoning his actions in the pic thats not his image like Sallu fans from back in the day may havemdashwatching Tere NaamWhat I had enjoyed about Arjun Reddy was the urbane classtopper socially degenerating under the influence of drugs and alcohol This was quite refreshing given that substanceabuse is only viewed from the angle of a suicidal losermdashlosing it further still DevdasDevD As against a functional addict finding escape in cokeboozemdashcarrying on with decadence treating the present as a phase This is far more common in cities than represented in cinemaThe audience I could tell were laughing at Kabir Singh In the vein of watching a movie that is in its essence high on toxic masculinity wading into risk wala unrequited lovemdashin contrast to the almost archetypal androgynous metrosexual Bollywood hero prancing around over ishq wala loveWould this male audience get encouraged by Kabir Singhs behaviour Or would the women tolerate someone like him Cant imagine any more than they wouldmdashregardless of this movie Or any other Most which end with good inevitably winning over evil By that logic moviegoers should be better human beings for that fact alone The only tangible impactinfluence the commercial success of Kabir Singh is ever likely to have if at all are more movies of the sort in the shorttermmdashbefore the novelty runs out Thats allMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and 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