In recent days, film critics who have criticised the movie Dhurandhar have faced mass targeted attacks, death and rape threats, and rampant sexual harassment. The Film Critics guild has issued a statement, which merits reading in full.
'Loving' India
But wait, let’s step back. Hundreds of thousands of people tweeting, commenting on YouTube are just Indians who deeply love India, and are feeling pained and angry at the criticism of a film which sheds light on Pakistan’s terrorism, right? The abuse is just when an occasional chap gets carried away, the larger point is that they LOVE India, a LOT.
Meanwhile, a six-year-old was brutally raped in Gujarat earlier this month. A man inserted a rod inside her genitals when she protested. In other news, the accused shared his name with one of the convicts in the Delhi gangrape case, Ram Singh. Do you see any outrage anywhere over these developments? There’s a chance you didn’t even know about them before you read these lines.
Inequality in India is at its historic highest. If you earn Rs 25,000 a month, you are in the top one percent. Two hundred thousand people were hospitalised because of air pollution. A farmer recently died waiting for fertilisers. India’s drop in per capita income started in 2016 and the running average is less than what it was in 1993. Net Foreign Direct Investment is at its lowest since 2014, and the Rupee too is at its historic lowest.
Do you see any outrage? Aren’t these people outraging against film critics pained for India and a billion Indians suffering so much when they come across such news? All these years, people inside and outside the film industry didn’t tire of saying that critics don’t matter, box office matters and audience cares about entertainment, not reviews. I’m not making the charge of Hypocrisy here.
Corporates+BJP = India
Anupama Chopra’s video review of Dhurandhar stands removed from The Hollywood Reporter India, which is owned by RPSG Lifestyle Media, part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which also owns Saregama Group, which owns rights to the Dhurandhar’s music and benefits from its success.
Whether the group was forced by mobs to remove the review or chose to do it to protect its commercial interests, we don’t know. Rahul Desai’s review on the website is still up, but it is text only and not video. Whether it is the criticism of a film, or the corruption of a business group, corporates have the power to turn a switch off or on at their whim.
Criticism of corporates like Adani or films like Dhurandhar is an attack on India. The economy being set on fire, the brutal rape of a child is not, because for the mobs propagating outrage, India=Corporates+BJP. These are often organised, even paid mobs. They are told what to outrage about and what to ignore. This has nothing to do with India.
Gender Bender
Whether it is the Medieval ages or 2025, one thing remains the same: women are attacked.
Anupama Chopra is dismissed by actor Paresh Rawal as 'Miss Irrelevant.' Media panelist Abhijit Iyer-Mitra reduces her to 'anus-puma.' Another commentator suggests she and fellow critic Sucharita Tyagi hold 'even less value than Paresh Rawal's pubic hair.' They are attacked when they do their job and say they didn’t like the film for XYZ reasons. They are attacked even when they haven’t said any such thing.
On Instagram, Hrithik Roshan writes he loved the film as a student of cinema, he may not agree with its politics. What happens next? His partner Saba Azad is attacked. She is attacked for her gender and called a manipulative with controlling Hrithik. She is attacked for her religion. For her politics. This, from those claiming to represent and defend India.
Bharat Manoj Kumar may have sang “Jeete hon kisi ne desh to kya humne to dilon ko jeeta hai, jahan ram abhi tak hai nar mein naari mein abhi bhi sita hai” but for these self proclaimed patriots and defenders of culture, abusing women is not a red line at all. The same kind of thinking that makes it okay to abuse women online, makes it ok to murder and rape women offline. There are enough and more studies which show that the two are linked. The only difference is that social media gives people the illusion of distance and immunity.
Hypocrisy Pie
Remember a time when the “masses” hated nepotism in the Hindi film industry? Dhurandhar has Akshay Khanna, son of Vinod Khanna, and Sanjay Dutt, the son of Sunil Dutt. Sanjay Dutt is a man who was charged under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA.)
Incidentally, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam has previously stated that had Dutt warned cops in time, the 1993 blasts would not have happened. The protagonist is played by the nepo-adjacent Ranveer Singh. His mother is related to Anil Kapoor by marriage, his father a rich businessman, he has done films with Dharma and Excel, ie, chief targets of the Bharatiya Janata Party's online supporters and mobs. So what happened now? Has the sin of nepotism been deleted from the list? Was the entire crusade alleging discrimination against Sushant Singh Rajput a lie?
There has also been anger against producers buying tickets to their own films to give the impression that the film is doing well. Here is the verdict on what the makers of Dhurandhar did in the first few days, from an apolitical, neutral trade website:
“The opening weekend numbers of Dhurandhar are around 86.50 crore and these are just NUMBERS while the collections are much less. Nothing has been seen like this before as its makes Sky Force and Bhul Chuk Maaf look like childs play.
Choices Galore
Is it not an insult to India if the criticism of a corporate group or a film is equated with attack on India? Is India Adani? Is it Dhurandhar? Would tell your children to threaten women with rape if they disagree with her? Should India’s Prime Minister announce at Madison Square proudly that Indians mass abuse women they disagree with?
Should you hear more about the rape of the six-year-old in Gujarat or the problem that an abusive mob has with a film? What will happen if film critics are only allowed to praise films? You won’t get objective analysis of any film. Just like you don’t get objective analysis about the government. Doesn’t India deserve better?
(The author is a lawyer and research consultant based in Mumbai. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)