Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Kabir Singh had been at the receiving end of harsh criticism from film reviewers ever since the movie was released in theatres. Film reviewers blasted out at Kabir Singh calling it misogynist and a full show of acts of toxic masculinity. There were hardly any reviews of Kabir Singh which talked about its brilliant onscreen performances - lead and supporting cast, screenplay, dialogues, comic timing and music. But Kabir Singh braved the critics' storm and went on to become one of the highest grossing movies in Bollywood.
Kabir Singh has collected over Rs 275 crore at the Indian box office till date and is still running in theatres successfully. And now that the storm upon Kabir Singh has passed, Shahid Kapoor, who played the titular role in the film, has spoken about the unfair criticism of his film.
"Reviewers didn't talk about the music of the film, the performances, screenplay, dialogues, NOTHING. My point is 'Do your job!' That's what you are supposed to do. Of course, you have 10 min window to express your views, spend 5 mins ranting and saying 'this is a rubbish film'. No problem. But spend 5 mins giving dignity to one year of work that people have done. You have spent 10 mins on the film, that's your job. Somebody has spent an year. Can you not acknowledge it? Can you not address it?" Shahid Kapoor told Bollywood Hungama in an interview.
And made a statement by adding, "That's why people have gotten angry with them and that is why for the first time in movies that I remember, the reviewers have been reviewed by the audience."
Addressing the grinding criticism on Kabir Singh, Shahid said that, Kabir, cannot be called anti-woman just because he slapped Preeti (Kabir's ladylove played by Kiara Advani). He said that Kabir had problem with everyone - his father, his brother, his grandmother, his friends, his colleagues including himself.
"If Kabir hadn't slapped Preeti (Kiara's character), would everything else that he did be okay? Because he slapped the girl, you feel that is unacceptable and that Kabir Singh is an unacceptable character. We want you to feel this is unacceptable, his behaviour has gone beyond control," Shahid said.