The Hindi movie industry, while occasionally giving us gems, has the general tendency of following tropes. Now some of them are harmless, but most of them aren’t. And beyond tropes also, there is a bunch of offensive stuff that needs to be called out.
Here, we rank these scenes from least to most problematic. We would like to state here that while we have given them a ranking based on how tone-deaf they were, this is not to suggest that one form of discrimination or assault is better or worse than the other.
26. Kajol (who plays the role of Anjali) dissing “baaki ladkiyan” in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
25. All the boys lusting after Amrita Rao after she gets a makeover and becomes more ‘feminine’ in Main Hoon Na.
24. Amitabh Bachchan’s character telling his son (played by Shah Rukh Khan) that he can’t marry their house help’s daughter because she won’t be able to comply with their sanskaar.
It’s okay, you wanted to show him as a sexist elite, but how exactly does he redeem himself? Does he make any effort on his own? No.
23. The scene in Vivah where the mother smears talcum powder on her dusky daughter.
Traumatic, triggering and everything in between.
22. Repeated jokes on homosexuality in Kal Ho Na Ho, with Kantaben shown as a homophobe, who starts shaking at the thought of two men being romantically involved.
The fact that Dharma Productions thinks it’s a “comedy scene”. I can’t…
21. This scene in Dostana portrays a gay character with all the stereotypes that gay people are trying to fight in real life
Neither do they want everyone to flirt with them nor do they start flirting with the first gay person they meet. Come on!
20. This sexist monologue in Pyaar Ka Punchnama, that is sexist and degrades women, but somehow, has become…iconic?
19. The scene in Pati Patni Aur Woh where the male protagonist says, “Biwi se sex maang lein, toh hum bhikaari. Biwi ko sex mana kar dein, toh hum atyachaari aur kisi tarah jugaad laga ke uss se sex haasil kar lein na toh balaatkaari bhi hum hain“.
Oh, it was important enough to be included in the trailer.
18. Chatur’s speech in 3 Idiots plays on the word balatkaar, and makes a joke out of it.
17. This scene in Sanju where he boasts that he has slept with 308 women, but asks to ’round it up’ to 350. This is after asking if he should keep “prostitutes separate”.
From the writer, to the actor, to the director, to the editor – no one thought this is offensive.
16. The scene in Raanjhanaa where Dhanush’s character cuts his wrist to confess love to Zoya (played by Sonam Kapoor), and she falls for him.
15. The scene in Great Grand Masti where a woman says, “Aap nahin jaante mere seene pe kitna bojh hai”, and the man replies, “Dekh sakte hain, aap kahein toh utha bhi sakte hain“.
It’s in the trailer, along with 100 other offensive things.
14. Again, a montage of problematic scenes in Grand Masti.
13. The scene in Student Of The Year 2, where the hero says, “Ek hath mein girlfriend, ek hath mein trophy“.
12. Akshay Kumar’s character in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi saying, “Kya maal hai yaar“, in a ‘funny scene’.
11. In this scene from Tere Naam, Salman Khan’s character Radhe kidnaps a girl, threatens her, screams at her, and says he will hit her because he is in love. And guess what, a few seconds of crying later, the girl comes to him and says, “Mujhe maaf kar do“.
And immediately, there is a romantic song.
10. This scene in Nayak where Shivaji Rao Gaekwad (played by Anil Kapoor) secretly stalks his love…and records her.
09. Aman’s whole “6 din ladki in” plan in Kal Ho Naa Ho.
08. Raj totally not respecting Simran’s boundaries in the creepy train scene in DDLJ.
07. Akshay Kumar’s character Viraj forcibly kissing Simrita (played by Kareena Kapoor) in Kambakkht Ishq.
06. Again, the forced kissing scene in Ishq.
05. Kabir telling Preeti, “Chunni theek karo” in Kabir Singh.
04. Kabir slapping Preeti in this highly disturbing scene.
03. The scene in Dabangg where Salman Khan’s character Chulbul Pandey tells Sonakshi’s character Rajjo to accept money or he will hit her. And she says, “Thappad se darr nahin lagta sahab, pyaar se lagta hai“.
02. This scene in Badrinath Ki Dulhania, where they make fun of a man and laugh at the fact that his clothes are torn. It is shown to be a funny scene in the movie, even though it directly hints at assault.
01. The scene in Haseen Dillruba where Taapsee’s character says, “Amar prem wohi hai jispe khoon ke halke halke se cheente ho … taaki usse buri nazar na lage“.
Again, you want to show her as a delusional lover, go ahead, but where do we see her paying for having these values?
Some more sensible writing, please?