Raanjhanaa is one of the most popular Bollywood movies ever made. It is often celebrated as a selfless love story when in reality, it’s nothing but the glorification of stalking, eve-teasing, harassment and pretty much everything wrong with a patriarchal society.
1. It is extremely sexist.
Everything about the film is sexist. From glorifying families and religions’ control over women’s bodies and lives to stalking and harassment, everything is a problem.
2. The film glorifies Roadside Romeo type characters.
Kundan is shown as this pure of heart guy when he basically just harasses Sonam Kapoor’s character throughout the movie with a weird sense of entitlement like she owes him a date because he ‘loves’ her.
3. The film also sees Kundan use the threat of suicide to secure a date.
A red flag, if there ever was one.
4. Kundan also doesn’t care about Zoya’s choices.
He just couldn’t take no for an answer and this is glorified in the film. Mind you, the movie might have gone a different way, but men imitating this behaviour in real life often leads to crimes against women.
5. When he finds out that she has someone on her life, he just drops her in the bloody river.
That is literally violence against a woman because she doesn’t like you.
6. The following is an actual dialogue from the film said by Dhanush’s Kundan. It shouldn’t need any further explanation.
Subha se shaam peechha karo, ghar ke baahar, school ke baahar, bazaar mein, sadko pe, cycle pe, ricksha mein, tempo mein, ro do, khana khaana chhod do, wazan ghatalo, aur ladki ko itna thaka do ke woh thak ke haan bol de.
7. Kundan also gets Zoya’s fiance murdered. He gets lynched because he’s not from the same faith as her and nobody even talks about it.
You can’t get people killed. Period!
8. While he was on his deathbed, Abhay Deol’s Jasjeet sits beside Kundan and the duo conveniently blame Zoya for all of it.
Even Abhay Deol agreed that history wouldn’t be kind to this film.
9. Sonam Kapoor’s Zoya spends years dedicating herself to the political party they started but somehow Kundan comes and hijacks it and becomes their leader and nobody sees any problem with that.
As a matter of fact, he is celebrated as a hero. The audience too is told that since he repented all he did by hitchhiking through North India, all his sins are forgotten.
10. The movie also blames Zoya for everything she did to Kundan while he did far worse to Bindiya.
He agrees to marry her out of spite and then abandons her on the day of their wedding.
So if you still want to imitate Kundan or think of him as a hero, you need help! As do the women around you. I worry for them.