Citing grey roles like Ledger's Joker and Brando's Godfather, Neelima defends son Shahid Kapoor's Kabir Singh that is drawing flak for glorifying misogyny
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; June 28, 2019)

Its box-office numbers may tell a different story, but Shahid Kapoor's Kabir Singh has reignited the discussion of how cinema needs to be more responsible in its storytelling. The Shahid Kapoor starrer has been criticised by several critics and audiences alike for glorifying toxic masculinity. Coming to her son's defense, mother Neelima Azim says that the Sandeep Reddy Vanga film is "an intelligent remake".

"Actors have the freedom to play morally controversial characters because they make for meaty roles. Tomorrow, if you play a psychopathic serial killer, will everybody watching the movie become one? Dilip [Kumar] saab and Rajesh Khanna played grey roles in Amar and Red Rose. Are you suggesting that every grey role be scrapped? In Hollywood, actors have won Oscars for characters like these. If we can't make such movies, then we will have to scrap films like Marlon Brando's A Streetcar Named Desire, Godfather and Heath Ledger's Joker [The Dark Knight]. One needs to understand that it is a story and not a lecture on morality."

While the audience has been welcoming grey roles, the problem with Kabir Singh lies in the treatment of its central character. Point out to her how the movie celebrates his misogynistic attitude instead of condemning it, and she argues, "It is a hard-hitting film, and shows [the protagonist's] arc — he changes from the [brash] student at the university to the one who returns home after his grandmother's demise. He suffers because of his attitude. The film is not glorifying the character. Instead, it warns you against becoming like Kabir Singh."

It is not easy to dismiss the violence shown against women. A case in point being the sequence where Kapoor's character is about to rape a woman at knifepoint. "He is about to [rape her] in the dark. As soon as the light comes on, he realises [his folly] and throws the knife away. It's symbolic in that sense," says Azim.