Aanand L Rai’s 2013 release Raanjhanaa continues to face flak for glorifying stalking and sexual harassment. As the film clocks 10 years, actor Abhay Deol weighs in on where the vision behind film failed to come to execution.

“The filmmaker’s motive was to have empathy and show the evolution of a character. But there is this formula that Hindi films go for, which is to add glamorization. In doing that, the film lost the essence of his message, which was about love, respect and boundaries. That was the intention with which the filmmaker came in,” says Deol, asserting that Rai’s vision was to depict what often happens in small towns.

The film follows Zoya (Sonam Kapoor Ahuja), a young woman in love with her college friend Jasjeet (Deol), even as she is pursued relentlessly by Kundan (Dhanush), a boy.

In 2020, Deol took to social media to call out the film. “History will not look kindly at this film... It’s been a theme in Bollywood for decades, where a boy can (and should) pursue a girl until she relents. Only in cinema, does she do that wilfully. In reality, we’ve seen time and again that it leads to sexual violence,” he wrote.

Mention the post, and the actor shares, “I shared what I felt and I don’t want to keep going on about it. I’ve tried to be idealistic in everything I do. Now, I have realized that it’s good to be idealistic, but you have to have a fair balance. I’m not in the space to be vocal about being idealistic anymore because people will be idealistic in their own time,” the 47-year-old signs off.