The fact that a problematic movie like Kabir Singh went on to become a roaring blockbuster at the Box Office is enough to show how normalised misogyny is in the Indian psyche. And that too, for ages. A 1988 movie, Maalmaal, had two male characters agreeing on - 'Agar eik khoobsurat ladki ko na chhedo, toh woh bhi toh uski beizzati hoti hai na..." It's 2021, and nothing has changed. Movies released in 2019 have also exhibited the same kind of misogynistic thinking, and people have loved it.
The Mumbai Police has taken note of the rampant use of such patriarchal statements in Hindi movies, and has pointed out a few problematic scenes from a few of them. And as expected, Kabir Singh got a double mention. The movie might have - yet again - proved Shahid Kapoor's brilliance as an actor, but it won't be an exaggeration to say that every scene in it reeks of deep-rooted misogyny and patriarchy.
Other movies that got a mention in Mumbai Police's list are Dabangg, Maalamaal, and Chashme Baddoor (2013).
The Mumbai Police compiled the ugly scenes from these movies and put them as a singular post on its official Instagram account with the hashtag, #LetsNotNormaliseMisogyny. “Cinema is a reflection of our society. Here are (just) a few (of many) dialogues both our society & cinema need to reflect upon. Choose your words & actions with care - unless you want the law to intervene,” reads the caption of the post.
While we concur with the list, we have an issue with Dil Dhadakne Do's inclusion. The scene Mumbai Police refers to here is one in which Rohit Bose's character proudly says how he allowed his wife to work. But this is immediately called out for the misogynistic approach in the same scene by Farhan Akhtar's Sunny.
This post of Mumbai Police has gone viral on social media.
Image source: IMDb