Abhay Deol slams his own film ‘Raanjhanaa’, calls it regressive

Actor Abhay Deol has never been one to shy away from voicing his opinions. And now he has slammed one of his own previous films—Raanjhanaa. In an Instagram post, he said that the film which also featured Sonam Kapoor and Dhanush, had a regressive message and glorified sexual harassment.

Sharing a blogger’s opinion about the film directed by Aanand L. Rai, Abhay said, "Such clear and valid insight from @oldschoolrebel9 regarding the film Raanjhana. History will not look kindly at this film for its regressive message. 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 willfully. In reality we have seen time and again that it leads to sexual violence of some sort. Glorifying it on screen only leads to blaming the victim…"

Netizens are lauding Abhay for his honesty, and for highlighting the issues in his own film.

Recently, Abhay had garnered praise from netizens after he called out "woke" Indian celebrities who, while remaining silent about the "systemic problems" in their own country, expressed their stand against racism in America over the killing of George Floyd and lent support to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

He had also spoken up against lobbying in the industry, citing an experience that he had post the release of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which had an ensemble cast—Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, and Kalki Koechlin and himself. Noting that Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a “great watch when anxious or stressed”, he said he and fellow-actor Farhan Akhtar were “demoted” at all award functions and were nominated as “supporting actors” while Hrithik and Katrina were nominated as “actors in a leading role”