Months after staunchly defending the criticism surrounding Kabir Singh, Shahid Kapoor has finally said that he doesn't promote anything his character of an aggressive surgeon did in the film.
Upon its release, Kabir Singh received huge backlash, with many critics calling it "extremely misogynistic, problematic and sexist." Many also argued that the film could encourage misplaced sympathy at best, and violence at worst.
At the Star Screen Awards, Shahid took on the critical conversation about Kabir Singh and revealed why he chose to do the role.
He said, "I don't think we have justified anything in Kabir Singh. Kabir is a very messed up character and he does a lot of things that good people should not do. We have never said that Kabir Singh is a good human being and he does good stuff. We have maintained since the beginning that he is a very violent and messed up character. But he has a heart. And, I think it's important to acknowledge the fact that we've all got both light and dark inside us, otherwise films will become candy floss, the things that really don't exist."
He added, "If you want to solve any problem in the society, you will first have to address that problem. If violence and bad behaviour is a problem in the society and if you're not going to show that in films then how will people talk about it?"
The actor further said cinema is meant to provoke difficult conversations around complex issues and believes that Kabir Singh was entirely successful in doing so.
"Today, Kabir Singh has sparked a debate about what behaviour is good or bad. Cinema's job is to depict real life and bring up conversations and what everyone makes of that conversation or film is for everyone to decide individually. Cinema is also a therapeutic medium where you get to see things and learn while being emotionally affected about what you saw. It reflects life and when you reflect life, you've got to reflect it honestly. You can't show it in a hypocritical manner by showing some things and not showing the other things."
"In a democracy, whenever you make cinema in the true sense, you have to be able to show different types of characters - that's my understanding of acting and cinema. I don't endorse anything Kabir Singh did but that doesn't mean it's not my job to represent him correctly because I'm an actor. It's your job to decide what you think is right or wrong about Kabir Singh and I leave that right to you," the actor added.
Kabir Singh has turned out to be the highest-grossing film in Shahid's 16-year-long career. The film amassed a lifetime collection of Rs 276.34 crore and become the second-highest grosser of 2019 after Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff's War.
"I'm very overwhelmed with this year. This has been a very gratifying year and I have only the audience to thank. We ourselves didn't expect that the film would perform so well and receive so much love. So, it's overwhelming what happened with Kabir Singh. I have got a successful film after waiting for so many years, so I feel very grateful. Sometimes I feel I don't deserve it but I'm very happy," the actor said.
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