Movie Review: Kabir Singh (2019)

"Misogynistic!"
"Loud!"

"Toxic masculinity!"

Slogans and statements like these abound the official Hindi remake of the successful Telugu film Arjun Reddy - Kabir Singh; and as I booked my ticket, I kept all these factors in mind. Here I am giving you all an unbiased view of the film, superseding the hype and the overwhelming response this film has got. However, there is no doubt that it is ruling the box office, giving the stalwarts of Bollywood, a competition for their forthcoming ventures. 

The movie is a string of sequences running back and forth into the past and the present. One moment you see the Gabru of Udta Punjab, the other moment you witness the Aditya Kashyap of Jab We Met. 

Since the film is a saga of the seven stages of love, particularly emphasizing on the stages of extreme attachment and madness that follows, it required a rather robust and aggressive portrayal of a man falling head over heels in love with a woman, years younger to him. This brings me to talk about the characterisation. 

The film, according to Sandeep Vanga, the director, is a character-driven movie. It doesn't rely on anything peripheral. One just witnesses a moving canvas of a broken individual, diligently painted by the director in shades of black and red (apparently showing the dark side of love.) This character, as we all know as Kabir Singh was effortlessly delivered by Shahid Kapur; a testimony to all his fans and critics of his unfading mettle in movies. Be it the scene where he abuses and beats the daylights out of the rival football team players, or the scenes he shares with Kiara Advani, you have no choice but to gauge the amount of work this man must have put in. Not to mention, his whistle-worthy entry sequence in the movie.

With all said and done regarding the protagonist, lets shift the lens to the female lead, Kiara Advani (who plays Preeti, Kabir's self-proclaimed bandi) While social media has deemed Kabir Singh as toxic, I find Preeti's character in the movie equally flawed. Which teenage girl gives in to the advances of an unknown senior whose notoriety and anger-issues are famous college-wide? Now, I have no qualms regarding her acting, but it did appear to be over-the-top in some scenes. Perhaps, her role demanded the same, and she did give justice to her character. 

Now comes the most under-rated of all performers, Soham Majumdar, a fresh face with a lot of potential. The thing with supporting characters is that they don't dominate the screen but leave an indelible impact on the cine-goers. Majumdar as Shiva, Kabir's sidekick did the job spot on. Exuding vibes akin to those of Kamli (Vicky Kaushal's character in Sanju), we all need the companionship of a Shiva on the roller-coaster called life. As vibrant his character may appear, he has monolith jobs in the movie; going to the clinic and being a constant cigarette-steward to Shahid Kapur. 

Other characters like Kabir's and Preeti's family and Nikita Dutta playing the role of an actress, serve as Lego blocks to further construct the script. Conclusion - every character is important in the movie and brings in a unique perspective. 

Not to forget Smt. Kamini Kaushal, who plays an entertaining role of a loving grandmother being possibly (and thankfully) the only person with whom Kabir Singh is normal throughout the film.

Director Vanga has made the film, an oxymoron of sorts. The hero is Kabir (destroyer on the crust, but a melancholic bard at the core) and a surgeon with anger issues. Curious case...but even more is the climax.   

A controversy has arisen regarding the scenes wherein Kabir forces himself on other women. As grotesque, horrid, repelling these scenes may appear (they repelled me too), two things must be kept in mind while viewing these. One, that it is just another film. As hollow this point may sound, it is the truth. Two, the acting of Shahid Kapur is so intense that you subject his film character to outright hate. If he couldn't earn the ire of the masses, he would be unsuccessful in his endeavours as Kabir Singh. This is his triumph as an actor. Agreed he's the hero, but that's the catch in this film - all heroes of love stories aren't the same; it's an unconventional love story. 

Or is it, really?

On the face of it, Kabir Singh may appear as a rip-off of the 2003 Salman Khan starrer Tere Naam which was itself an adaptation of the 1999 Tamil film Sethu. Both feature the hero puffing rings and rings of carcinogenic pleasure and falling for first-year lasses. 

But, as the film comes to an end, it turns out to be a mosaic of sorts. A cocktail, a concoction of old wines put in a new bottle.

Take for instance, Sanju, in which Sanju ignores Ruby's proposal under drug intoxication. A major scene in the movie (Kabir Singh) reminds me of that scene from the 2018 Hirani hit. Or take the case of Jab We Met in which Chachaji confronts Aditya Kashyap about the whereabouts of Geet. I swear, everytime I saw Anurag Arora (who plays Preeti's Sikh father) confronting Shahid on-screen, I was reminded of this very character flawlessly executed by Pavan Malhotra way back in 2007.  Elements of the Anurag Kashyap helmed Dev-D too haunt the film, as Kabir witnesses withdrawal symptoms in love and tries to find substitute women now and then to "physically help" him.

I'm not following the latest music out in Bollywood; my faith keeps dangling these days as countless remakes churn out daily from this industry. That said, I have little words to say about the soundtrack of the film. 

At the end, I did have some qualms with the film - the repeated and incessant kissing scenes, the overly loud Shahid Kapur (in some scenes) and the dragging pace of the film were a major turn off. The saving grace of the film was the acting by the crew. The dialogues were fine and so were the DIALOGUES. At the end of the movie, I could feel my head aching owing to the heaviness of the plot and the amplitude and anguish transferred by the protagonist. 

That, folks, was my review of the unconventional film, Bollywood and its audience weren't "Reddy" for. I won't give it a rating, but would recommend this film strictly for hardcore adult cine-goers. As rightly put up by the censor board, I wouldn't recommend this film to be seen by children; because at the end of the day, you want your kid to know that Coke is only a carbonated drink (just kidding!)

As the show ends, the Shahid Kapur fan in you would find it irresistible to exclaim - Wowwadawowwow!