While many praised Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2019 movie ‘Kabir Singh’, I got icks by its problematic scenes, particularly when Kabir (Shahid Kapoor) slapped Preeti (Kiara Advani), only to have her beg for his acceptance. Watching that scene, I myself had the urge to slap that girl for having such low self-esteem. More alarming was the audience’s widespread approval, revealing the depth of societal misogyny. Bollywood has unapologetically played a major role in glorifying stalking, abuse, and harassment toward women in its movies over the years and has normalised it to the level that people think it is acceptable and cool.

Bollywood Movies That Glorified Harassment

Below are some of the Bollywood movies that shamelessly glorified harassment towards women:

We are living in 2024 and I’m wondering why we are still watching movies on harassment and romanticising the idea of toxic love being the best form of love. As of now, Vanga’s 2023 movie Animal bears the title of the most misogynistic movie of all time. This Ranbir Kapoor starrer represents the peak toxicity, misogyny, sexism, and toxicity out there. While many criticised the film, others appreciated the red-flag behaviour of the lead actor. The worst came when Animal received the IIFA Award for Best Film in 2024, showcasing the sad reality of society that promotes such a problematic movie.

Raanjhanaa (JioCinema, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, IMDb Rating: 7.6/10)

Kundan (Dhanush) literally stalked Zoya (Sonam Kapoor) everywhere then went on to drown her in the river and wreak her marriage after getting rejected, depicting how guys in a small town actually behave. Even Swara Bhaskar admitted that the movie glorified stalking. In a media report, she stated, “When it came out, it got panned by feminists for glorifying stalking… For a long time, I refused to believe it and thought that it was not true… But then as time passed by, I was like, actually, maybe yes.”

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Tere Naam (JioCinema, Amazon Prime Video, IMDb Rating: 7.2/10)

Salman Khan starrer Tere Naam was released in 2003 and every guy started copying the ‘Raadhe Bhaiya’ look along with mimicking the character’s behaviour, which just shows the level at which movies can influence viewers. To date, it sounds terrifying that Raadhe literally stalked Nirjara (Bhumika Chawla), kidnapped her, and harassed her, still, it was well received by the audience.

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Credits: IMDb