Actor Ranbir Kapoor now seems less like the boy-next-door (or as KJo calls it ‘Biba Puttar’), but more like a playboy who pretends to be the boy-next-door to the world but behind closed doors is a chauvinistic prick.
The quintessential boy-next-door, Ranbir Kapoor, found himself in hot water last week when a snippet of him body shaming Alia Bhatt, during Brahmastra live stream, went viral. ‘How can Ranbir body shame his wife who is carrying his child?’, asked a Twitter user. Some fans of Ranbir were quick to jump to his defense. In every romantic relationship, there is room for banter and healthy humour — but for some reason, not just Alia but even Ayan looked uncomfortable with that comment. Alia, for one, was taken aback. So were the viewers who hadn’t seen Ranbir make a public appearance since his 2018 film Sanju released and weren’t expecting him to comment on a woman’s weight, much less a pregnant woman who is carrying his child. Turns out, the body shaming comment was just the tip of the iceberg. A Twitter user on Sunday, shared a series of old interviews by Ranbir Kapoor, in which he is being downright disrespectful to his female co-stars Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.
Several media outlets jumped the gun and claimed that Twitter has ‘cancelled’ Ranbir. Is cancelling someone this easy?
Is Ranbir Kapoor the first victim of cancel culture in India?
Cancel culture has always existed in India – way before the term was commonly thrown around by Gen Z. Think Shiny Ahuja losing his career over sexual assault allegations by his house help or Sooraj Pancholi being ghosted by the industry post Jiah Khan suicide. But this will be the first time a mainstream Bollywood actor gets ‘cancelled’ since the term became popular (or rather notorious) after the advent of social media. This will also be the first time a movie star gets ‘cancelled’ for doing something all Bollywood actors are known to do behind closed doors — be sexist and disrespectful to their female co-stars.
In one of the videos, Ranbir is seen cutting off Katrina while she is discussing her character in an interview. He cuts her off unapologetically, goes on talking about the character she plays even though she is a part of the interview. While Katrina calls Ranbir out and says ‘you do realise you are talking about my character when I am sitting back here?’ a nonchalant Ranbir says, ‘yeah, because you are not doing it properly’. In another interview, Katrina’s mike falls off and Ranbir makes Katrina uncomfortable, yet again as he asks ‘do you need help fixing it?’ One cannot help but wonder why Ranbir’s degrading behaviour towards his female co-stars not called out during #MeToo movement which shook the industry in 2018. It really makes one wonder if the movement was a sham and meant to call out only the actors it could afford to call out as all the Bollywood biggies are still in business and working in movies as usual, some despite serious allegations against them.
Then, of course, is the video where Ranbir calls Anushka, his co-star, the ‘anxiety queen’. He outed Anushka Sharma’s anxiety and went as far as saying that she cannot function without popping anxiety pills. The interview made not just those who feel strongly about mental health but pretty much everyone uneasy. Why discuss, or worse, mock a co-actor’s medical condition over which they have no control? This isn’t even gender specific and has little to do with sexism and misogyny. Any self-respecting human being, much less a public star, should know it isn’t the right thing to do.
Given the mountain of video evidence and lengthy Twitter threads which clearly show Ranbir as a brash, arrogant and misogynistic actor who disrespects his female co-stars, it is not surprising that he is getting cancelled. What is surprising though is that it took this long for him to face the music. Ranbir now seems less like the boy-next-door (or as KJo calls it ‘Biba Puttar’), but more like a playboy who pretends to be the boy-next-door before the world but behind closed doors is a chauvinistic prick. Cracks begin to appear when one pretends too much and that is exactly what happened to Bollywood’s Biba Puttar.
One might feel compelled to ask – should we hold actors responsible for comments made years ago? Is there no room for change or growth? While actors or (humans in general) do evolve over time and deserve credit for the same, Ranbir’s recent comment on Alia shows that he hasn’t evolved much since 2010. Why shouldn’t his past be held against him then? There is, however, a pressing matter that we must address…
Why don’t we hold our actors accountable?
Why didn’t Ranbir really face any flak whatsoever until 2022 even though these highly problematic interviews were up on YouTube and were also aired on television years ago? Is it because we are not holding celebs accountable and giving them a free pass which allows them to get away with this behaviour? Probably. Is it also because these actors have powerful PR machinery that tries to discredit and debunk any video which paints them in a negative light? Most definitely.
Compare and contrast the videos of Ranbir going viral with Karan Johar on the first episode of Koffee With Karan 7 saying that contrary to popular belief, Ranbir is a sanskaari boy who does pooja and aarti. Some read it as an attempt to whitewash Ranbir’s image of a playboy and tweak it to suit the Indian sensibilities. But, as they say, truth always comes out sooner or later and no PR gimmicks or in this case, a Bollywood biggie having your back will save you.
It is precisely because of the PR gimmicks, knee-jerk damage control and whitewashing that we must now, more than ever, hold our stars accountable and call them out for their problematic behaviour no matter how high or low they are in the food chain.
It is highly unlikely still, that Ranbir will really get ‘cancelled’, that is, lose brand deals, film projects or public goodwill. But this will, for sure, affect his public image and perception. It will surely make us wish the boys-next-door like Ranbir, well, stay next door.
Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75.
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