MUMBAI: Long before the number of pan-Indian films in India began to rise, Dhanush, who was most recently seen in Captain Miller, dabbled in Hindi filmmaking. He made his Hindi film debut in 2013 with Raanjhanaa, directed by Aanand L Rai. Even though Dhanush was well-known in the Tamil film business, the Hindi film audience did not know anything about him at the time. Rai revealed in a recent interview that there was opposition to Dhanush's casting because some thought he was too strange to be a hero.
This opposition resulted from the widely held belief in the country's north that heroes had to possess specific traits, and Dhanush did not meet that requirement. In a recent interview, Aanand L Rai discussed how people's perceptions of heroes are changing. He noted that in the north of the country, the traditional definition of a hero, particularly in 2012, was a 6-foot-2, fair-skinned man. The crowd found the southern star Dhanush strange in that situation. Rai felt that Dhanush's acting and on-screen presence were exceptional and went above any preconceptions.
Rai highlighted the actor's enormous appeal when seen in action, even though he did not reveal the specifics of the complaints the actor received at the time. Since then, Rai and Dhanush have worked together on Atrangi Re, and they recently revealed plans to work on Tere Ishq Mein.
Rai discussed the allegations leveled against his movie Raanjhanaa during the discussion, including the claim that it encourages stalking because the male lead acts in such a way toward Sonam Kapoor's character, the female lead. Thinking back on the allegations, he revealed that he discovered the character, who was from Varanasi, was unaware of the accusations of showing stalking.
The character was unaware that the act he was doing may be construed as stalking. He followed his knowledge and showed devotion in a way that was appropriate to his cultural heritage. Rai made it clear that he is not trying to defend these behaviours, but rather shedding light on the character's viewpoint, even as he recognized the basic wrongness of them.
Notably, the film's essential performers, Abhay Deol and Swara Bhasker, had earlier voiced worries about the movie's possible romanticization of stalking. Abhay Deol suggested on social media in 2020 that the film's inverse messaging would make history reflect unfavorably on it. He revealed, "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.”
In the romantic drama Raanjhanaa, Kundan, the son of a Hindu pundit, travels to find out that Zoya, his childhood lover, is in love with and wants to marry Akram, a man from the city. This realization doesn't stop Kundan from pursuing Zoya, and as a result, a nuanced and intense story that delves into themes of love, sacrifice, and social expectations is told.
Also read: Honoured to be helming a remarkable character in 'Captain Miller': Nivedhithaa Sathish
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Credit- Pinkvilla
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