Abhay Deol On Raanjhanaa: 'Wanted To Show Stalking As A Problem, But Glamorisation Overshadowed It'

Aanand L. Rai’s Raanjhanaa celebrates its 10th anniversary today. Over the past decade, the film’s controversial portrayal of stalking and harassment has been a topic of discussion. Actor Abhay Deol, in a recent chat, spoke of the flaws in the film but defended its intentions. The film centres around Zoya, played by Sonam Kapoor, who develops feelings for her college friend Jasjeet from Delhi (played by Abhay Deol). However, Kundan, a boy from a different religion (played by Dhanush), in her hometown of Varanasi, pursues her.

According to Abhay Deol, the film depicted realistic situations and stayed true to its subject matter. The filmmaker aimed to create empathy and show character development and did just that. “But there is no doubt that there is this formula that Hindi films go for which is to add glamorisation,” he said.

According to actor, the film’s intention was to convey a message of love, respect and boundaries. However, in the process of glamorisation, the film lost the essence of this message. He said that the filmmaker’s original intention was quite the opposite. “It was quite the opposite of what may have come out purely because we have to glamorise everything in order to make it commercially digestible, but there are some things which cannot be made palatable. The idea was to shine a light on it being a problem. No doubt, it was just a formula of glamorising things that took the message away a little bit. But the intentions were pure,” he said.

In fact, back in 2020, Abhay himself took to social media to talk about the film’s problematic nature. He had written, “History will not look kindly at this film for its regressive message. 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 (sic).”

The actor admitted to having a tendency to be idealistic in everything he does. However, with time, he has come to realise the importance of maintaining a fair balance in the world. He said, “I’m not in a space to be vocal about being idealistic anymore because people will be idealistic in their own time. When I say people I mean the audience too, not just the filmmaker.”

Abhay Deol was last seen in Trial By Fire.