Abhay Deol says Raanjhanaa was ‘true to the subject’, but ‘lost the essence’ because of glamourisation

Abhay Deol said that Raanjhanaa lost the essence of Aanand L Rai's message in the process of glamourising everything.

Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor in Raanjhanaa.

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It has been 10 years since Aanand L Rai’s Raanjhanaa released in theatres and in the many years since then, the film has often been criticised for glamourising stalking. In the movie, Dhanush’s character Kundan pursues Sonam Kapoor’s Zoya character relentlessly, and the film, it appears, encourages his behaviour. Abhay Deol, who was also part of Raanjhanaa, recently spoke about it and said that while the film “was true to the subject”, but in the “process of glamorising it”, the movie lost the essence of its core message.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Abhay said, “The film portrayed things that do happen and was true to the subject. The filmmaker’s motive was also to have empathy and show the evolution of a character. But there is no doubt that there is this formula that Hindi films go for which is to add glamorisation.”

He added, “In the process of glamorising it, the film lost the essence of his message, which was about love and respect and boundaries. That was the intention with which the filmmaker came in.” The actor acknowledged that what came out, was just 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,” Abhay said.

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Abhay Deol played the role of Jasjeet, Zoya’s boyfriend in Raanjhanaa,. In 2020, Abhay had shared on social media that “history will not look kindly at this film for its regressive message.” He added, “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.”