Trigger Warning: Mention Of Domestic Violence

I watched ‘Haseen Dillruba’ on the first day of its release, and after finishing, I decided to write a review. I liked the overall storyline of ‘Haseen Dillruba’. Actually, it is just like a pure thriller novel and youngsters who are in their twenties, like me, have hardly read Hindi thriller novels, so ‘Haseen Dilllruba‘ satisfied our hunger for the thrill.

I was well prepared to write about my thriller experience. Accidentally, I read a review where it was written that ‘Haseen Dillruba‘ glorifies domestic violence and it is just another ‘Kabir Singh‘.

After reading experts’ reviews, I started questioning myself, I started questioning my idea of feminism and called myself an unaware self-proclaimed feminist. I kept questioning myself for a week. Finally, after a week I can defend my feminist self in front of me.

Haseen Dilruba vs. Kabir Singh

Critics are saying that accepting domestic violence by the protagonist Rani shows that Indian cinema is glorifying domestic violence again. Many people are comparing ‘Haseen Dillruba‘ with ‘Kabir Singh’. In my opinion, ‘Haseen Dillruba’ & ‘Kabir Singh’ are not the same.

Let me defend myself by the pointers now:

1. In ‘Kabir Singh’, Preeti gets slapped by her boyfriend because she is not ready to go against her father and after the slap, she decides to stand against her father.
2. In ‘Kabir Singh’, we are introduced to Preeti as an ideal woman. She always accepts the toxic masculinity of her boyfriend.
3. The last point is that, Kabir is a flawed character but film portrays him as an intense lover and in the end he gets everything whatever he desires for. The movie portrays his girlfriend Preeti as a mature and stable girl but still she accepts all the toxicity of his boyfriend, which is unjustifiable.

In ‘Haseen Dillruba’, situations are very different.

1. The protagonist, Rani is having an extramarital affair. She unapologetically accepts that to her husband Rishu, which simply shows that Rani is bold enough to accept her choices.
2. In the film, Rani is not introduced to us as an all-good human being. Rani’s character is grey and the writer Kanika Dhillon has presented that grey side very clearly.
3. Rani is a hopeless thrill fiction lover who is fascinated by unrealistic relationships. She can do anything to get that fictional lifestyle & lover in her life.
4. Rani is not the character which gets reward in the end of the film. She is an openly flawed person and as a result, if she accepts violence for the sake of love, then according to the approach of the movie, that is justified.