Ranbir Kapoor holds the unusual distinction of being an actor who has come under assault from both the right wing and feminists. For Ranbir, there is no left or right. He is seated in the heart of everyone’s outrage.
To defend Ranbir Kapoor is the most difficult task that can be found online at any given time. Ranbir is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation since he starred in some of the most intimate movies of the day, but he is also quickly establishing a reputation for polarizing the public. And occasionally, a lipstick is all that’s needed to finish the story, believe it or not.
An interesting track record for an actor who isn’t even on social media, at least officially, is that over the past three years, Ranbir has been more frequently seen in Twitter trends than in movies. Ranbir has had three film releases since the pandemic, with Shamshera, Brahmastra, and Tu Jhooti Mein Makkar being the first three. With each release, there has been criticism surrounding the actor. There is no movie that can have a subdued release, and there is no interview where a segment won’t suffer. But is it always his fault?
Ranbir’s list of offenders has been as varied as his filmography. He has the unusual distinction of being an actor who has been criticized by both feminists and the right wing for statements he made about his female co-stars, particularly his wife, the actor Alia Bhatt. For Ranbir, there is no left or right. He is in the epicenter of widespread indignation.
When Alia revealed that they were having a child, for instance, he had to deal with the backlash in his debut movie, Shamshera. He was ten years older than Alia, who was 29 at the time of the revelation, which sparked the myth that she was either too young to be a mother, too immature to understand that her career may suffer, or too young to “protest” against patriarchy’s demands to have a child. Alia was a damsel without agency, Ranbir was the prototypical Kapoor brat, and the internet was Sigmund Freud.
The deep psychological dig continued—and was reignited—when Brahmastra, the couple’s debut collaboration, was set for release. During the film’s advertising, Ranbir made fun of Alia, who was at that point quite pregnant, saying that she had “phaeloed,” a reference to her growing baby belly. Later, after admitting that his joke may have “triggered” someone, he apologized and claimed he loved his wife “with everything that I have in my life.”
“When I told Alia about it, she shrugged it off and said she didn’t mind. I do, however, have a poor sense of humor, and occasionally it falls flat on my own face. So, if I offended somebody, I apologize,” he had remarked. A significant percentage of the audience took Ranbir’s remarks to be him body shaming his wife, but another segment pointed out that it was just an improper joke that got out of hand. The outrage was the precursor to Ranbir’s remark about lipstick, which would eventually dominate the news cycle and inspire innumerable think pieces months later.
In a popular video, Alia Bhatt demonstrated how she puts on her lipstick and revealed that her ex-boyfriend Ranbir used to ask her to “wipe it off” since he preferred her natural lip color. This one casual statement made by Alia resulted in the creation of the #FreeAlia hashtag on Twitter.
Ranbir was once more the domineering, cruel boyfriend, whose transformation from a man kid to a toxic adult was ultimately highlighted by a lipstick shade. It didn’t matter that lovers always behave in accordance with their own preferences, likes, and regulations for each other. However, if one assumes that Ranbir is a dominating lover, one is justified in criticizing him. The internet makes a mistake when it paints their connection in broad strokes, though. It is an unfair and intrusive judgment.
As a result of the outrage, Alia’s mother Soni Razdan was forced to post a mysterious message with the message, “What’s becoming increasingly idiotic: Cancel culture. People making decisions about other people’s lives for them and then getting everyone involved in discussions about topics that don’t really affect them! We live in amusing times.
