Kabir Singh is a blockbuster. But still a terrible remake of Arjun Reddy

Why have remakes become the safest bet in Bollywood? They are tested on a particular audience, their success rate is determined and you get a readymade storyline.

So, what precautions do you take when you bring a remake to a larger audience? You work on the flaws that the original had, you delete and add elements to make it more palatable to the larger audience.

What happens when you don't follow these rules? You end up making a film like Kabir Singh.

On June 21, 2019, Kabir Singh hit 3,123 screens in India and 493 screens overseas, sparring a weeklong debate on sexism, misogyny and toxic masculinity in films. Sandeep Reddy Vanga has been thrashed left, right and centre by critics and netizens for glorifying his sexist protagonist (Shahid Kapoor) and for giving such ideologies a platform, yet again.

You intend to repeat a mistake when you get away with it for the first time. Sandeep's Arjun Reddy didn't just get away with his portrayal of a toxic, abusive Arjun on the big screen, he was even hailed for it. Arjun Reddy, which was released in 2017, minted Rs 510 million in its lifetime. It also made Vijay Deverakonda an overnight star.

Arjun Reddy's success gave Sandeep the confidence to take the leap and bring the exact same testosterone-driven Arjun to, this time, a pan-India audience. He named him Kabir in the remake and brought Shahid Kapoor, the same guy who played a drug addict in Udta Punjab, on board to play the role of an alcoholic, careless surgeon.

In the quest to repeat Vijay Deverakonda's success, Shahid forgot himself and copy-pasted Vijay's behaviour and mannerism in Kabir Singh, from the hairstyle to the hand movements. Scripts can be repeated, and so can dialogues, but not emotions. And so, Shahid's Kabir didn't seem more than a caricature on the big screen. The actor couldn't bring about the emotions, the same honesty to his character as he did in Udta Punjab.

To top that, Sandeep managed to make an inferior version of Arjun Reddy with Kabir Singh. The original itself was problematic, but it had certain elements that somewhat worked as redemption for the sexist, misogynist lead character. In Kabir Singh, Sandeep robbed his protagonist of that tiny bit of rationality and presented us a complete disaster.

ARJUN REDDY'S ATTEMPT AT TAKING A STAND AGAINST BELITTLING WOMEN

Arjun Reddy has a scene where the protagonist is seen calling out his friend's brother-in-law for objectifying air hostesses. Though right after lashing out at his friend's brother-in-law, Arjun fat-shames his girlfriend's classmate, his attempt at taking a stand against belittling women gave his audience a teeny-weeny glimpse into that not-all-horrible part of him.

Sandeep chopped this scene from Kabir Singh. In a film that shows the lead actor forcing a woman to take off her pants at knifepoint, Sandeep took away the very few instances when Kabir Singh is sober and not forcing himself on women.

KABIR SINGH DID NOT GET THE SAME DEPTH AS ARJUN REDDY

Kabir Singh is based on the life of one single guy. But Sandeep made his guy busy gulping down gallons of alcohol and snorting cocaine in Kabir Singh. He didn't give Kabir the same depth he gave to Arjun.

In Arjun Reddy, it is explained that even though the lead actor gets a lot of female attention post his break-up, what with women thronging to his residence to feed him, he does not get physically involved with them. The heartbroken Arjun is either telling them his story or listening to their stories.

In Kabir Singh, however, Sandeep presents his lead character as an arrogant, abusive, ill-mannered surgeon who gets away with bad behaviour whereever he goes. Sandeep doesn't give him a chance to show emotions other than anger and remorse, unlike what he did with Arjun Reddy.

Watch trailer of Kabir Singh here:

ARJUN REDDY IS MORE *REAL* THAN KABIR SINGH

In Kabir Singh, the protagonist is a strange kind of god for his friends and family members. He can abuse them, throw them out of his house and even wrestle with them, but they revolve around him like ants around a cube of sugar. His best friend, Shiva, is also left with no voice to shun him or show him how shallow he is.

In Arjun Reddy, on the other hand, the protagonist is not treated like this demi-god. In one scene, when one of his friends invites him to his wedding, Arjun blasts him saying that 'he is an unworthy candidate for love marriage'. His friends show him the mirror, saying that he is being a jealous jerk. They don't put Arjun on a pedestal, like Kabir Singh's friends do with him.

Apart from a few scenes, the film Kabir Singh is nothing more than a dubbed version of Arjun Reddy with new faces. Even in this ocean of misogyny that is Sandeep Reddy Vanga's most popular films, Arjun Reddy takes the cake. Vijay Deverakonda is way more convincing as Arjun than Shahid as Kabir. He manages to show an array of emotions as opposed to Shahid's one-note performance.

To top it all, Shahid also seems reluctant in letting go of his 'star' image in Kabir Singh. That just makes a bad film worse.

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