Why pan-India films have problematic love tracks?

KGF 2 is a highly entertaining film in my opinion. But if someone says the movie is problematic, I won't be able to completely deny it.

The whole love angle of Rocky and Reena is not only half-baked, it has elements of stockholm syndrome. To those who haven't watched the movie, the hero of this movie abducts his love interest and keeps her forcefully as his mistress for years, until she realises what a great man he is and accepts him.

Such problematic scenes where there in KGF 1 as well, like when Rocky sees Reena for the first time and straight up goes and says I love you to her. Then continues harassing her but does occasional acts of kindness which impresses her and she falls in love with him but he doesn't know it yet.

KGF 2 starts with Rocky abducting Reena and when asked why he did it, he calls her his "entertainment". He keeps her as his mistress for years and clearly she's not pleased but in the end accepts him.

Now, this works with the overall narrative because Rocky is shown as a piece of shit in the entire film. They make it more clear by changing the narrators. Prakash Raj's character doesn't see Rocky as a God or messiah like his father so in this film we get a more grey-shaded protagonist unlike the first part. He's an anti-hero, they even call him a villain and he does other villainous acts as well. Like exploiting the very people who he saved from Garuda in KGF 1, by also making them work for him. Or shooting up an entire police station filled with innocent people only because they took his one biscuit of gold.

And even in the end he took the entire gold he collected and drowned them along with himself, instead of maybe giving it to those poor people. The movie makes it obvious that Rocky is not a good guy. He's definitely no saint. Instead he's a guy who took the promise made to his mother too seriously and every villanous act done by him in the film shows how that promise is driving him into insanity. Dude had an obsession with gold throughout because he wanted to be the richest man!

But him harassing Reena had nothing to do with the promise made to his mother. The film could've totally avoided that and it would've made no difference to the main storyline. Its only included because such scenes are liked by the audience who love toxic masculinity. The hero showing the heroine that he's obviously more powerful than him, yet he's sparing her thus showing her place which is below him. Masses eat that shit up!

The treatment of the so-called heroine in both KGF films have been nothing but pathetic. Of course nobody in the audience is going to be inspired by Rocky and try to become the biggest criminal ever, but in a country where eve teasing, sexual harassment and rapes are common, it's not far fetched to believe that movies like KGF promote the mentality of toxic masculinity and misogyny.

I'm surprised that liberals who had so much problem with Kabir Singh haven't spoken up against this film yet. Because either they haven't watched the film or they believe any film South or any industry apart from Bollywood produces is absolute gold.

Because if this was a Bollywood film, critics would have ripped it apart just like Kabir Singh. Because the protagonist of KGF ain't much better than Kabir when it comes treating his lady love.

And KGF is not the only pan India south film which had problematic scenes. Bahubali 1 had a creepy waterfall scene with Prabhas and Tamannaah. 2.0 had Rajinikanth opposite Amy who is his granddaughter's age and had a scene where he opens her back zipper without consent and the movie plays it as something comedic.

Bahubali 2 and RRR thankfully weren't problematic. Pushpa was about to cross the line but stopped in the middle.

South Indian movies! Enough said...

South Indian commercial movies are guilty of these tropes. They play it off as comedic tracks that sideline the problematic issues at hand, or often the budget and the magnanimous image of the hero overshadows these tracks. This is more so in commercial masala films of Tamil and Telugu industries. I haven't observed stuff like this in malayalam cinema to a large extent.

Might just be an extension of girls like bad boys.

Good guys are friendzoned anyways.

I guess they are streching the female fantasies of bad boy a bit too far with movies like this one or kabeer Singh.

P.s. wasn't Michele morrone's 365 days based on a similar plot.... Similar fantasies?

Girls like bad boys theory isn't an exaggeration. I remember, I was in a forum called Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon, and the male protagonist, ASR was an A- grade asshole. He constantly misbehaved with the female protagonist and her blind fangirls applauded this as Passion. So many problematic scenes were there in that show, but those fans, (some of them were married, some were even mothers!), never complained, always called that guy as a passionate lover (my foot). It was so embarassing

Indian TV is filled with these assholes and people love them, especially girls. So Kabir Singh, KGF etc no exception. I haven't watched any of KGF movies and no intention to watch and walked half way through Kabir Singh. But that's just me. A major chunk love the toxic masculinity and that's why it is served. The audience have to change their taste otherwise these things will continue.

Originally posted by: DetachednNumb

South Indian commercial movies are guilty of these tropes. They play it off as comedic tracks that sideline the problematic issues at hand, or often the budget and the magnanimous image of the hero overshadows these tracks. This is more so in commercial masala films of Tamil and Telugu industries. I haven't observed stuff like this in malayalam cinema to a large extent.

In a bid to make the hero superhuman and above the laws of the land and nature, the filmmakers run into these kind of problems. A alpha male hero would request first and if not granted take it unwillingly. This unfortunately exist to the heroine as well. She's treated as a 'thing' and not a person. Of course the parents,teachers and the society who should be teaching the alpha hero about his mistakes end up singing his praises at the end. The hero is treated as an 'avatar' and not as a human.

Malayalam movies had these problematic alpha heroes in the late 90s and early 2000s as well when the industry was blindly aping the mass films and superhuman heroes from the other Southern industries. However the moved away from it to an equally problematic male victim attitude. The premise is that women are all cunning and are quick to dump the poor sincere hero for a better (read richer) marriage prospect. The 'Theppukari' heroine or the hero's ex is a popular trope in Malayalam cinema now.

Originally posted by: NathuPyare

Might just be an extension of girls like bad boys.

Good guys are friendzoned anyways.

I guess they are streching the female fantasies of bad boy a bit too far with movies like this one or kabeer Singh.

P.s. wasn't Michele morrone's 365 days based on a similar plot.... Similar fantasies?

I don't think it's the female fantasies that are being stretched out in these films.👎🏼

They're rather huge exaggeration of what men think about women's fantasies. 🤔

Being a "bad boy with a golden heart" is one thing and being a "machismo-obesessed, male-dominant pig" is another thing.🤢

On topic, the scenes mentioned by OP in Bahubali 1 and KGF 1 were problematic and I remember being creeped out by those scenes the first time I watched them. They had "male superiority, dominance and machoism" written all over them.

They added NOTHING to the story otherwise.

If the directors wanted, they could've toned down thse scenes but they didn't because they wanted to "cater" to their audience.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

I don't think it's the female fantasies that are being stretched out in these films.👎🏼

They're rather huge exaggeration of what men think about women's fantasies. 🤔

Being a "bad boy with a golden heart" is one thing and being a "machismo-obesessed, male-dominant pig" is another thing.🤢

On topic, the scenes mentioned by OP in Bahubali 1 and KGF 1 were problematic and I remember being creeped out by those scenes the first time I watched them. They had "male superiority, dominance and machoism" written all over them.

They added NOTHING to the story otherwise.

If the directors wanted, they could've toned down thse scenes but they didn't because they wanted to "cater" to their audience.

Ok... Its your opinion and I respect it.

As for me, i was tired of some of my female friends raving about the male lead in is pyar ko kya naam doon serial. So I decided to give it a try. And on seeing it i thought what a jerk. But they said keep watching he has a heart of gold. And I'm like yeah first be a jerk then show ur softer side. That's the way to go. 😆

Btw i Don't think it's about male fantasies but those of women. The movies 365 days and 50 shades of grey, hugely popular amongst women, were based on novels written by women themselves. What are they if not women's fantasies about bad boys? Blaming men for everything is not right.

Majority of our audience, especially "mass audience" loves problematic love tracks

So its a natural selling point for all the aashiqs and majnus and loafers

Originally posted by: Alpenliebe

Girls like bad boys theory isn't an exaggeration. I remember, I was in a forum called Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon, and the male protagonist, ASR was an A- grade asshole. He constantly misbehaved with the female protagonist and her blind fangirls applauded this as Passion. So many problematic scenes were there in that show, but those fans, (some of them were married, some were even mothers!), never complained, always called that guy as a passionate lover (my foot). It was so embarassing

Indian TV is filled with these assholes and people love them, especially girls. So Kabir Singh, KGF etc no exception. I haven't watched any of KGF movies and no intention to watch and walked half way through Kabir Singh. But that's just me. A major chunk love the toxic masculinity and that's why it is served. The audience have to change their taste otherwise these things will continue.

Well the blame goes to gul Khan cuz she thinks while manhandling a girl is some romantization. Gul Khan's hero's r assholes n a spineless too in highest order n there stans go to any length to defend them cuz in reality if some girl have some situation she totally will sent that person to jail.