New Delhi: Aditya Dhar’s recent release, Dhurandhar, has been in the news for not just filmmaking but for the backlash against film critics. The film starring Ranveer Singh as an Indian spy posted in Pakistan’s Lyari received mixed reviews. But soon, reviews that spoke of the extreme violence depicted in the film—and its political leanings—started getting targeted.
Senior film critics like Sucharita Tyagi and Anupama Chopra began receiving hate comments online, and Chopra’s review was eventually taken down from The Hollywood Reporter India’s YouTube channel. Now the Film Critics Guild of India (FCG) has called out the attacks on reviewers.
“The Film Critics Guild (FCG) strongly condemns the targeted attacks, harassment, and hate directed toward film critics for their reviews of Dhurandhar. What began as disagreement has rapidly devolved into coordinated abuse, personal attacks on individual critics, and organised attempts to discredit their professional integrity,” read the statement shared earlier today on X and Instagram.
“In recent days, several of our members have faced intimidation, including direct threats and vicious online campaigns aimed at silencing their perspectives, simply for expressing their professional assessment of a film. More concerningly, there have been attempts to tamper with existing reviews, influence editorial positions, and persuade publications to alter or dilute their stance.”
Established in August 2018, the FCG currently has 57 members across 13 cities who review films and series for print, digital platforms and radio.
“Liking or disliking a film is your right, but expecting critics to fall in line is not,” read the statement, stressing how the ongoing social media bullying is targeting the practice of film review.
Also read: Dhurandhar opens Pakistan vs Pakistan debate. Baloch are split, Karachi journalists divided
Relentless online attacks
When Anupama Chopra posted her review, actor Paresh Rawal tweeted, “Aren’t you tired of being Miss Irrelevant?” The video review was soon made private. While it is not clear if the review was taken down simply because of the comments or because both Chopra’s platform and the film’s music label are owned by RPSG Lifestyle Media, part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group.
The FCG statement expresses concern “about the safety and well-being of our colleagues from across the country,” and that no one should be vilified for “simply doing their job”.
The attacks and social media bullying is not limited only to critics—but targeted at anyone who has mentioned the ‘politics’ of the film, or mentioned any negative points about the movie. Fans of the film especially had a problem with it being called ‘propaganda’.
On Wednesday, actor Hrithik Roshan shared a story on his Instagram to talk about the film. “I may disagree with the politics of it, and argue about the responsibilities us filmmakers should bear as citizens of the world. Nevertheless, can’t ignore how much I loved and learnt from this one as a student of cinema. Amazing,” he wrote.
He was also targeted online. Roshan posted a tweet that spoke of only the ‘good’ in Dhurandhar.
“Still can’t get DHURANDHAR out of my mind. @AdityaDharFilms you are an incredible maker man. @RanveerOfficial the silent to the fierce what a journey and so damn consistent,” wrote Roshan on X and Instagram
But X users started sharing screenshots of his earlier review, and also questioned his change in stance.
“You literally glorified this barbaric Akbar and today you have the audacity to call Dhurandhar as propaganda. Shame on you,” wrote an X user, referring to the actor’s role in the film Jodha Akbar (2008).
Another user even dragged Roshan’s partner, Saba Azad, into the argument, sharing an image of her from a protest at Jawahar Lal University, alleging ‘influence’ of her politics.
Before the film’s release, the actor and wife of the director, Yami Gautam Dhar, alleged that critics take money to write ‘good’ reviews and write ‘negative’ ones when not paid.
“This so-called trend of giving money, in the disguise of marketing a film, to ensure good ‘hype’ for a film is created or else ‘they’ will continuously write negative things (even before the film is released), until you pay ‘them’ money feels nothing but kind of extortion. Just because this arrangement is accessible to anyone- whether to ‘hype’ a film or spread negativity against another actor/a film is a plague that is going to affect the future of our industry in a big way,” wrote the actor.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)