Kabir Singh director Sandeep Vanga reacts to critics accusing film of glorifying toxic masculinity

Kabir Singh's trailer stirred much controversy about being derogatory towards potrayal of women. The first scene potrayed protagonist Kabir Singh as a sexual predator, who would pray on women waiting at a doctor chamber. Critics earlier accused the Telegu film of glorifying toxic masculinity.

However, director Sandeep Vanga disagrees with this statement and says that his film does not show women in a derogatory manner.
In an interview with Scroll.com, Sandeep opined, “This is not arrogance, but I genuinely do not bother about pseudo-feminists and pseudo-sympathisers. There is not one place where I have shown women in a derogatory way. There is no bum or cleavage shot. I never asked my audience to look at the girl’s body.”

Talking much about the inspiration behind potraying  sado-masochist character who is on the verge of self-destruction, Sandeep said, “Arjun’s anger comes from me, I think. He is a sportsman because my brother was one. It’s tricky to pinpoint the exact inspiration.”
Responding to the criticism, Shahid  has earlier said  "There are other men who aren't so aggressive in their behaviour. Some films depict those kind of characters, this film depicts this kind of character."

However, when asked specifically if he justifies the acts of his character, the actor said, "You see the film and see what happens to him. Tommy Singh (in 'Udta Punjab') does much worse things than 'Kabir Singh.' If I start justifying characters, I can't be an actor."

Kabir Singh is the remake of Sandeep’s Telugu film, Arjun Reddy that starred Vijay Deverkonda in the lead and went to to be much sucessfull at the box office. 

Kabir Singh will release on June 21, and also stars Arjan Bajwa, Suresh Oberoi and more. Apparently, Arjun Kapoor was supposed to do the film, but later it was announced that Shahid will play the lead in Kabir Singh.