From Kundan To Kabir: Bollywood Red Flag Male Characters Who Were Portrayed As Romantic

Was Bollywood always been selling toxic male characters as romantic or just we were blind back then? With the recent discussion surrounding ‘Animal’ being a red flag and masculinity-driven movie reaching the boiling point, it is proof that people have finally started to spot problematic Bollywood characters. While the box-office numbers speak otherwise, we cannot deny the fact that many such movies turned out to be a hit in the past where we actually bought all the possessive kind of love (which was ‘toxic’ in reality). 

From songs like ‘tu haan kar ya na kar, tu hai meri Kiran,’ to ‘achi baate karli bohot ab karunga tere sath gandi baat,’ Bollywood has disappointed us on many levels. And it continues to get worse when the flawed characters are exceedingly romanticised. 

Toxic Male Characters That Bollywood Tried To Portray As Romantic 

Kundan From Raanjhanaa 

Despite the film being a big hit, how can anyone ignore the fact that Kundan literally stalked Zoya, harassed her, threatened her with a suicide attempt, and even threw her into a river just because she had someone else in her life. Regardless of Zoya rejecting him very early on, Kundan had this sense of entitlement that made him think that she owed him a date. 

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Badrinath From Badrinath Ki Dulhania

Another man who can’t take no for an answer. For a film aimed at challenging the regressive conventions against women, this movie ended up reinforcing them. After his first rejection, Badri became crazy and started stalking Vaidehi to magically change her ‘no’ into a ‘yes’ (which actually happened god knows how and why). When this wasn’t enough, he abducted her under the commands of his father to take revenge for abandoning her at the altar. 

Rahul From Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

We hate to burst your bubble, but the character Rahul was a walking red flag. First, he refused to admit that Anjali was a good basketball player just because she was a girl. Then, he was the first one to mock her when she came all decked up in her naivety to woo him. Years later when Rahul came to know that Anjali glowed up, he started drooling over her in mere seconds. According to him, ‘pyaar dosti hai only if the girl is hot’. 

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Kabir From Kabir Singh

If a guy is overly possessive and obsessive, ‘he loves you’, that’s what Kabir Singh tried to tell us. Kabir was a narcissist, a controlling freak who picked a girl with no personality and sense of authority. He will literally kiss you without your consent, slap you and most importantly, expect you to be his girlfriend without even asking you. 

Maddy From Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein 

Maddy stalked Reena and faked his entire identity to marry her, and when she got to know the truth and rejected him, the guy went on to sing ‘such keh raha hai deewana, dil na kisi se lagana’. Seriously? 

Image Courtesy: IMDb 

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