Akshay reacts on the issue of glorifying stalking in a song from ‘TEPK’

‘Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’ looks like a perfect movie which is content-driven yet commercial at the same time. With Akshay Kumar being the face of the movie along with ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ actress Bhumi Pednekar, the makers have surely got their commercial aspect in place. However, the movie has faced several hurdles in its ways. And one amongst them is in the form of a song ‘Hans Mat Pagli’ which according to many people glorifies stalking.

So yesterday, as Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, Anupam Kher and Divyendu Sharma addressed a press conference to promote their movie, he was asked to react on the criticism he earned for glorifying stalking in the song ‘Hans Mat Pagli’ from the movie. He said, “It is just a character, and that’s it. In films there are many things that are shown, here my character, Keshav, was trying to take a photo of Bhumi’s character, Jaya. This is wrong, but I can’t show all the good things only, right?” Anupam Kher added, “To show good in the character, sometime you have to show the bad too, the transformation is very important. The character becomes completely different by the end of the film.” (Also Read: Akshay Kumar speaks up on reports of ‘TEPK’ getting leaked online)

Bhumi had earlier addressed the same issue while she spoke to a leading daily. She had said, “It is only stalking till the other person is objecting to it. If I am following you around or mentally harassing you, then it’s stalking. But if I am not objecting to it, then how’s it stalking? In the second part of the song, she is doing the same thing. There is a lot that happens around the story. Had this been an important aspect of the story, where he has become an obsessive lover, threatening her (then it’s a different thing), he isn’t mentally harassing the girl. There is a lot which happens before and after that, which will all make sense once you see the film in the larger context. It’s not one of those things where he is secretly recording me and then he threatens me. When you see the film, all your questions will be answered.”

Talking about the movie, it is directed by Shree Narayan Singh, produced by KriArj Entertainment and will be releasing on August 11, 2017.

Prajakta Ajgaonkar

Passionate about writing, and a Bollywood lover, she is all that is sweet and endearing! She desires to put her best foot forward in everything that she does and loves to help anyone who’s in need.