10 years of Raanjhanaa: Abhay Deol says film lost its essence due to the glamorisation formula for Hindi films

As Raanjhanaa completes 10 years of release, actor Abhay Deol looks at the flaws as well as the good aspects of the film.

It’s been a decade since Raanjhanaa released, and the film has faced enough flak for its regressive message, with people asserting that it glamourises sexual harassment and stalking. As the Aanand L. Rai directed film clocked 10 years, actor Abhay Deol admits that the film might have come with its share of flaws, but the intention behind it was pure.

In Raanjhanaa, actor Abhay Deol was seen as a student leader, and love interest of Sonam Kapoor’s character

“The film portrayed things that do happen and was true to the subject. The filmmaker’s motive was also to have empathy and show the evolution of a character. But there is no doubt that there is this formula that Hindi films go for which is to add glamorisation,” says Deol about the film that revolves around Sonam Kapoor’s character Zoya, who falls for her college friend Jasjeet from Delhi (Abhay Deol), but she was being pursued by a boy from a different religion Kundan (Dhanush), in her hometown of Varanasi.

“In the process of glamorising it, the film lost the essence of his message, which was about love and respect and boundaries. That was the intention with which the filmmaker came in. It was quite the opposite of what may have come out purely because we have to glamorise everything in order to make it commercially digestible, but there are some things which cannot be made palatable,” points the 47-year-old, who asserts that he stuck to the vision that Rai had while making the film, which was to depict what happens in a lot of small towns.

“The idea was to shine a light on it being a problem. No doubt, it was just a formula of glamorising things that took the message away a little bit. But the intentions were pure,” says the Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara actor.

In fact, back in 2020, Deol also took to social media to call out the film, saying, “History will not look kindly at this film for its regressive message. It’s been a theme in Bollywood for decades, where a boy can (and should), pursue a girl until she relents. Only in cinema does she do that willfully. In reality we have seen time and again that it leads to sexual violence of some sort.”

Mention the post, and the actor shares, “Now, I have shared what I felt and I don’t want to keep going on about the same thing, or the process of how I came to the conclusion. I’ve always tried to be idealistic in everything I do. Now, I have realised that it’s good to be idealistic, but you have to have a fair balance in this world… I’m not in a space to be vocal about being idealistic anymore because people will be idealistic in their own time. When I say people I mean the audience too, not just the filmmaker.”

When it comes to his memories of working with the team, the Trial by Fire actor says they continue to stay close to his heart. “Rai is an extremely talented producer, director and a good human being. Dhanush was really professional and Sonam was fun to work with. We were well taken care of. It was genuinely a very nice shoot because the people behind it were also really nice,” he concludes.