Anurag Kashyap has opened up about the backlash film critics receive from fan clubs of actors when they write negative reviews.
Citing Dhurandhar, he called the online attacks "coordinated" and "social media construct."
Some film critics faced severe online harassment, abuse and threats for their unfavourable reviews to Dhurandhar.
Dhurandhar, written and directed by Aditya Dhar have received polarised reviews. A section of netizens and critics called out the extreme violence and political themes in Ranveer Singh-starrer. Some film critics even faced severe online harassment, abuse and threats for their unfavourable reviews to Dhurandhar. Later, the Film Critics Guild strongly condemned the targeted attacks, harassment, and hate.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has called the online attacks and backlash "coordinated" and "social media construct."
Anurag Kashyap on social media backlash to critics over Dhurandhar reviews
In an interview with film critic Sucharita Tyagi on her YouTube channel, Anurag said, "This backlash thing is again a social media construct. There was a great article in The New Yorker about how fan clubs were created in the South to create heroes."
He believes it is "not organic", and citing Dhurandhar, he said, "How everyone was attacked is uncalled for. Somebody reached out to me and said you shared the Critics Guild post. From the industry, nobody shared. Par aapko Dhurandhar mein acha bhi laga bahut kuch (you liked a lot in Dhurandhar)."
"I said what I found problematic, and I said this too. Jo cheez galat hai wo galat hai (What is wrong is wrong). Mujhe kaisi lagi does not mean I am going to force my opinion on someone else. Tum kya dekh rahe ho film mein, woh tum dekh rahe ho. Jo main dekh raha hoon, woh main dekh raha hoon (You are watching what you are, and I am watching what I am)," he added.
Calls the attacks "co-ordinated"
The filmmaker said all these attacks are coordinated and not organic, adding, "organic can be 'I don't agree with you'. I can disagree with you, whatever it is. One of my cousins runs a place like this, where 300 people sit, and they get paid for this. His whole business is this."
On the work front, Kashyap is gearing up for the release of his highly anticipated film, Kennedy. Starring Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone, it will premiere on Zee5 on February 20.
