Kabir Singh director Sandeep Vanga opened up about the heavy backlash that the film has been receiving.

Kabir Singh, starring Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani, might have crossed over Rs 200 crore at the box office, but it continues to face heavy backlash for its misogynistic and violent approach towards women.

Kabir Singh director Sandeep Vanga has strongly defended the film. In an interview with a journalist, he expressed his surprise at the negative comments that the film has received. "When I started this film, I knew it would be a big success at the box office, but I never thought that the rage would be repeated, and it has multiplied four times now," he said. He called the criticism "bizarre" and "unhealthy".

The film has made Rs 218 crore and Vanga believes it can cross Rs 300 crore. Kabir Singh has emerged as Shahid Kapoor's biggest hit in his career.

When asked about the allegations of toxic masculinity and violent treatment of women in the film, Vanga said, "When you are deeply in love and deeply connected to a woman (and vice versa), if you don’t have the liberty of slapping each other, then I don’t see anything there."

Kabir Singh is a remake of Telugu blockbuster Arjun Reddy, which starred Vijay Deverakonda in the lead role.

Vanga lashed out at the critics who had slammed the film and said, "Probably they never experienced (love) in the right way. It's new to them." He added, "For the Telugu film, people criticised numerous aspects in the film. But here, they were only on the feminist side, they didn’t speak about anything else. They probably hate me," he said.

Talking about a scene in the film where Kabir Singh physically assaults his girlfriend Preeti, Vanga said, "She slapped him without a reason, at least Kabir had a reason to slap her. If you can’t slap, if you can’t touch your woman wherever you want, if you can’t kiss, I don’t see emotion there."

Kabir Singh hit the screens on June 21, and continues to mint money at the box office.

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