Thank you Niki for alerting me that this exists! And now I’ve watched it and I am honestly not sure what to say about it. So I guess this is more of a discussion post than anything.
Trailer:
I think I have to deal with this trailer in two levels, the first being simply the script in a vacuum and the second being it in context. In a vacuum, the idea is a thriller where a mentally unstable woman suspects her neighbor of murder and the question is whether he is really guilty or if it is all a delusion.
I’m a little uncomfortable with this idea even in a vacuum. Something I think that would be interesting is if her mental issues were unrelated to the neighbor. Like, she hallucinated Martians landing or something, and also suspected her neighbor of murder. Than there would be a sensitive interesting exploration of the limitations of mental illness. And one with real world relevance, mentally ill people are highly vulnerable to crimes against them because no one believes them. It’s a useful and valid lesson to learn that the schizophrenic woman ranting about aliens might also be telling the truth about her rape at the hands of her caregiver. Movie-fy it a bit, make it a schizophrenic woman ranting about aliens who is telling the truth about witnessing a robbery or something, and that would be a great movie that would also open minds. But making it about a woman whose delusion intersects with the crime she witnessed isn’t close to real life and, unless they explore the relationship between delusion and lucidity with a lot of care in the actual film, does not seem very helpful in helping people to treat those with mental illness better.
And yes, maybe I wouldn’t be thinking as deeply about it if the Indian Psychiatric Association hadn’t already registered complaints just about the title of the film. But they did register those complaints, and they are a legitimate advocacy group, so I am taking their lead and watching closely for additional signs of insensitivity and unawareness of the problems.
But I could be wrong! What do you think?
And then there is the second level. This whole trailer positions the situation as unpleasantly close to Kangana’s real life obsession with Hrithik. Right? Or am I reading too much into it?
If it is picking up on the Hrithik situation, that is unfair to Hrithik and his family by once again dragging this all into the limelight, and it is unfair to Kangana by casting her in a role in a film that will benefit if she is triggered. If I am reading it correctly, it also puts a new spin on the attempted date conflict with Hrithik’s movie. Kangana potentially spinning out again on the promotional tour and going on about Hrithik instead of the film would only serve to drive interest higher, make people want to see a fictionalized version of their situation in this film.
Oh, and third level, basic components of the film. It looks like yet another nice little thriller. Not as brilliant and original as Andhandhun, not as tightly put together as Ittefaq or Badla (the cop comedy and Kangana character backstory seems extraneous), but with the same cheap real look and trailer that makes you want to see the movie just to learn what happens. And two central actors that are talented and entertaining enough to keep us watching through all the twists. I’m also excited to see Rajkummar play more of a hunky bad boy, a new kind of role for him. I am less excited to see Kangana play manic and disturbed, yet again.
dontcallitbollywood 
The connections to the obsessions of Kangana herself are too much for me. She even said that the furor over the title was because she is always attacked. Please….I can’t see this film on principle, many principles
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Okay, so it’s not just me seeing a connection.
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I think the crazy woman angle could be extremely interesting, not from the point of view of mental health but from the point of view of how women are gaslighted into thinking they’re crazy when they’re being mistreated or lied to. Also how “bitches are crazy” is used as a way to dismiss women’s legitimate concerns.
From a filmmaking pov it definitely has an Andhadhun feel to it. I’m excited to see Rajkummar play a morally ambiguous character.
The intersection with the Hrithik situation sucks and I thin it’s inevitable that the promo will drag him through the mud again. I really enjoy Kangana as a performer but her real life is such a turn off. I’ll likely see this in a theater but it’s unfortunate that she’s so awful as a person.
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What makes me nervous about the “crazy woman” angle is that it is conflating actual mental health issues and obsession with a potentially real crime in a way that feels icky. If she ends up having truly hallucinated everything, it will mean women are doubted even more. If she ends up telling the truth, it could mean that people who are truly ill have their hallucinations believed which is damaging for both them and the people they are hallucinating about. Anyway, watch Akira! It also has a “crazy woman” plot in a way that feels very pointed and perfect.
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Not going to lie I was actually pretty interested in this project when it was first announced way back in the day but with all of the drama that has happened I’m kinda over it. Pretty unenthusiastic about Kangana playing a CRAZY woman though I am pretty stoked to see Rajkummar do something different than the “sweet innocent young man” roles he has been doing a lot in his more commercial films recently
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The trailer definitely pushes Kangana more than Rajkummar but based on our reactions, I wonder if that is a miss-calculation? If the trailer had spent more time selling “Rajkummar like you’ve never seen him before”, maybe more people would be interested.
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….but are any of us super huge Kangana fans (both as an actress and a person)??? 😂
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Looking at it from the perspective of reading all the comments from all you folks for the past almost 4 years, we used to be! I liked her fine, and there were plenty of comments from folks saying “oh yeah, Kangana! She’s great!” And then, slowly over the past 4 years, we all lost interest. If we take the DCIB community as a microcosm of the Hindi film audience, I kind of wonder if there is the same feeling in general. She hasn’t had a solo hit since Queen, actually she hasn’t had a hit of any kind since Queen (unless I am missing something).
Meanwhile Rajkummar is on FIRE. Hit hit hit, almost all solo, and we here at DCIB went from “oh him?” to loving him in the past 4 years.
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Female-centric films are hardly ever hits so I don’t think that means a lot. The fact that she keeps getting these big roles where the focus is on her says enough.
I kind of liked the trailer although the parallels with the Hrithik situation were hard to ignore.
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Just to play Devil’s advocate, we always say that female centric films aren’t hits, but then there is Piku and Raazi and Veere Di Wedding and Neerja and even Tumhari Sulu. It’s rare, but it can happen. So I won’t let Kangana off that easily.
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Huh maybe it’s because I have a friend who is a Kangana fan and I read the youtube comments on the trailer I got the impression that people still really like her. Also Tanu Weds Manu Returns was a hit and got attention right? Though I guess that’s a long time ago too. Honestly I feel like Kangana Ranaut the public figure has overtaken Kangana Ranaut the actress for a while now.
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Kangana seems to be very internet-popular. That is, her fan groups are extremely vocal online. But her box office hasn’t reflected that for a long long time, and this little corner of the internet (which is mostly neutral and non-fan oriented), is a bit tired of her.
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Of course, nothing is coincidental…they all probably wrote it with Kangana in mind…but that aside it looks like a really interesting movie!
But more importantly, the movie is releasing in a few weeks and there is no Kangana drama yet!?!? I can’t wait for her to start the promotions…who will she attack this time? Who will be the victim this month? Ooohhh I am going to speculate that she is going to go after Rajkumar Rao…she will be insecure about him stealing her thunder so attack him…plus animosity between them would work with the movie’s theme…I can’t wait for the drama!!!
(P.S. Sorry, if I sound insensitive to her victims…I realize that following her drama is not emotionally healthy)
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Well, she already randomly roped Deepika in to a feud around this movie, I never could have predicted that, so who knows who she will pick next! Really, if we had some kind of Hindi movie stars roullette wheel, we could spin it and pick someone and be as likely as anything to figure out who she would go after.
On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 9:21 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Boom
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But, Salman decided to change the name? It WASN’T named “Mental”. Because that’s a bad name.
Anyway, Kangana versus Salman? Bring it on! That is a feud I want to see!
On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 11:16 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Same here!! I can’t wait for a real feud like Salman and Kangana. I think she also said something about him making South remakes unlike her. She’s not wrong though.
But most likely Salman will just ignore her.
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You are probably right, Salman doesn’t bother with little things like this. But if Kangana pushes hard enough for him to talk, oh boy I bet he would have things to SAY!!!! That’s the best part about Salman, he just says stuff if he wants to say stuff.
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Now Kangoli attacks Tapsee and calls her a “cheap copy” of Kangana.
https://twitter.com/Rangoli_A/status/1146461545141960704
She also went after Varan because he didn’t name Kangana specifically when he praised the trailer.
https://twitter.com/Rangoli_A/status/1146337979436171264
This is what you get when you praise her movie. Why do they even bother? Everyone should just ignore her.
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Lol, neither of them even said anything bad…
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Kangana is a toxic and no amount of talent can redeem the viciousness & absurdity she projects.Nothing that enables her(&her sister consequently)& extends her narcissism should be successful,so I hope this movie flops.She has to take time off,get well, suspend her sister’s Twitter account and then start working. Sorry Rajkumar,you are collateral damage.
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Poor Rajkummar! But then, he chose to sign the film, and his career is going well enough that he probably had other choices available to him.
On Thu, Jul 4, 2019 at 3:38 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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