Alia Bhatt speaks about the ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ male molestation controversy

Male rapes and molestation are issues that are seldom thrown light upon in the Hindi film industry. However, the makers of Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt starrer 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania' decided to show the hero in the dark shackles of molestation. In the film, Varun and Alia's Singapore trip goes a bit wrong when Varun is molested and his clothes torn apart. Alia comes to his rescue and Varun has to use her dupatta to cover his modesty while everyone else laughs at his state.

The scene saw the makers of the film meet an eye of the storm with the moral police and women activists who criticised director Shashank Khaitan and producer Karan Johar for making fun of male molestation.

When a leading daily asked Shashank about the controversy over the scene, the director said, "The intent was to show Badri’s character at an all-time low. Emotionally he was down and out. Vaidehi (Bhatt) had stripped him of his ‘mardangi’ when she asked him to call his father and he couldn’t. He was emotionally defenceless and was unable to even protect his physical ‘izzat’. The humour was to comfort and not trivialise the issue."

However, at a recent event when Alia was asked to comment on the same, the actress said, "I’m not somebody who is averse to criticism. I welcome all kinds of critique. But honestly, the film has been loved unanimously. There will always be some people who will say something different from what you think about the film. But that’s their take. I’m not going to tell them what they should feel. But the majority has loved the film and that’s what matters."