Did Kiran Rao Take A Dig At Sandeep Reddy Vanga In THIS Lapataa Ladies Scene? Netizens Think So

Kiran Rao and Sandeep Reddy Vanga have recently polarised social media users with their thoughts, opinions and even their films. The maker of Lapataa Ladies and the director of Animal recently engaged in a war of words wherein they questioned each other’s filmmaking. Days later, Rao’s latest release Lapataa Ladies debuted on OTT and social media users have once again found a chance to pit them against each other. 

Which scene in Lapataa Ladies has gone viral?

On April 26, Kiran Rao’s latest directorial Lapataa Ladies began streaming on Netflix. While the film has garnered massive critical acclaim from the audience, one scene in particular has caught the attention of social media users. In the scene, in a mix-up, Phool Kumari (played by Nitanshi Goel) is left abandoned at a railway station by her husband immediately after their wedding. Not knowing where to go and what to do, Phool seeks help from Manju Maai (Chhaya Kadam), a local tea seller on the platform.

While Manju Maai reluctantly agrees to help Phool, she keeps making her believe that marriage is a tool to suppress women who have been told that their role is limited to doing household chores adn serving the husband. In the scene, a naive Phool is determined that her husband will come back to pick her up and asks Manju why she is alone. To this Manju replied, “A man who loves you has the right to beat you. One day, I exercised my right as well.” 

Lapataa Ladies scene reignites Kabir Singh’s toxic masculinity debate

Several social media users took to their accounts to share screenshots of the scene in the film and draw parallels with Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Kabir Singh. In the 2020 film, headlined by Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani, the protagonist slaps his girlfriend in a scene and justifies it by saying that he loves her and therefore has the right to do so. The scene became a part of a major discourse on toxic masculinity and feminism.  

Sharing screenshots of the Lapataa Ladies scene, an X user wrote, “Kiran Rao bodied Sandeep Reddy Vanga.” Another user posted the scene on Reddit and wrote, “A direct slap on Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s face?” A user, however, presented a different view and shared, “You're drawing false equivalence. Vanga's movies depict toxic relationships, not domestic violence. In Laapataa Ladies, it was a case of the latter. If a man can hit a woman in Vanga's movies, the woman can hit back also. And the man's ego wouldn't shatter. It's a flawed relationship but there is no power imbalance.”

Kiran Rao and Sandeep Reddy Vanga exchange in war of words

Recently, in an interview with a media portal, Kiran Rao, without naming any film, mentioned that recent Hindi movies have blurred the lines between ‘stalking and wooing’. She also questioned the depiction of female characters in the movies. Responding to the same, the Animal director told a media portal, “Today morning, my AD showed me an article. It is of the second ex-wife of a superstar. She is saying that films like Bahubaali 2 and Kabir Singh promote misogyny and stalking. I think she does not know the difference between stalking and approaching. When people read these things out of context, they tend to agree. This is entirely wrong.” He also urged Kiran Rao, without naming her, to revisit old films of her ex-husband Aamir Khan like Dil in which his character does much worse than stalking women.