‘Kabir Singh’ Insider Movie Review
An uncritically misogynistic protagonist and a story that tries to make him a hero.
Disagreeable protagonists are supposed to make for better stories. The best fiction is filled with problems and tension, and the last thing you want is for a perfect main character — there’s no room for growth there.
Given this fact, Kabir Singh should have been an excellent movie. The titular main character is immensely unlikeable — a terrible man with anger management issues, an unapologetic misogynist who threatens, manipulates and assaults the woman he claims to be in love with.
His inherently dysfunctional relationship with heroine Preeti offers numerous opportunities for character development and growth, and the development from villain to hero.
Where this movie fails, however, is in its utter lack of self-awareness.
Breaking it all down
I’ll be completely honest …
I hated it. Behind all the bells and whistles, Kabir Singh is, at heart, the story of Kabir Singh, an aggressive, temperamental, and talented medical college student.
He falls in love with a fellow student Preeti at first sight — and declares that she is his to the rest of the college, whether she is interested or not.
What follows is disturbing courtship, with Preeti falling in love with a man who is, at best, emotionally abusive. Already alcoholic and a habitual drug-taker, he falls into a spiral of addiction when Preeti’s parents step in and forcefully separate the two. Without her, his life falls apart — and it is here that the movie’s true weakness becomes evident.
Kabir is un-ironically meant to be a sympathetic character. Despite his obvious misogynistic and abusive nature, there is never any criticism of his character within the narrative of the movie. Nor is the movie self-aware enough to frame him as a character worthy of the audience’s derision.
Even in his lowest moments, he is still the hero figure. His friends adore him, women fall in love with him, and even as he spirals even deeper into addiction and an abusive personality, all his mistakes are excused as those of someone with a ‘good heart.’
“Where do ‘deserve’ and ‘respect’ come into the picture when it comes to love, Kabir?” — Preeti
The movie’s saving grace is its cast and crew. Plush cinematography and careful editing make this movie visually attractive. The songs are beautiful, though their use in the storyline, unfortunately, takes away from the music. As a separate album, the soundtrack works well — as part of the movie, it’s just another un-subtle way to lionize an offensive character.
Actors Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Arjun Bajwa, and Soham Majumdar shine despite the script. Kapoor, especially, helps carry this movie in a way few other performers would have been able to. If there is anything that can make this an attractive option for a film audience, it is him — but despite his acting chops, at 38, he is perhaps too old for a college student’s role, and that is painfully evident in the visuals.
Essential Movie Details
By the way… did you know?
- Directed by Sandeep Vanga, it is a remake of the director’s debut movie, the Telugu language Arjun Reddy
- Shahid Kapoor stars as the titular character, following commercially and critically successful roles in a spate of movies including Jab We Met, Haider, Udta Punjab, and Padmaavat.
- Kapoor underwent substantial workouts to prepare for his role as Kabir, including losing 14 kilos to better resemble a college student.
- Kapoor was nominated for his 6th Best Actor Filmfare Award for the movie. The movie was nominated for 6 Filmfare Awards and won for Best Music Director.
In The End
Ultimately, Kabir Singh is a movie of missed opportunities. There are several moments where it comes close to recognizing the flaws of its main character, but it consistently falls short.
In doing so, it detracts from other, relevant social critique made throughout the movie, especially when it comes to caste. Though there is potential for an entertaining movie with clever social commentary, what the movie actually is is a celebration of the worst kind of misogyny.
Its three-hour run-time results in an unforgivably clunky movie, one that could instantly have been more watchable with about half an hour or so chopped off. As it stands, there are far too many scenes of Kabir in the throes of his dual alcohol and drug addictions, and many seem to serve no purpose other than to pad the length of the film.
For movies in the same vein that are more palatable for the viewer, Vivah (another Shahid Kapoor movie) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai serve as far more compelling options.
Where to Watch
Ready to watch Kabir Singh online free after our IMDB, Wiki & Rotten Tomatoes style movie review? Well, instead of hitting up Netflix, Reddit, 123movies, Prime or Putlocker for Kabir Singh streaming, just visit us at Homestream.
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Ashley Mills grew up in Nevada and graduated with a degree in government from UNLV. After working at Final Cut Magazine as an editorial assistant, she became a freelance writer in California, where she eventually began to write about movies for the Arts & Leisure section of major publications.
In 2015 she became the movie critic at the a popular Northeastern newspaper, where she stayed for nearly two years before moving to Delaware to be the movie critic at a local newspaper. She left in 2019 and began working at Homestream. She writes entertainment pieces on movies, television shows and popular culture.
You can connect with Ashley on Homestream’s Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or by visiting our website.
