7 Reasons Why Bollywood Films Normalising Stalking In Love In Not “Cute” At All, What Will It Take To Stop Romanticising It?
High time we stop!
Bollywood movies have given us a lot of stories of love, romance and friendships. From DDLJ to Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, the list of romantic dramas in Bollywood is never-ending. But for the longest time, in Bollywood movies, we have seen a common story where a man chases a woman he claims to “love”, even if she shows no interest. Now this is often shown as romantic and brave, but in reality, this romanticized idea of stalking isn’t healthy or romantic at all.
When movies show this as a form of love, it can confuse people, especially young viewers, making them think this is how real relationships should work. This is harmful because it teaches that it’s okay to not respect someone’s personal space if you really like them. Thankfully, many people are realizing how damaging this can be. Some actors and filmmakers are even apologizing and working to create better stories. This is important because Bollywood has a huge influence. If movies start showing healthier relationships, where everyone respects and listens to each other, it could really change how people view love and respect in real life. So to make it easy, we’ve listed down a few reasons why Bollywood showing stalking as love isn’t the best idea of love!
Reasons Why Bollywood Showing Stalking As Love Is A Problem
1. Consent Gets Ignored
Films often skip whether the woman actually wants the attention, suggesting persistence alone makes it okay. This teaches viewers that consent isn’t necessary in love, which is dangerous.
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2. Promotes Unhealthy Relationships
Movies that show stalkers winning love send the wrong message that such behaviour leads to happy endings. It romanticizes a potentially harmful situation instead of promoting mutual respect.
3. Confuses Young Viewers
Young people might start thinking stalking is an acceptable way to express love, shaping how they approach relationships. This can lead to real-life issues where they mimic these behaviours, misunderstanding what healthy affection looks like.
4. Makes Light Of Serious Issues
Stalking is dangerous and can harm people. Treating it lightly in films minimizes its seriousness and can desensitize viewers to the trauma it can cause.
5. Promotes Bad Gender Roles
These films often show men as aggressive and women as passive, which is outdated and unfair. It also discourages women from being assertive and men from being empathetic, directly or indirectly promoting toxic masculinity.
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6. Ignores The Victim’s Feelings
Films usually focus on the stalker’s feelings, not on how scared or uncomfortable the person being stalked feels. This imbalance can lead viewers to overlook the real pain and fear that comes with being stalked.
7. Holds Back Progress
By sticking to these old stories, Bollywood isn’t helping society move forward with more respectful and healthy views on relationships. As society evolves, it’s important that our media reflects and supports progressive values and behaviours.
So now that we’ve seen the reasons and also seen people get inspired from these movies to promote stalking like it’s a daily chore, I think it’s time we stop thinking that stalking and following in any way is “cute”. It was never cute, it never will be!
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