Kartik Aaryan is on a professional high after his last film Luka Chhupi became a runaway hit. The actor is now looking forward to the release of his upcoming film Pati, Patni Aur Woh that also stars Ananya Panday and Bhumi Pednekar in the lead. However, the flick that is a remake of the 1978 film starring Sanjeev Kumar, Ranjeeta Kaur and Vidya Sinha has come under scrutiny for Kartik’s monologue that apparently trivialized marital rape. The monologue was finally removed from the trailer of the film and the actor and the makers received severe backlash for it.
Now, in an interview given to a leading daily, Kartik has come clean on the issue. He told the daily, “My second film Akaash Vani dealt with marital rape. It addressed a significant issue, I would never trivialize something as sensitive as that. That was never our intention. The monologue has been rectified. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s sentiments. I am an actor. I am not a producer, director or writer and I don’t tend to interfere, but I would never want to hurt anyone’s sentiments while doing my job. I am just waiting for the film to release so that people know that we never intended to hurt anyone. The audience’s validation is most important to me.”
Kartik also spoke about his monologues and said, “Wherever I go, I am told to say these monologues, and there is nothing to complain. A lot of people crave for identity, and I am blessed that right from my first film, my monologues became popular. I had no contacts in the industry, no big banner launched me and yet, I was noticed, thanks to these monologues. I am proud of my films. Whether people like them or not, is their decision. I did Akaash Vani (2013) after Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), which was a completely different film. Between the Punchnama movies, I did a short film called Silvat, directed by Tanuja Chandra, and that was critically acclaimed. I have done a mixed bag of movies, but because Punchnama and Sonu Ke... did well, those films get highlighted more.”
(Source: Bombay Times)