Film Critics Guild condemns ‘targeted attacks’ against members for ‘Dhurandhar’ reviews

The Film Critics Guild on Thursday condemned the “targeted attacks, harassment and hate” directed towards film critics for their reviews of the Hindi film Dhurandhar.

The film critics’ association stated that the disagreement had “devolved into coordinated abuse” and personal attacks on individual critics, and “organised attempts” to discredit their professional integrity.

The film, directed by Aditya Dhar, stars Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, R Madhavan and Sanjay Dutt. It was released in theatres on December 5.

The association said that its members had in recent days faced intimidation, including direct threats and “vicious online campaigns aimed at silencing their perspectives” for expressing their professional assessment of a film.

Anupama Chopra and Sucharita Tyagi, who are part of the association’s managing committee, were among the film critics who were trolled on social media for their reviews.

Chopra’s review on The Hollywood Reporter India, which was critical of the film, was also taken down by the outlet after she was trolled.

“More concerningly, there have been attempts to tamper with existing reviews, influence editorial positions, and persuade publications to alter or dilute their stance,” the group said.

The attacks came following “frequent devaluing and ridiculing” of film criticism by a “broad spectrum of industry players” in the recent past, said the association.

“This willingness to police opinion sets a dangerous precedent,” it added. “Claims that professional film critics have a bias or a political axe to grind are unsubstantiated and malicious.”

The Film Critics Guild said it was concerned about the safety of its colleagues from across the country.

It urged the public, the industry and other stakeholders “to recognise that liking or disliking a film is your right but expecting critics to fall in line is not”.

Also read: ‘Dhurandhar’ review: A techno-jingo gorefest