What is the ongoing controversy surrounding film critic Taran Adarsh?
Brahmastra: Part One—Shiva's release has triggered a flurry of incidents. It gave Bollywood one of its most phenomenal openings and led to the beginning of Astraverse—India's first cinematic universe. However, it has also opened a can of worms vis-a-vis the role of critics and trade analysts. Now, noted reviewer-analyst Taran Adarsh has been drawing the netizens' ire for his "agenda-driven" verdicts. What went wrong?
Why does this story matter?
The cacophony began after Adarsh called Brahmastra "disappointing" and gave it two stars. Netizens said his personal opinion wasn't a cause of concern, but he has allegedly been "following a pattern," dishing out negative reviews to Hindi movies while employing a different approach toward South Indian films. Adarsh trended heavily on Twitter recently and has been at the receiving end of several netizens' criticism.
Netizens have accused Adarsh of supporting 'disastrous films'
Adarsh has received backlash for speaking heavily in favor of films that tanked at the box office and were unanimously panned by critics. These include John Abraham's Satyamev Jayate 2, Akshay Kumar's Samrat Prithviraj, Bachchhan Paandey, Varun Dhawan's Street Dancer, Arjun Kapoor-Sanjay Dutt's Panipat, and Tiger Shroff's Baaghi 2 and Baaghi 3. Some have also accused him of "only supporting South and backstabbing Bollywood."
In the past, Adarsh disliked several blockbuster films
This isn't the first time Adarsh has been called out for what netizens consider his "biased" opinions. Previously, he wasn't impressed with several movies that eventually turned out to be landmark blockbuster films Some examples include Swades, Dil Chahta Hai, Chak De India, Rang De Basanti, and Lagaan, among others. The critic also enraged netizens by pinning his unfavorable reviews on Twitter, "promoting negativity."
A Twitter user has compiled several reviews by Adarsh
Adarsh did tweet 'Brahmastra' collections, but too little too late?
Adarsh's trade figures are generally considered gospel truth and a bonafide source of information, even used widely by several news platforms. Adarsh—who tweets BO collections almost daily—skipped the tradition on Friday and Saturday for Brahmastra, which further led cinephiles to believe he has an axe to grind with the Hindi film industry. After immense backlash, however, he posted the film's numbers on Sunday morning.
Not just fans, other reviewers called out Adarsh, too
While several fandoms (mainly Ranbir Kapoor's) were quick to make claims about Adarsh's "bias," several other leading movie critics and websites also echoed the general sentiment. Analyst Komal Nahta—who is Adarsh's cousin—tweeted, "It's not about judgment or review, it's about trying to finish the industry which has made them," without directly naming anyone. Box Office Worldwide also posted a long thread, calling him "irrelevant."
