Tere Ishk Mein’s violence is ‘not even smart, it’s plain ugly’, says Neeraj Ghaywan

3 min readMumbaiJun 27, 2026 02:51 PM IST

Tere Ishk Mein drew heavy criticism for its portrayal of gender politics.

In an era increasingly defined by hypermasculinity and heightened testosterone-driven narratives, cinema continues to lean heavily on excessive and often graphic portrayals of violence. These depictions, whether in large-scale action spectacles or so-called light-hearted romantic dramas, can be deeply disturbing and triggering for sections of the audience. Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan recently reflected on this trend, calling out what he sees as an often lazy approach to portraying violence on screen. In a conversation with the YouTube channel Yuvaa, he pointed to the film Tere Ishk Mein, directed by Aanand L Rai and starring Dhanush and Kriti Sanon.

‘It’s just plain ugly’

“People say, ‘Unless you show violence, how will you talk about violence?’ Yeah, that is true. But there are ways to show and make you feel the violence. An example would be a woman who is slapped continuously for some time. If I show this person getting beaten constantly, you’re going to trigger so many women who’ve gone through that. Not just women, people who’ve gone through that.”

He further added, “It is going to be very triggering. Of course, there will be other people who’ll say, ‘such a tragic thing happened’ Of course, that’s fine. But you are inadvertently also triggering so many people through that depiction. And that takes a long time to heal from.”

Expanding on his point, Ghaywan specifically referred to Tere Ishk Mein, saying the trailer itself left him unsettled. “You know, recently there was a film, Tere Ishk Mein, and I saw the trailer of it. There is a scene where he’s (Dhanush) carrying that bottle to a wedding, and he’s almost about to throw it like acid on the girl (Kriti). It must be so triggering for so many people. I got triggered myself watching it. It is not even smart, I’m sorry. It’s just plain ugly to put that in, just because toxicity is ‘cool’ these days. I feel the portrayal of violence is about who you are triggering, what you’re trying to say, and there are smarter ways to do these things.”

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‘Not a single lower-caste person’

In the same conversation, Ghaywan also critiqued TVF’s storytelling, pointing to what he described as a lack of caste representation in its narratives. “Take TVF, and they have been doing very good. And they have shows are genuinely very good. And that’s exactly why I have the problem. It’s made by IIT-ians, who are supposed to be the most educated lot in this country. And every single show of theirs, since inception, has always had upper-caste characters. Not a single lower-caste person, not a single Muslim.”

Neeraj Ghaywan’s most recent directorial work is Homebound.