Dhurandhar, Saiyara, Pushpa: Why our heroes are toxic, broken, borderline bad
From Dhurandhar to Tere Ishq Mein, a close look at Bollywood’s growing obsession with toxic, alcoholic heroes. Why do viewers continue to see red flags as an obsession?
Ranveer Singh in stalwart A man on a mission: to infiltrate Pakistan, its politics and its terror-supporting ecosystem. But beneath the rogue detective’s swagger and Karachi-conquering ambition, he is also a hopeless, Bollywood-loving man in love with a 20-year-old girl. He falls in love with her at first sight (of course), expresses his feelings with the emotional intelligence of a grenade (naturally), and then starts behaving like every toxic movie lover we’ve been fed for decades (predictably).
Ranveer’s Hamza is the classic “broody hero” prototype – the man whose passion is coded as passion, whose temper is coded as depth, and whose lack of boundaries is coded as emotional intensity. In short: the same hero that Bollywood has always glorified.
In stalwartWhen Sara Arjun’s Yalina questions him about staying up all night drinking, Hamza says that if she wants to stay, stop asking questions, and if she doesn’t want to stay, the door is open. She walks towards the exit… but closes it. And just like that, the film establishes another woman who is ready to love a man unconditionally, without strings, questions or conscience.
a week ago, in love with you Gave us a bow as another volcano lover. His Shankar doesn’t believe that love can end or that a smile can just be… well, a smile. He burns down the world for a woman who doesn’t want him and expects her to return the favor because – no point guessing – she burned down the world for him. Romantic? No. Red flag? Yes. Celebrated cinematically? Absolutely.
and came not long ago soldier – Where Ahaan Pandey’s Krish Kapoor is basically a ‘project man’. Mean, abrasive, unstable – the usual package – which is miraculously cured by a woman who embodies the opposite qualities: shy, sweet, kind, nurturing. Who asked him to be his emotional mechanic? unknown. But Bollywood loves the fantasy of the good woman who repairs the broken man, often at the cost of his own agency.
This rise of toxic men is not new. It did not start with Hamza or Shankar or Krish. This has been going on forever, but what is happening now feels like a dam breaking. Almost as if the industry said, “Let’s release all the toxic heroes at once.” Ek Deewane Ki Diwaniyat, Pushpa, KGF, Kabir Singh, Animal – This list sounds like a long list of red-flagged masculinity presented as desirable chivalry.
Film expert Girish Wankhede breaks it down with clinical precision: “For decades, Hindi cinema has repeated the same romantic ideal – the ‘passionate’ hero whose intensity forgives cruelty. He stalks, threatens, slaps, destroys property, and we are asked to read it as devotion rather than violence.”
He is right. From Devdas (2002) And Fear (1993) To To you (2003) and Deewangee (2002), we have seen the template evolve into its modern, hypermasculine versions: Kabir Singh (2019) and Animal (2023). What else? This trend continues till 2025 in love with you and diwali hit a crazy person’s madnessNew faces, same rights, New packaging, same poison,
So why does this toxic hero keep selling?
Wankhede highlights this: “Unrequited love works as a cultural proxy. Many young men never get to confess or compete in courtship – movies give them an indirect outlet. Masculine weakness is packaged as intensity, rejection becomes insult. And heroines are reduced to trophies.”
Producer Girish Johar agrees that audiences find such men “exciting”, even nostalgic. he points FearShahrukh Khan’s iconic psychotic lover, serving as early evidence of this attraction. With Gen-Z now defining the box office, this allure has grown even further.
“They get resonance,” says Johar. He further said, “Many people have this aggression hidden in them. These heroes do what they would never have been able to do.”
Is it comfortable? Or incredibly worrying?
Johar also notes how music acts as chloroform: every violent love story comes with a spectacular soundtrack that induces the audience to feel the madness of the protagonist as much as it does romance. And he brings up an interesting point: “I would love to see a movie where both characters are toxic and over-the-top. How would that go?”
Honestly, same. At this point, equality in toxicity may be the only equality Bollywood is capable of.
But let’s step back. What are these films teaching us and to whom?
When millions watch movies where men slap before confessing, chase before making love, yell before apologizing, and women magically fall into line – are we surprised when real-world behavior mirrors this cinematic obsession?
Wankhede warned that these stories shape a dangerous culture:
He says, “When spanking becomes love or forced devotion, the lesson is clear: violence and submission are acceptable paths to intimacy.”
And this logic exists in a country where women are CEOs, pilots, athletes, comics and creators who are rewriting gender norms every day. Then why are our films running in the opposite direction on the treadmill of regressive imagination?
Yes, love is messy. The intensity is cinematic – agreed. But aestheticizing abuse, even if it’s emotional abuse – shouldn’t we just stop for a second and ask why we’re still applauding these people?
Bollywood clearly knows that healthy love stories work too: outing (2016), almost single single (2017), Piku (2015), Congratulations (2018), Rocky and Rani’s love story (2023) — all done with charm and sincerity. So is toxicity really the secret recipe or just a lazy shortcut?
Here’s some material to consider, especially for those who cheer every time an obsessive lover comes on screen: Love that needs someone to break down to prove itself is not love, it’s ego – nothing more, nothing less.
Bollywood may keep selling that fantasy, but there is nothing remotely heroic in romanticizing dominance as a desire. And while the long-standing debate is about understanding that ‘no means no’, it’s time our heroes stop taking ‘no’ as a challenge and start hearing it as a complete sentence.
Wouldn’t this be real bravery? Finally seeing real men on screen – understanding, nuanced, positive and wonderfully non-toxic – keeping romance alive without red flags.
