It has been a while since I last heard about the movie Kill the Rapist? As I outlined in an earlier post, Sanjay Chhel's thriller caught some attention for declaring that the fate of the film's eponymous criminal would be decided by audience vote. Here is the trailer:
The film is listed as a 'completed project' on irockindia.com. However, given the volatile climate, this may not be the best time to release the movie. According to a recent news story, vigilantes have attacked an alleged rapist in Ganganagar. According to a report at Huffington Post, 'Suresh Kumar, 40 ... was beaten with sticks for an hour before ... a vigilante group ... hacked off his genitals with a meat cleaver.' While undeniably topical, the film's themes might be a little too hot right now. The tagline question can certainly be read as incitement to further violence.
The line between the film and its context is not helped by the film's promotional Facebook page, which is mainly populated with news stories about rape in India. Kill the Rapist? is being pitched as a "social issues" film in that regard, but conflating the movie's sensationalism (as evinced by the title) with stories about genuine sexual violence and politically heated events is at best tasteless, and worst highly offensive.
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