Raksha Bandhan’s Sadia Khateeb reacts to people calling film regressive for calling women ‘double decker’

Actor Sadia Khateeb addressed criticism on Akshay Kumar’s film Raksha Bandhan after being labelled as ‘regressive’ by many viewers. In the movie, Sadia plays the role of Akshay’s sister Gayatri. In a recent interview, Sadia said that she is okay with different perspectives of people. (Also read: Raksha Bandhan box office day 1 collection)

Directed by Aanand L Rai, Raksha Bandhan focuses on the story of Akshay Kumar as Lala Kedarnath, who promises to get his four sisters married before he can marry his girlfriend, played by Bhumi Pednekar. Besides Sadia, Deepika Khanna, Smrithi Srikanth and Sahejmeen Kaur play Akshay’s sisters. While the film highlights the special bond between a brother and sister, it has also been called out for using words like ‘double-decker’ and ‘amavas ki raat’ for women in the movie.

Talking about it, Sadia told India Today, “Agar double-decker aur amavas waali baatein koi aur karta, toh mujhe problematic lagta (If someone else would have talked about double-decker and amavas, then I would have found it problematic). I don’t even want to mention the names that my own brother uses for me. There’s nothing more regressive and problematic than that.”

“If you want to show the reality of a brother-sister’s relationship, toh aapko bhi pata hai, if you have a brother, vo gharpe kaisa treat karta hain. Mera bhai toh kehta hain mujhe taras aata hain un logo pe, jaha pe teri shaadi hogi, kitne gunaah chadenge hum jab hum tumhe denge (I pity those people where you will get married). He says stuff like that. Some people will laugh over it, some people will say ‘tere bhai kitna badtameez hai (your brother is shameless)’ even though he is the best brother in the world. Some people will still have all different perspectives. It is okay. People have choices. People have perspectives. That’s okay,” she added.