Ranveer Singh’s Kantara Imitation Sparks a Storm: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes

Ranveer Singh walked onto the IFFI 2025 closing-ceremony stage with the kind of energy only he can carry. He started praising Rishab Shetty’s Kantara: Chapter 1, calling it one of the most striking films he’d seen. So far, so good. But then came the moment that set off a nationwide wave of criticism.

Trying to express how strongly the daiva possession sequence affected him, Ranveer slipped into an imitation of the ritual. The exaggerated expressions, tongue out, crossed eyes as the clip spread online within minutes, and the outrage followed just as fast. To viewers who hold the tradition close, it felt less like admiration and more like mockery.

The Ignored Warning

What made the situation worse was the detail that surfaced soon after: Rishab Shetty had apparently told Ranveer backstage not to mimic the daiva onstage. The tradition isn’t just a performance; it’s deeply spiritual for the communities it comes from.

Despite that caution, Ranveer still went ahead with the bit. Once that detail reached the public, the backlash sharpened. A misjudged moment suddenly looked careless. The conversation shifted from “Was this harmless?” to “Why ignore a warning from the person who brought the ritual to the screen?”

Why it Escalated Into a Controversy 

Kantara worked because it wasn’t just another film. It pulled a sacred, lived tradition into the mainstream with respect and authenticity. So when a big Bollywood star reenacted that same ritual on a festival stage with theatrical exaggeration, it crossed an emotional line for many.

The responses online were blunt. People called it insensitive, unnecessary, even disrespectful. And in a cultural landscape already sensitive to representation, the clip naturally became bigger than the moment itself.

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t about policing creativity. It’s about understanding that not everything sacred translates into a performance bit. When admiration ignores context, it often backfires.

For Ranveer, the timing isn’t great either because his upcoming film Dhurandhar is weeks away. And whether he intended it or not, this controversy is now part of the conversation surrounding him.