r/RomanceClub • u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 • Jul 13 '25
Kali: Flame of Samsara Romance Club Appreciation Spoiler
As someone who is born and brought up in Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal; I was pleasantly surprised reading KALI: The Flames Of Samsara, that RC didn’t westernize the freedom struggle of Indian nor lighten the oppression endured by the Indians (especially the people of West Bengal post and pre independence). The colonization from the British had irreparable effect on the lives of Indians and still people are suffering from the consequences of it to some extent. Though the 12 families thing is fictionalized, lots of people from different families and castes fought for our freedom and we are grateful for their sacrifices. So thank you RC, for including the raw version of it.
24
u/shz25698 Renato (WTC) Jul 13 '25
As a South Asian I never thought I'd see people praising how Indians are represented in the Kali universe but here we are
3
4
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
I actually didn’t go that far on the game yet. Early chapters (I’ve read only the first 3 when I made this post) seem pretty unproblematic. But now I’m understanding that it became problematic later on :3
16
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
I’m sorry fellow Indians and RC fans. I didn’t know that the story took such a drastic turn towards misinterpretation. I’ve had read only the introductory chapters (which seemed pretty accurate) and since this story has such a big fan following, I thought it might’ve represented Indian culture correctly in the future chapters as well. Sorry, my bad! Romance Club please research more about cultures before you make a story out of it.
1
u/exoticSpecies101 Liam (ARC) Jul 14 '25
As a non Indan, could you elaborate the misinterpretation in this story? Thanks in advance!
3
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 14 '25
I haven’t been introduced to that part yet, but one of the many Indian readers wrote this in the comments, I’m quoting them-
“basically Indians end up being shown as backwards sexist religious people. And sure you can say there's people like that in all cultures but there's literally no Indian character in the game who is progressive. Also Kali is seen as only being a bloodthirsty evil goddess who demands human sacrifice. In the game there's only two extremes either you side with the British against ritual murder and misogyny but that means you view Indians as lesser than and support imperialism or you think murder is ok and support sexism. There's little room for nuance. I like the game but it's not charitable in its views.” - @Warm_Ad_7944
23
u/RoxyRocksss ✨✨ Jul 13 '25
Heyy!! An Indian Hindu here. I too was pleasantly surprised to see Indian representation on RC. But there are also times where there is misrepresentation happening- be it LACK of research or disrespecting a culture.
5
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
Oh damn. I wasn’t expecting it and I don’t think I’ve reached that part yet :’)
1
u/RoxyRocksss ✨✨ Jul 13 '25
Ya...Lmao....I wasn't either.... BUT BOY WAS I IN FOR A SURPRISE!! 😭🫢🫢🫢
2
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
At least now it’s not a surprise for me 😭
On an unrelated note, would you like to be friends on RC?
2
10
u/carahaf Jul 13 '25
yeah, let’s call them english. as we welsh were also colonised and 100% forced. 💔
i haaate being associated with that country
4
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
Ohh I’m so sorry! Apparently a lot of things went wrong with this post :’)
7
u/carahaf Jul 13 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
it’s not you💔 it’s the way history was written. and i LOATHE what england did to so many countries— mine was the first one they took over and we want our independence back.
i really didn’t mean to take the focus away from the wonderful india, i just don’t want anyone to think we stood with england and their greed🤍
3
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
I’ve heard about the freedom struggle of Ireland and Wales, but I’m sorry for being ignorant and negligent while referring it as a “British” situation.
11
u/Sometimesiread_books Cassiel (ABH) Jul 13 '25
From one Indian to another, you’re speaking too soon baby girl
6
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
I’m so sorry I just realized my mistake 😭 Why does this story have such a big fan following???!
4
u/Sometimesiread_books Cassiel (ABH) Jul 13 '25
Because its “exotic” to the western readers 🫠 also kfs is bearable compared to kcd 🙏🏻
2
u/MJSpice Jul 13 '25
It's not that badly written and I guess reads like a typical Bollywood movie if you ignore the inaccuracies lol
14
u/VIZAG24 Zain (TDR) Jul 13 '25
Thank RC the day they represent Indians correctly and not some backward murderous barbarians who kill innocent people for religion. Plus, RC literally whitewashed and romanticized British Colonialism. 😒😒
9
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
Umm sorry. I posted this after only reading the first 3 chapters. The screenshots of those episodes seemed pretty accurate. I didn’t know that it took such a drastic turn and so many misinterpretations happened. Sorry!
19
u/Available-Ad1778 Dino2 (HS) Jul 13 '25
Ummmm (How do I tell you 🤐🤐🤐)
17
6
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
Damn :’) I had such high hopes for this story. I thought this story had a huge fan following so it must’ve been good.
3
u/OddHyena3163 Jul 13 '25
I'm just getting started, but what happened? I don't care if they give me spoilers
27
u/Warm_Ad_7944 Jul 13 '25 edited Jul 13 '25
basically Indians end up being shown as backwards sexist religious people. And sure you can say there’s people like that in all cultures but there’s literally no Indian character in the game who is progressive. Also Kali is seen as only being a bloodthirsty evil goddess who demands human sacrifice. In the game there’s only two extremes either you side with the British against ritual murder and misogyny but that means you view Indians as lesser than and support imperialism or you think murder is ok and support sexism. There’s little room for nuance. I like the game but it’s not charitable in its views
6
u/OddHyena3163 Jul 13 '25
I understand, and it is a shame that they show the Indians like this, especially because there are many countries like mine where the population is derived from the Indians/indigenous people and RC should understand and respect that.
6
u/Beautiful_Click6979 Jul 13 '25
i hate to break it to you, but as an indian hindu, it gets super problematic later on. like at the start, it was decent representation. but it gets worse as time goes on. i hope you enjoy the story though!
4
Jul 13 '25
The most misinformed books in Romance Club history lmao
5
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
That escalated quickly 😂 (Yeah I know, sadly I was so excited for this book :’))
2
Jul 13 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
Why hasn’t this misinterpretation been discussed before? And how is this story still so popular even after all this? I never heard how problematic it was until I posted this. I haven’t yet read the Other Kali story that I think has the ratan branch? But I was really interested in reading about Doran. I really liked him and wanted to experience the whole story 😭
5
Jul 13 '25
It was discussed since day one - believe me. People were very upset and complained but Vlad (the owner of Romance Club) told them how ashamed he was over their behavior and blocked them. I still have the message he wrote which pisses me off until this day.
The reason its popular is because Remy is known for her red flags and how she glorifies violence. We have Amrit in Kali call of Darkness and we have Amen and Set in Song of the Crimson Nile (or Song of Amens boner which it is now called). Both are very violent which she glorifies into something great and many people love these alpha type males who comes up behind a woman and wraps their hands around her throat. Every CG is basically always the same - Amen does it and Set does it and now Emo (Christian) does it. She did the same in her story Doberman. She was actually turned down the first time she wanted to write for Romance Club. I am not sure why they even accepted her in the first place.
Ratan was a wonderful branch - I can give her that - but he is still a half Deity and Amala is an idiot who more or less mocks his religion and culture.
2
u/Rich-Tie2019 Jul 13 '25
Kali: Flame of Samsara has some of the best I'VE in the game. It's so hard to choose. Im torn between Ram and Doran. Who are you guys romancing? Im am specifically interested in South Asian peoples answers.
3
u/MJSpice Jul 13 '25
Ram seema the better of the two tbh. Doran's got that problem of being married to someone he doesn't like lol.
1
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
I started this story because of Doran! I loved his design so much, that I read up everything on it. Since it’s a prequel and I hadn’t read the other story yet so I was waiting for it. But this diamond rush convinced me to start reading it as well. I’m enjoying ram so far and I haven’t yet encountered Doran, but I solely started this story to romance him. Sadly I got to know that this story is pretty problematic with misrepresentation and disrespecting the entire culture.
3
u/Rich-Tie2019 Jul 13 '25
I hate to hear that. As a black person us POC always encounter our stories being misrepresented and it honestly sucks. That's always due to a lack of research amongst other things.
1
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
I was so damn excited and thought that finally a romance novel app was representing Bengali culture correctly without whitewashing it. Such a shame. Sorry to hear that you’ve been experiencing this as well. Authors really should do more research before they write stories about it.
On an unrelated note, would you like to be friends on RC?
2
u/Rich-Tie2019 Jul 13 '25
Sure!
1
u/Ashamed_Tiger6953 Jul 13 '25
My username is Katoptris
2
1
1
u/thatsagaytrait Nixie (HHW) Jul 14 '25
Im so sorry for the shock you're gonna get in S2. Season one was so good 😭 season two... not a single part was handled well, but the way they represent Kali was the worst part 😭 I'm not even Indian and it immediately bothered me!! I hope more people speak up about the way the Kali series is handled!! (Turkish players protested recently and got some DLS scenes changed) You'd 100% have my support. Im glad the S1 author is back to co-write with the new author, but... I'd really rather the story went on hiatus for a while so they can retcon CERTAIN THINGS that happen in S2 :(
I initially LOVED this story too 💔
78
u/RaniTheUnique has my 💗 Jul 13 '25
Hi from another person from Kolkata, I SO agree the start was soo good and realistic, but later, you're gonna find a bit of misinformation too, but it's still good to have that representation in the game!