Come Valentine’s Day, social media, newspapers and even malls are all decked in hues of red and pink. One can’t spend the day without encountering at least a bunch of red hearts, online or offline. But sadly, Bollywood seems to have missed the mohabbat ka memo over the past couple of years. As action films replete with violence set the cash registers ringing, the exquisite pain of falling in love has been replaced by the exquisite joy of beating up others and making straight men great again.
This is strange, considering that Bollywood has created some truly memorable love stories over the years. From Shri 420 to Mughal-e-Azam, Guide to Maine Pyaar Kiya, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Jab We Met, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Bunty Aur Babli, Badhai Ho, Badhai Do, Veer-Zara, Chandni, Sadma, The Lunchbox, Pyaasa, Barfi, Kabhi Kabhie; the list is impressively long. These films not only gave us memorable characters but also uplifting stories and relationships that celebrated the one human need that truly binds us all, the need to love and be loved.
But ever since Pushpa bloomed on our screens in 2021, most leading men in Bollywood seem to have consciously signed films that leave little room for a well-written, leave alone memorable female character. Over the past year, for example, our leading men were seen in films with jungle-themed titles like Animal and Tiger 3 or making comebacks in star vehicles like Pathaan and Jawan. They strutted around like an officer and supermodel in Fighter or replaced diplomacy and border security forces singlehandedly in Gadar 2. Even an actor like Ayushmann Khurrana who was known to choose well scripted high concept films, played both the leading man and leading lady himself in Dream Girl 2.
Apart from Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, 12th Fail, Ponniyin Selvan 1&2, and Satyaprem Ki Katha, every commercially successful film in the past two years has been steeped in testosterone and violence. Consider other recent releases like Jailer, Leo, RRR, KGF 2, or even films with offbeat subjects like Brahmastra, OMG 2 and Mission Raniganj; it is hard to recall a recent film starring an A-list male star where the women have not merely served as a plot device or archetype in the hero’s journey.
One can argue that we went through a similar phase after the success of Salman Khan’s Wanted, but this time there seems to be a crisis of masculinity that our leading men are grappling with. Perhaps it’s the audience being more selective after the pandemic, the fact that all of them are ageing, or the competition from OTT platforms. No matter what the reasons are, male stars are making conservative movie choices as if to reassure themselves and the audiences that they have still got what it takes. Whether what it takes then is an axe, a phallic machine gun, or a jet pack; no weapon is too big or small for our macho men.
But when we allow a privileged, heterosexual man to take up all the air on screen, we only magnify what a patriarchal society does to women and members of the LGBTQUIA community off-screen. It is regrettable to see talented and hugely successful actors like Deepika Padukone and Nayanthara playing supporting roles in films like Pathaan and Jawan. Nayanthara, who played a police officer in Jawan, was locked into a cell with all the other female characters while three men took centerstage in the film’s climax. Her marriage or relationship with Shah Rukh Khan’s character was of absolutely no consequence to the film. Pathaan was essentially a Shah Rukh Khan vs John Abraham film, where Deepika showed up intermittently for support and skin show. Her bond with Khan was flimsily written and relied largely on their chemistry.
In Fighter, while Hrithik Roshan’s journey of redemption soared, Deepika’s character finds closure after he mansplains feminism to her parents. She was not even allowed to win her parents over with her bravery! By normalising or even glamorising a woman as being insignificant or worse still less important than a man, we have brought back gender stereotypes that so many worked hard to break.
There was a time when we had a true diversity in the kind of films people watched in theatres. We had love stories, family dramas, horror comedies, socially relevant dramedies, and of course a handful of action films starring Vidyut Jammwal, John Abraham or Tiger Shroff’s abs. Sadly, the obsession with creating hyper-masculine characters, has reduced the versatility of our cinema. Stories from other genres or with female protagonists have failed at the box office in recent times or been tagged as OTT releases as soon as the first glimpse of them is released.
While we have films like Singham 3, Kalki 2898 AD and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan lined up for release this year, one can only hope that 2024 will also be the year where get over blood-soaked biceps and focus instead on the beating heart under the perfectly sculpted chest or above the shapely waistline.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
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