At a time when Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal received brickbats for its portrayal of alpha masculinity, Emraan Hashmi had openly expressed his admiration for the film. But it’s no secret that most recent
films in the past year came under the scanner for what many believed promoted aggressive romanticism, misogyny and toxicity. Now, speaking exclusively to News18 Showsha, Emraan shares his stance on these films that often face criticism for its hypermasculine characters and their oscillating moral compass.
Talking about the increased conversations and debates on these films on social media, the actor, who will next be seen in Neeraj Pandey’s web series Taskaree, says, “There’s a huge uproar because a woke culture has started off through social media and generally around the world. The hypermasculine man who’s seen as toxic is what’s doing in theatres. There’s an uproar surrounding it but that’s what people are buying tickets for. That’s predominantly how our country is.”
Despite the chatter, Emraan understands why the Ranbir Kapoor film fared well at the box office. “Why did a film like Animal work? Yes, there was a woke brigade working against it. There was a perception to that. But there were so many men identifying with it,” he states. While he believes that such films will continue to remain in vogue, he shares that he wants to see more stories headlined by women. “There’s also a space for women-centric films though not many at this point,” he says.
“I would like to see more women-centric films being made but it’s easier said than done,” he adds. At the same time, Emraan has no qualms about expressing that most male actors are apprehensive about doing those films. “Men in our industry are very insecure. How many people would’ve done a film like Haq? Every narrative should showcase a man’s victory. I’m not blowing my own trumpet here. But even back then, I did a film like The Dirty Picture. I liked the subject,” he tells us.
The Ba***ds Of Bollywood actor further continues, “We need to get off our insecurities and do more stuff like that. But it’s very clear what’s happening today, cinematically. As far as things are going theatrically, you need a hyper-masculine man, a villain, the tropes, the clichés. It’s very evident that it’s what the audience wants. This kind of portrayal has always worked. In the 70s and the 80s, the hypermasculine era of Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna gave us films like Deewar and Trishul that worked.”
Further referring to this as a ‘transitional phase’, Emraan wishes for a paradigm shift and for films to take a cue from the streaming world. “OTT is fine. We’re doing a mixed bag of things – some quite experimental – over there. In the 90s, we switched moulds and entered what can be called the soft boy era. Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan came in with romantic films. After that, there came a transition phase. Films came and went and now, there’s a slew of films creating an uproar,” he remarks.
