Telugu movies glorify toxic masculinity and misogyny
Isn't this an era of soft pornography and toxic masculinity in the world of Telugu movies? Aren't movies like Arjun Reddy and its remake Kabir Singh symptomatic of a deplorable decline in the movie-goers' taste and utter nadir of artistic values , not to speak of ethical values in the tinsel world?Is not the comment of the director of the movie Sandeep Vanga utterly irresponsible when he says most brazenly that '' any new art form breaks away from the stereotype''.
Is he not just fooling the entire movie-goers by saying that his films Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh do not celebrate " toxic masculinity'' and that his films are not to be preachy? In a shockingly indecorous scene in Kabir Singh, the eponymous lead visits a female acquaintance and unbuckles straight away for sexual gratification.
At a moment when she struggles to undress, he exhibits all his manly impatience and grabs a knife to tear her out of her top. The lights are off then.
When the woman's fiancé arrives, she request him to leave her but the machismo of the man is such that he demands instant gratification.
A no- holds- barred degenerate masculinity and misogyny is in full display titillating the prurient instincts of sex-starved youth! The hero in the movie Arjun Reddy is portrayed as a street smart bully and alcoholic surgeon whose obsession is to abuse women and foul-mouth every one. The movie was being trolled as '' no film for a woman'', ''a Bahubali of toxic masculinity'', and'' despicable''.
The director is obviously wanting in scruples of any kind and unabashedly rationalised the entire obscenity in the movie saying '' the emotion of the protagonist is genuine...All those who are passing comments can rather shift focus on better things to improve society.''
A film critic like Neelima Menon hit the nail on the head saying '' It is ok to depict misogyny on screen but it is not ok to glorify or endorse it on the screen.Moreover, it is problematic when one adds celebratory background score to an act of verbally abusing a woman with sexually colored remarks or beating her up or decide to make these acts sound heroic.'
One has the freedom to create art but we are equally liable to bear the consequences of what we create. Once made, cinema is free to be analysed,discussed and criticised. No art form is above that.'' Quite deplorably, another movie iSmart Shanker' is a box office hit although it is ''obnoxious,gendre-prejudiced and offensive.'' It is now considered as the equivalent of pornography—much to the shock and dismay of movie-goers.
A nauseating scene in the movie is the hero threatens the heroine to rape her if she doesn't love him. The heroine calls the cops but changes her mind after the cops arrive and straight away falls in love with him.
Director Puri Jagannath just shows women as mere playthings and slaves to be exploited, heckled, harassed, tormented and manhandled by the machos. Are the Telugu movies entering into an era of unbridled sexuality, masculinity and misogyny-all in the name of a new art form?
SM Kompella, Kakinada