Naseeruddin Shah spoke strongly against the portrayal of ‘hyper-masculinity’ in Bollywood films and called it ‘scary and terrifying’. The actor was speaking to Parvathy Thiruvothu at the recent Kerala Literature Festival, where he expressed his concerns over the changing nature of cinema in current times.
During the discussion, Shah admitted of doing some films for money and said, “I have also done some movies which I did only for the money, that’s the simple truth. I don’t think that one needs to ashamed of working for money, I mean what do we all do? But those are jobs I regret. Fortunately, people don’t remember the bad work you did. As an actor, they only remember the good things you did.”
Parvathy asked the veteran actor about the portrayal of hyper-masculinity in some mainstream films to which Shah said that he doesn’t approve of it. He also called the success of such films ‘sickening’. “I don’t know if it’s a reflection of our society or if it is a reflection of the fantasies of our society. I think the films which feed into the secret fantasies of men, who in their heart of hearts, look down on women, these are being fed and it’s actually very scary to see how much approval such films get from the common viewer. It’s very terrifying and it does explain the horrendous things that happen to women in a lot of places in our county,” he added.
The actor called cinema a record keeper of times and said, “Those are the most valuable films because these films will be seen 100 years later and if 100 years later, people want to know what India of 2025 was like, and they find a Bollywood film, that would be a big tragedy.”
He was last seen in Sonu Sood’s cyber-thriller Fateh, which released in theatres on January 10.