If a woman had to write films like Animal or Kabir Singh it would be written very differently,” says Bhavani Iyer, co-writer of December 2023 release Sam Bahadur headlined by Vicky Kaushal. “It is a male fantasy that women like these kinds of men. I don’t think 90 per cent of women across the board – urban, rural – except for those who go for the bad boys, get turned on by men who treat them badly, beat them or talk down to them,” Iyer further adds.
When the creative team of Sam Bahadur sat down to write the biographical war drama based on the life of India’s first field marshal Sam Manekshaw, there was always an awareness and understanding about his relationships with women. It was ensured by the team that the expressions used for women by the army chief didn’t come from any place of disrespect. “This was the man surrounded by feminine energy and we ensured that some of those cocky lines and words like ‘sweetie’ came from a place of having such comfort around women,” says Iyer.
Similarly, in her 2020 release Panga, director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari made a conscious effort to show the husband extremely kind and understanding and who also makes efforts in reviving the career of his screen wife [played by Kangana Ranaut] as a professional kabaddi player. “Many people asked me why there is no conflict, how can the husband be so nice. But we as storytellers have the ability to change human behaviour and perception. In an ideal world you may not find such a husband but I wanted to see that the younger generation are inspired by these kinds of men who are co-parenting. Maybe I inspire or aspire to change perception. It is the lens in which you look and to what extent you want to push a character,” says Tiwari.
If on one hand we are talking about breaking the stereotypes around masculinity on the other we can’t help point out the noise around Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal that got a lot of flak for its glorification of toxic masculinity and no-holds-barred violence depicted on screen. “Alpha male philosophy is passe, very 1950’s and I don’t think we should even go there. We like sensitive men, we like men who treat us with respect and dignity, they treat us as human beings first and who place our needs and our identity as important as their own,” believes Iyer.
Women writers and directors in the last few years have played a major role in breaking the stereotypes around masculinity, by creating male characters who are kind, sensitive, understanding, vulnerable, supportive and a listener without a saviour complex. Who are the men that come to mind? Amol (played by Vikrant Massey) in Meghna Gulzar’s Chhapaak with his understated support; Jehangir Khan (played by Shah Rukh Khan) in Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi with his sorted mind and kind heart; Sunny (Farhan Akhtar) in Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do, who called a spade a spade; and Rana (Irrfan Khan) in Juhi Chaturvedi’s Piku for his rare ordinariness. In a world where art and life both imitate each other, these men are both an aspiration and inspiration.
There is definitely a certain shift in perspective when a woman is exploring and telling stories obviously because of her experiences. “Even as Gurfateh’s (Peerzada) character in Guilty (thriller drama on Netflix, 2020) does something so awful, he was presented with context. If a man had written the film maybe they would have made him look like a monster, an evil guy. But as a woman I know it is not because he is an evil guy …one fallacy which is perpetuated in popular culture and which is mainly driven by men is that they always say sexual assault is committed by monsters but it is not committed by monsters, it is committed by people we know, they don’t look or behave like monsters normally but something in them and something in the society in which we live makes them feel that they can behave like that,” says Ruchi Narain, writer-director of Guilty. Besides other films Narain also penned Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003) along with director Sudhir Mishra.
Vulnerability is another distinctive characteristic of men written by women. They challenge the quintessential hero who, until recently, was forbidden from emoting anything except mindless rage complemented with punches and kicks. But, men do cry, or at least should be able to when they feel like it, and that is the point women writers want to make with their female gaze. So, how do women look at men? “We already know how men see men. It is all over popular culture. But as women, we are also familiar with a side that men don’t often show in front of other men, and only reveal in front of women,” says Narain. ‘Syed Iqbal’ from Raazi (Meghna Gulzar and Bhavani Iyer,), ‘Dan’ from October (written by Juhi Chaturvedi), ‘Murad’ and ‘Sher’ from Gully Boy (Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti), ‘Robbie’ from Manmarziyaan (written by Kanika Dhillon), and ‘Shutu’ from A Death in the Gunj (Konkona Sen Sharma) are examples.
The sensitivity of the female gaze is noteworthy in the portrayal of queer male characters as well. Karan Mehra in Made In Heaven and Pappu, the son of Konkona’s character in Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, both written by Alankrita Shrivastava, are proof. “It is important to see men from the female perspective, and, yes, of course it is equally important to see women the way they see themselves,” says Shrivastava.
Adds writer-director Tanuja Chandra, who directed Irrfan’s Qarib Qarib Singlle: “There is a certain broken-heartedness when women write stories and characters; there’s a fragility, a tender core, a quiet anxiety, a sense of being unsure, a kind of longing. In other words, the feeling of being utterly human.”
