Popular films under the ‘pan-Indian’ category which have hit the screens in 2022 have given us a fair share of ferocious male leads. They all seem to be sporting beards, looking sharp and setting the standards of being ‘ideal men’ all the while working hard to save their countries, tribes and lands.
Fierce on-screen personas
Take for instance, Ram (Ram Charan Teja) and Bhim (Junior NTR) from S.S. Rajamouli's blockbuster RRR, who swing from bridges to save a young man stuck in a burning river. Meanwhile, in Vikram, Kamal Haasan teams up with his infant grandson to eradicate drug use in India. Rocky Bhai defends his territory on the Kolar Gold Fields — fighting several enemies and arguing with a sceptical government — in KGF 2. Vijay in Beast attempts to single-handedly take down terrorists who have highjacked a mall in Chennai, and The Kashmir Files has several men attempting to make sense of why the Hindus of Kashmir left the State — all the while fighting ruthlessly. These men seem to be in deep turmoil, constantly coming up with solutions to protect not just themselves and their families; they are larger-than-life and need to live in order for others to survive.
The women in these films are busy too. They are wearing themselves thin being the wives, mothers, love-interests, relatives or neighbours of these men on screen. They are waiting to be rescued, yearning to be acknowledged, to give birth and to sacrifice themselves for a cause that their men seem to have burdened them with, all the while looking flawless, kind and selfless. Some also seem to be fighting for themselves, wishing and praying that they do not get overshadowed by the lamps and chairs on screen. Are filmmakers finally gaining the momentum to put us in our place for our attempts at feminism?
Common threads
A number of common traits seem to define the men who have graced the Indian cinema halls this year, so much so that it feels like the same men are traversing storylines in different phases of their life. The depiction of these strong, patriarchal men on screen is not different from that of macho men over the years. The consistent portrayal this year however seems to have solidified the likelihood of seeing more such action heroes.
The protagonists of movies such as KGF 2, Bheemla Nayak, Vikram,RRR, Samrat Prithviraj, Bachchan Pandey, Heropanti 2 and others are men who meet ideal male beauty standards. They have chiselled chests ready to withstand enemy blows and massive arms that are ready to send 10 bad men flying. They are also regularly armed with swanky weapons and insane intel that allows them to operate in stealthy ways. Even an infant in a movie like Vikram is burdened with the weight of surviving a gun battle against goons who run a massive criminal drug mafia. The characters seem strong willed, kind, resolute and phlegmatic, losing their temper only when a just cause demands their attention. They are also incredibly popular in their communities.
They usually worship their mothers and playfully engage with their love-interests, putting them down while making jokes and using them as props while fighting enemies. In films like RRR and KGF: Chapter 2, Sita and Shantamma are respectable women who not only take care of their families in the absence of the men , they also strive to provide strength and warm words of luck to their husbands and sons. They are willing to sacrifice themselves in the line of fire but would rather do so on command. In Vikram too, Agent Tina who seems to have fans wanting sequels, fights goons who threaten her commander’s household with forks — kitchen instruments — rather than using guns which the men use in the film.
The women in these films lose their personhood as they are only extensions of the hero, deeply tied to him and his cause. The films themselves too lose all chances of passing diversity assessments like the Bechdel test and the Sexy Lamp Test, set in place to appraise the diversity on screen.
A crisis of masculinity
Economist and author of critically acclaimed book Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh, Shrayana Bhattacharya, says that she has noticed a shift in male representation, making them hypermasculine, post demonetisation. She says that it is also around the time that films like Baahubali and Simba started gaining popularity. “I call it the Thor-ification of men,” she says. “Anytime the economy is unstable, men’s jobs become unstable as 80% of the labour market is male. This is when they look to sublimate, by seeing men fighting the good fight for country and religion. This is a trend that is growing with time."
In a paper written titled ‘Manifestations of Masculinity in Crisis: The Noir Films of Humphrey Bogart’ by Jason Marzini for Rhode Island College, Marzini says that Bogart is often classified as the man’s man of the 1920s. He says that Bogart’s persona and various representations of masculinity remain iconic and have been replicated till date, informing contemporary notions of the ideal male. The researcher argues that films like those of Bogart gain momentum when there is a crisis of masculinity. He adds that his films have been used as ‘vehicles of representation through which the unconscious anxieties of the American male during the wartime and post-war eras have been revealed as increasingly transgressive and desperate’.
The ‘ideal woman’
This crisis which continues to inform the public of Indian men seen on screen in 2022 has inadvertently led to a reinforcement of stereotypes of the ‘ideal woman’: one who must take care of these macho men. The women are rarely given choices in these films and are forced to deal with the consequences of male clashes. They have no personalities of their own and can rarely be seen taking part in leisurely activities for themselves. Verbal and sexual abuse against them is normalised. Even the women who are applauded are recognised by their ability to handle situations like men.
Shrayana says that despite evidence suggesting that the rise of the ‘Thor-ification’ of men is due to an economic crisis, it is likely that the hypermasculine hero will remain on screen. She says that films like Jayeshbhai Jordhar which was also released in 2022 saw actor Ranveer Singh playing a ‘beta male,' one who was not trying to be a saviour. “This film is really enjoyable but has not seemingly done well (collection-wise). This doesn’t surprise me as gender-friendly scripts are going to to dominate a small bubble on OTT platforms only consumed by liberal women who have jobs and men who support them. Those too are a minority,” she says. The rest will likely consume the strong-men trope.
It is undeniable that these strong-men films are entertaining. The gun battles, punchlines, jabs and gritty plot lines which showcase hard work behind the triumph of heroes over villains, somehow appeals to a primitive human instinct that just wants to win. The cost we pay ends up being the women who have been left behind.
