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Filmmaker Anjali Menon is trying to understand the reasons why films that celebrate toxic masculinity are being appreciated by the audience. In a new interview with India Today, the director of films like Bangalore Days and Ustad Hotel, talked about the importance of the actor’s decision, when choosing a film that might be celebrating something problematic as toxic masculinity.
What Anjali said
Without taking the name of any film, Anjali said, “I can react as an audience member to such films. I can choose to watch it or not. If you ask whether films have an impact on the audience, I’d say they do! I’d recently written a column where I spoke about the pull our matinee idols have. If they say something positive, it’s going to have a great impact. I feel our actors, who have such pull, should also be mindful of what’s being celebrated in the film. They should also have the freedom to do negative characters. For our benefit, if we are aware of it and use the medium accordingly – it is for the better. We have a wide range of audiences who celebrate different kinds of content.”
‘It’s a democratic medium’
She further talked about how the onus also lies on the filmmaker as to what they are creating under the garb of entertainment. “For all the gyan (advice) that goes around, we, as filmmakers, should be aware of the content we create. It’s a democratic medium. The whole thing about freedom is that someone else’s freedom begins where yours end,” she said.
Anjali’s last directorial release was 2022’s Wonder Women, which starred Nadiya Moidu, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Nithya Menen, Amruta Subhash, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Sayanora Philip and Archana Padmini. She is set to make her directorial debut in Tamil in collaboration with KRG Studios.
