Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has criticised Bollywood’s growing trend of glorifying “hyper-masculinity” and degrading women, calling it “scary and terrifying”.
Shah voiced his concerns during a conversation with actress Parvathy at the Kerala Literature Festival. He expressed his disappointment with the current state of Hindi cinema, calling films that celebrate hyper-masculinity “sickening”. He questioned whether the success of these films reflects society or its fantasies, adding that they feed into the “secret fantasies of men, who in their heart of hearts, look down on women”.
Shah said that it is “very terrifying” to see how much approval such films get from the common viewer, and that it explains “the horrendous things that happen to women in a lot of places in our country”.
Shah emphasised that cinema serves as a record of its time and that it would be a “big tragedy” if future generations were to judge India of 2025 based on these films. He also admitted to doing some films for financial reasons, which he now regrets, but acknowledged that audiences tend to remember an actor’s good work. Naseeruddin Shah was recently seen in the action-thriller film ‘Fateh’.
