Naseeruddin Shah attacks Bollywood, calls out ‘sickening films’ that celebrate hyper masculinity and feed ‘secret fantasies of men’ | Bollywood News
Naseeruddin Shah, who is one of the most respected actors in the Indian film industry, recently expressed his disappointment at the poor state of the Hindi film industry and the “sickening” films that “celebrate masculinity” and “debase women.” Naseer also said that cinema acts as a record of its time and 100 years from now, when the future generations look back at the kind of films that were being made in Bollywood in 2025, it “would be a big tragedy.”
Naseer was speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival to actor Parvathy where he admitted that he has done some films just to pay the bills, and those are films that he regrets the most. But it is his good fortune that the audience has forgotten those films. “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,” he said.
Naseer then said that cinema acts as a record keeper of its times and shared, “The really important function of cinema is to act as a record of its times. 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.”
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Parvathy then asked Naseeruddin about the “implosion of insecure hyper masculinity” in mainstream films and the veteran actor immediately said that he does not approve of the films which “celebrate masculinity and run down the femininity of the characters. Films which debase women.” He continued that the success of these “sickening” films says something about our society. “I don’t know if it’s a reflection of our society or if it is a reflection of the fantasies of our society,” he said and added, “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.”
