The recent conversation about Javed Akhtar’s art, brought to us by Animal’s Twitter handle is something that has started new conversations. It all started when Akhtar talked about art and how the idea of cinema has changed over time. He added that it’s dangerous when a film like Animal that glorifies misogyny is celebrated. So the team felt the need to react. However, there’s more to his talk that people failed to notice.
At first, he addressed why a film like Animal is problematic. In doing so, he talked about the scenes, dialogues and also the mentality of the person who directed it. He said, that if a film that thinks asking a woman to lick a man’s shoe is a “gesture of love” and if the director normalizes abuse, then it’s a dangerous film. It’s also scary that it’s normal that such opinions to exist.
The writer mentioned that it is for the society to decide what they see as heroic. According to him, Indian cinema used to present the poor as the good and rich as the bratty. However, things have changed and being rich is aspirational, so there’s no morality associated with it. He then put the onus of content on the audience, saying that we decide what gets made.
He added that when we celebrate a film that’s misogynistic, we in-turn help it sell better. If it earns well, more such films are made because the film industry has turned into a business. Eventually, we should choose the kind of people who lead us and the films that we want to see. While putting the responsibility on the industry, we need to be responsible in making choices. Because, when we orchestrate a film like Animal as audiences, we are part of the problem.
Watch the video here:
These are times when we need to question ourselves, every step of the way.