Ever since the release of Indian Matchmaking on Netflix, the internet has been abuzz.

With conversations around marriage, love and of course the characters from the show who people loved to love and loved to hate. One such character from the show is now speaking out to Humans of Bombay and answering some of the burning questions people may have had about the show and him. This person is Pradhyuman Maloo.   

Humans Of Bombay

First up, he is telling the world he is not gay but also clarifying that there was nothing wrong with being gay and that people needed to not make a big deal about his sexuality.   

I tried to understand the mind-set of a ‘hater’, only to realize that they had based their assumptions on my interests in things like fashion, cooking, and the societal pressure of taking time to choose a life-partner. All I could think of was that, ‘Are men not supposed to be creative?’, ‘Are men not supposed to like fashion?’, ‘Can men not cook?’, ‘Do only women belong in the kitchen? 

He also believes the conversations around the LGBTQ community generally needs to change and it’s about time that society should stop belittling the LGBTQ community by using them as a tool of mockery.      

This last month has made me introspect on how the world perceives men. People will judge you for not being ‘manly’ enough, but I want other men to know that it’s okay to be who you are and do what you love. Stereotypical masculinity is not the rent we need to pay to exist in this world. I just have one question, ‘Can men not be beautiful?’ 

Pradhyuman’s point of view just proves that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.  

You can read the complete story here. 

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“Growing up, I watched my mother navigate the male-dominated business of jewelry, trying to make her mark. I wanted to be more hands on–so together, we went from karigar’s workshops to clients’ homes in the span of a day. Those sleepless nights built my passion for creativity. I fostered this creative energy & explored new interests–from culinary arts to interior design to crafting jewelry. So last year, when I got a call from Netflix about a matchmaking show that highlighted Indian culture, I took a leap of faith & agreed; I thought it’d be a different experience. But 80 hrs of filming had been condensed into a 60-minute, predetermined edited storyline, which ignited thousands of comments on the internet. Shortly after the show was released a friend alerted me that I was trending on Twitter, with hundreds of people debating my sexuality. Unsolicited comments assumed I was gay or bisexual & urged me to come out of the closet. I felt anger & resentment, but I gained my composure & questioned their reasoning. I tried to understand the mind-set of a ‘hater’, only to realize that they’d based their assumptions on my interests in fashion, cooking & the societal pressure of taking time to choose a life-partner. All I could think of was, ‘Are men not supposed to be creative?’, ‘Are men not supposed to like fashion?’, ‘Can men not cook?’, ‘Do only women belong in the kitchen?’ I’m straight, but I’m being stereotyped due to a deep seeded mindset of Indian society. I even thought of the alternate scenario: What if the person in question really was gay? What if they’d been forced out of the closet with no consent of their own? That thought frightened me. Were these haters ready to take the blame for the consequences of their words? As a society we have belittled the LGBTQ community by using them as a tool of mockery. This last month has made me introspect on how the world perceives men. People will judge you for not being ‘manly’ enough, but I want other men to know that it’s okay to be who you are & do what you love. Stereotypical masculinity is not the rent we need to pay to exist in this world. I just have one question, ‘Can men not be beautiful?’”

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