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Actor and filmmaker Farhan Akhtar has reacted to the emergence of “alpha male” characters in films these days. In an interaction with YouTuber Raj Shamani, he was asked about his take on Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Comparisons were also made to the portrayal of male characters in the movies that Farhan has been a part of, like Dil Dhadakne Do, and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Farhan said that every filmmaker has the right to make a film the way they want.
He said, “I don’t believe that some things should not be shown. We are in a field where, if someone tells me, ‘You can’t make a film like this’, then I’ll be like, ‘Who are you to tell me what I should and should not make?’ I am permitted by the laws of this country, and I have the freedom of artistic expression to say whatever I want. What the audience wants to listen to, that they’ll decide. I’d never ever tell any filmmaker or writer or producer or anyone, ‘Yaar don’t make this’, or, ‘This kind of movie can’t be made’. To each their own, because I don’t feel that’s right and that’s a dangerous thing to do.”
When asked if it is true women are drawn more towards “alpha male” characters, Farhan responded, “There are different types of people in the world. There are people fascinated by different kinds of human beings. So, I am sure there are people who find ‘alpha males’ (attractive).” Even after receiving a lot of flack from critics and a section of the audience for the way it deals with gender politics and glorifies male chauvinism, Animal emerged as a huge blockbuster.
When asked what his definition of “alpha (male)” is, Farhan said, “An ‘Alpha’ means you want to be at the top of the pyramid. That’s basically what ‘alpha’ means. ‘Alpha male’ is the leader of a pack. That you want to be the leader of a pack… The minute you get into the discussion of ‘I am better than you’, ‘I am stronger than you’, ‘I am braver than you’, ‘more courageous than you’, I am sure there are actually people like that also, in terms of they’ll be good at dealing with certain situations better than others.”
He concluded, “But it is not something an alpha male will need to impress on someone. If I have to go around banging a drum and telling people that ‘I am the bomb’, what kind of bomb are you when you have to go everywhere and tell people that? People should feel it when they interact with you, when they speak to you, when they leave the room, when they are impressed by you. Not because you have told them, when you go out, ‘Be impressed’. It doesn’t work that way. You have to treat people with dignity. Every single person in your life should feel like an important part of your life.”
Animal made over Rs 900 crore worldwide. Farhan is gearing up to make his directorial comeback with films such as Don 3 and Jee Le Zaraa.
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