Ratna Pathak Shah says she finds Guru Dutt’s films ‘offensive’ for their portrayal of women: ‘They’re diving for the men’s feet’

Also read – Ratna Pathak opens up about inter-faith marriage with Naseeruddin Shah, says his family never asked her to ‘convert’: ‘Nobody made a fuss’

She said that Hindi cinema often relies on ‘offhand sexualisation of women’, and that this has become worse over the years. “It went straight from the ‘devi’ to the tart, and neither is nice. I think we are as complex as men, and it’s a pity that our storytelling never wanted to explore the more interesting areas of human beings and human interaction,” she continued.

Ratna Pathak Shah has often commented on the intersection of poor storytelling and faulty gender politics. In an interview with Zoom Entertainment, she said that several prominent filmmakers of her time were more concerned with the lunch menu than with their scripts. “They’d have a long, two-hour discussion on what we’re going to eat. They weren’t bothered about the scene,” she said. In an interview with India Today, she also commented on male actors being paired romantically with women half their age. “When they don’t feel ashamed, then what should I say? They are not ashamed to romance actresses who are younger than their daughters, so there is nothing for me to say. I mean it’s an embarrassment,” she said.