Rishi Kapoor’s Rafoo Chakkar has men in drag getting sexually harassed, as the film presents its villain as the comedian

Ayushmann Khurrana, who has been the poster boy of ‘woke cinema’ since his debut film Vicky Donor, has made a space for himself over the years by championing films with a socially conscious subjects. In the post-pandemic times, when the actor has been struggling with a string of flops, he let go of his woke politics and decided to star in a film that looks like it’s straight out of the 1990s, when David Dhawan cinema was at its peak and anything offensive could be played as comedy. Dream Girl 2 has Ayushmann talking in an overtly effeminate voice where he uses his sexual prowess as Pooja to get out of a financial mess. But then, this is hardly the first time that a mainstream actor has donned women’s clothing and posed as a woman. In the 110-year history of Indian cinema, dressing in drag for laughs has been a common occurrence and while many actors did it for a scene or a song, the first mainstream actor who pulled off almost an entire film while dressed in drag was Rishi Kapoor in 1975’s Rafoo Chakkar.

The Narender Bedi film starred Rishi Kapoor and Paintal as Dev and Salim who are being chased by some gangsters. They disguise themselves as women named Devi and Salma and become a part of an all-girl band being managed by Asrani’s Kanhaiyalal. Asrani, who was nominated as the ‘Best comedian’ that year for his role here, isn’t the film’s villain per se, but he certainly comes out as the worst guy in this movie. He inspects women from head to toe and selects them for his band. He comments on their body as and when he feels like it and sexually harasses Salma, which the film plays for laughs. The audience knows that Salma is a man but her harasser does not, so the film finds it hilarious that a man could hit on another man and keeps exploiting it for the rest of the film. The homophobic ideas at display here were ignored by the masses, as it was evident that the idea of sexuality and sexual orientation is dictated by cisgender heterosexual people making the movies.

Rafoo Chakkar then focuses on Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor’s love story as the central plot of the film where he is posing as a woman but is secretly in love with her. He then starts posing as a rich industrialist, dates her and expects her to love him when he reveals his true self. Why she accepts him is beyond the realm of logical possibility but through this love story, we at least get to watch some great songs that made this film a big hit back in the day.

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Rishi Kapoor (centre) and Paintal (right) with Neetu Kapoor (left) in Rafoo Chakkar. (Photo: Express Archives)

The storyline that actually stands out here is the one between Salma (Paintal) and her admirer who doesn’t even get a name, played by Rajinder Nath. He falls in love with her and proposes, Salim (posing as Salma) accepts only because maintaining the disguise is a matter of life and death. When it is finally revealed that he was Salim throughout, Rajinder Nath’s character continues to be in love with him. He actually says that Salim’s gender and identity doesn’t lessen his love, but in fact, makes it even more special. There is a hint of progressiveness here, but the film doesn’t miss a beat in stating that this is a laughable thought and moves on.

It’s no surprise that the film is not woke by any measure but what’s strange is that even decades later, Rishi Kapoor thought that if Rafoo Chakkar was remade in 2017, it would be a wonderful idea. “My film Rafoo Chakkar is one such film which has story, emotions, love story, action, romance, entertainment and is full of filmy masala. I want this film to be remade,” he told Navbharat Times. Dream Girl 2 isn’t exactly Rafoo Chakkar but it exists only because Rafoo Chakkar made it a point to underline that men dressed as women romancing other men would be funny to watch. It isn’t even a case of comedy being subjective but in fact, a case of being crass for getting the cheap laughs.

Sampada Sharma

Sampada Sharma has been the Copy Editor in the entertainment section at Indian Express Online since 2017. ... Read More