MACHO ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Mard ko dard nahi hota! This iconic dialogue from Amitabh Bachchan starrer Mard (1985) sums up the Hindi film industry’s obsession with the depiction of toxic masculinity. The film even had a scene where an infant’s father (Dara Singh) writes ‘mard’ on the infant’s chest with a knife and the toddler is shown smiling through the ordeal. Perhaps, the makers should have added a, ‘Don’t try this at home’ warning with the scene. The notion of what it takes to be a man, someone who’s capable of taking all kinds of punishment without flinching led to the portrayal of heroes. Those who could beat up 20 men and even lay down their lives to prove their masculinity.

‘Real men’ had the magical ‘ or similar superpowers at their without any harm to themselves. ‘Real men’ could even taunt the villains about their lack of masculinity with dialogue like, “ (,1996)!” or “ (, 2013).” And this is why men are seldom shown crying in our films. Crying men are supposed to be a national catastrophe.