‘No isn’t taken as no’: Radhika Apte says Shah Rukh Khan’s outdated movies romanticised stalking
Radhika Apte identified a troubling sample within the Bollywood romances she grew up watching, in addition to people who got here earlier than them. She just lately confessed that although she’s a ‘enormous’ fan of Shah Rukh Khan, revisiting his outdated movies made her realise how they glorified stalking, which in flip fashioned the thought of want amongst impressionable younger ladies of that point, together with her.
In a current interview with ‘News18’, Radhika stated, “Being tied and our ‘pallu’ being taken off had been the desires we used to get as youngsters. How scary is that. No offence… I’m an enormous Shah Rukh fan, however after I revisited among the outdated movies I used to love, I used to be actually stunned. As a result of when a girl says no, it’s by no means taken as no. Chasing a girl was romance. That’s what we needed at the moment and it was actually surprising.”
Apte admitted that Bollywood has come a good distance since then. “We’ve come a good distance, however there’s additionally a protracted technique to go, not just for ladies, but additionally males and society. That’s all ever-evolving,” she added.
Radhika stars in Vikramaditya Motwane’s phase in ‘Lust Tales 3’, an anthology which is able to launch on ‘Netflix’ on September 18.
Shakun Batra, who has additionally helmed a phase in ‘Lust Tales 3’, argued that over 20 years earlier than Shah Rukh Khan even made his movie debut with Raj Kanwar’s 1992 motion romance ‘Deewana’, late legendary filmmaker Raj Kapoor was ‘very comfy with the thought of attempting to discover’ want with movies like ‘Mera Naam Joker’ (1970) and ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ (1985).
Shakun particularly referred to the storyline in ‘Mera Naam Joker’, wherein a younger Rishi Kapoor is drawn to his schoolteacher (Simi Garewal) and to the one in ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, wherein a widower (Rajiv Kapoor) finds himself drawn to Mandakini’s character.
“However even at the moment, the gaze was at all times male. And the ladies had been sexualised. You’re placing that ingredient down and making jokes at its expense anyway. That’s the issue – the sexualisation of ladies after which, by saying, ‘Don’t sexualise them’ after which calling them ‘devi’ and placing them on some pedestal of morality that you just approve of. I discover that problematic,” countered Apte.
