The recent interview of Film Companion had Vijay Devarakonda, Parvathy, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Vijay Sethupathi, Manoj Bajpayee, Ayushmann Khurana and Alia Bhatt.
The discussion was moderated by film critic and Film Companion’s founder Anupama Chopra.
While the discussion happened on various topics, Anupama Chopra asked Parvathy’s decision about not doing movies that glorified misogyny, the actress replied, “It is a very fine line reflecting what’s there in the society, showing what misogyny is, and glorifying it. It’s entirely up to the writer and director how they glorify it. When a man is being misogynistic and is being…you know…abusive, and you show that in a way that incites applause in the audience, then that’s glorification. And at the same time, you make the audience think whether he’s done the right thing or not, then there you are collaborating with the audience. There, there is a cinema, it’s a dialogue.”
Manoj Bajpayee interrupted telling that he plays a character for himself and an actor’s job is nothing beyond that. Alia Bhatt then cited Joker as an example and added that she would love to do characters with negative shades because she can’t be that in real life, but added that the director of the film had given enough “padding” to show the adult audience that this was a “mentally unstable” character.
This was when Parvathy brought up Arjun Reddy and said that while the film had the visual grammar of glorification, Joker, according to her, did not.
“Whereas, if you’re saying that there’s no passion in a relationship without slapping each other – and I see the comments on YouTube, where people are engaging and resonating with that – you are engaging with the wrong thing in a massive, mob-like manner, where you’re inciting violence,” she said, adding that this was an issue which affected people on a day to day basis. She further said that while she may not be able to stop a director from making such a film, she had the choice not to be part of it, she added.
Vijay Devarakonda replied that according to him the whole world is fucked and good movies are not going to change that. He then went on to say that just a film didn’t decide one’s behaviour.
“It’s your family, parenting, schooling, it’s multiple things that lead a person to behave in a certain way,” he said.
This is not the first time Parvathy has spoken against misogyny. She spoke about Mammooty’s Kasaba recently and even received rape, death threats for her comments.
