Dhurandhar vs Animal - Masculinity Masterclass

Were Sandeep Vanga's movies misogynistic ? No

Were they problematic ? Yes

Read on !

The lead characters in both 'Arjun Reddy' and 'Animal' were offensive, problematic, short-tempered

But the question I beg to ask is if they behave so only with their women ? If no, they are not misogynistic, period. Misogyny is selective hatred towards women but the Vanga protagonists are self-destructive narcissists who want to get things done their way without any empathy towards people around them or cognizance of consequences. Calling them misogynous is frivolous and misplaced activism. 

But these movies invoked two types of discomfort especially among cinegoers, social media and armchair warriors.

1. Misogynists, underconfident incels, male chauvinists, control freaks, borderline psychos, perverts misinterpreted masculinity as some violent, irresponsible, obnoxious man-child behavior. They derived an involuntary validation for their school of thought that women are inferior species who can be harassed, tormented or dominated.
2. Radical feminists, 'my life, my rules' kind of anti-familial and anti-social anarchists got a cue to demonize masculinity, judge those who don't align with their ideology with a blanket term 'toxic masculinity', and act as moral police to sermonize what kinds of art or filmmakers should be universally liked or disliked.

I do not conform with either of the above and want to call a spade, a spade.

I'm a firm believer and practitioner of freedom of speech and art; filmmakers should not be limited to any moral policing or the burden of societal reforms. Art must be limitless and free, just as the audience and connoisseurs are free to watch or deride.

When Sandeep Vanga made his movies, he wanted to present his version of over-the-top escapist masculine movies and many who watched resonated with his brand. I loved both 'Arjun Reddy' and 'Animal' for the craft, music, characterization and I honestly believe 'Animal' is one of the best movies made regardless of the moral compass as I always wanted to see a desi version of Quentin Tarantinesque landscape in India.

But since 'Animal' made a thousand crores, low IQ filmmakers jumped on the bandwagon and started making mindless exorbitantly violent and misogynist movies which were repellent and disgusting to the stomach. While Vanga's movies were more character driven, young faceless incel blokes and male chauvinists latched up the misplaced masculinity to the extent they even lauded nauseatingly misogynistic characters in recent movies like 'Telusu Kada', 'The Girlfriend', 'Court' etc.  For them masculinity was tantamount to toxic irresponsible harassment of women. That's where the problem begins.

Masculinity 101

I was always stuck monkey-balancing my personal ideology by resisting both woke feminists and male chauvinists because for me masculinity is neither shameful nor a privilege. I'm a firm believer of theory of evolution and the order of nature which made a certain section to be physically, mentally, emotionally, biologically responsible for building, protecting and providing.

This might sound as border-line mansplaining as the statement might infer that all women need protection or provision. Absolutely not. I'm surrounded by strong, independent, intelligent women and I take pride in their grit and success. Women by nature are emotionally more matured, mentally strong and hence can both nurture the world with their femininity and also build, provide and protect in the current civilized world. They are superior and more productive among the genders. Can men do everything the women can so effortlessly ? Not unless they are pushed to a situation of no choice.

The only way men can contribute to the society is to enable and empower women with the innate masculinity of protecting - not from the physical dangers but from the societal constraints. It's about providing them - not just the material needs but the environment in which they can thrive. It's about building systems that could empower them in creating more important things. Not because the women are in need, but because men can't do anything else.

Dhurandhar vs Animal : Masculinity Masterclass

Among the three pillars of masculinity - provide, protect & build - the current crop of men are more involved in building and providing because women or families don't need heroic protection from anybody anymore. 

Some men with higher testosterone levels feel deprived of the feeling of protecting or fighting. Such men derive second hand pleasure only from watching fictional characters fight for their families and communities. 'Animal' falls under the category of those men who could go to any lengths to protect his family. That invoked a vicarious pleasure in most men who needed an escapism from the metrosexual emasculation of the contemporary urban men. Dhurandhar, in certain sense, also offered this escapism through gritty violence and gore. Such movies cater to the core psychology of men.

But the problem with 'Animal' is it promoted unregulated fantastical aggression which made the salivating men subconsciously confuse the protection of family with irresponsible man-child persona. The protagonist appeared to protect but in the underbelly, did not bother about consequences, did not show responsibility and did not build or provide to the family. 

Dhurandhar scored right here. The first masterstroke of the director was to take any perceived misogyny away from masculinity by not tormenting any females but instead giving them more power to slap them. While it's a superbly made gripping thriller devoid of any sermons, the movie is all about hyper masculine men who were hell-bent on protecting and building communities through composure.

Hamza Ali (or Jaskirat Rangi), Ajay Sanyal were there to protect their country and they built a strategy. Rehman Dakait despite being a monster strengthened his community. Major Iqbal or SP Aslam did whatever they did to protect their country in their own ways and loyalties. They were all men's men who built their empires by destroying enemies and providing security to the communities that believed in them. More importantly, all of them were shown as calm, composed, calculating, intelligent, emotionally stable and responsible men who built, provided and protected. That's a masculinity masterclass.

A renowned professor and philosopher Jordan Peterson once said that harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a one who is dangerous, who can be harmful but can control the aggression to channelize energies and emotions to build, protect, provide to the world around him so they can lead a peaceful, happy and comfortable life. 

In real life, men do not have to be overtly dangerous or harmful. They just have to realize their role in the larger fabric of the society. If you are a man, don't let anybody taunt you about your masculinity. There's nothing shameful about it. At the same time, masculinity is not a privilege, its a duty. Perform it.

Travel Diaries 10: Kenya & Tanzania

It's been almost 3 years when we travelled to Iraq and Palestine when we realized that travelling in the true spirit was about visiting untreaded paths, living on the edge and getting out of the comfort zone. So this year we planned to do something crazy enroute our trip to India. We planned to visit two neighboring countries of India - Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The plan was to visit Buddhas of Bamiyan, Kabul, Harappa or MohenjoDaro to Lahore and then to enter India through Wagah border by foot. This was my dream since many years. But Pahalgam happened. Even if the Wagah border wasn't closed, I would have dropped the idea. The destiny had something else in store for us and we ended up booking tickets to another place - not as adventurous as Afghanistan - but a part of the world we never set out foot on, the culture and people we haven't rubbed our shoulders with yet. The sub-Saharan African countries Kenya & Tanzania to station ourselves at Maasai Mara Reserve, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Mount Kilimanjaro.

Little did we know that Tanzania would end up being our unanimous 2nd best country among 58 countries we visited so far or that Kenya would open our eyes about the human -wildlife interaction and no way would we have imagined to come dauntingly close to death twice in ten days. Read on.

Imagine driving to a remote tent camp at twilight where the handler asks not to head out of the tent without an escort of a local Maasai tribesman with a stick and a whistle to ward off wild animals. Then imagine sleeping in a tent camp with a zipper fabric door and hearing lion roars throughout the night while the girls of the family sleeping in another tent at a distance. And should I mention the absence of Wi-Fi or any kind of communication network? 

Now imagine the safari driver being extra-diligent in the thick savannas of Maasai Mara reserve to show us the pride of lions and taking an off-trodden path only to get stuck in deep mud while the sun was contemplating to set down. And what would you feel when the ropes, hooks used by other trucks to tow the cruiser out of the mud snap while the darkness seeps in. How would you feel when tourists in other safari cruisers are more curious to take videos of our ordeal than to go look out for lions or leopards ? Some were perhaps even anxious if they could see lions approaching us in that travail.

Don't know about you but trust me - I felt a bit invincible and oddly nonchalant being on the blind spot of predators in the lion country of Maasai Mara, Kenya. THIS TIME FOR AFRICA. 

When my son was born, we decided to confer on him the experiences he would grow up with instead of material luxuries that he could take granted for. We continued the tradition with the little girl too. They did enjoy beaches, mountains, old towns, heritage, cultures, cuisines, monuments, wonders et.al., but the glow in their eyes when they saw a mother cheetah keeping vigil while her cubs were feeding on the gazelle their mother hunted for them was matchless. The moment of ebullience on their faces when some 40 massive elephants stood on the way of our vehicle as if they were making a point who the real boss was priceless.

A leopard leisurely feasting on the deer on a tree-top unconcerned about our cruiser truck on the ground, thousands of wildebeests migrating from Serengeti to Maasai Mara recreating the iconic scene of "The Lion King", the dreaded Nile crocodiles co-existing with their only killers, hippos in the Mara river, a pride of lions waiting patiently at the tree base for baboons on the trees that stayed still for hours reenacting the Mexican standoff scene in movies, a herd of elephants - including calves - walking on their path while a pride of lions watching them from a few feet away, hundreds of pink flamingoes blessing our eyes and senses - will remain etched forever in our minds. But if there's one moment I can pick of the 10 day expedition to Africa, that would be...

Second day of the exploration - we started early to spot lions on the prowl. While on the pursuit, we saw a dozen safari cruisers group up treading slowly. We were certain there was some activity around. Our driver was conscientious enough to take an alternate road to go opposite to the other vehicles head-on. The road took a sharp turn and the moment we turned, we rubbed our eyes out of disbelief.

THERE WERE OVER TEN LIONS WALKING TOWARDS OUR SAFARI CRUISER with the other cruisers behind driving the pride of lions towards us. And we saw the lions stare into our eyes in their natural habitat and then walk away unruffled while our nerves were all over the place. We can't plan that, the universe conspired to bestow us with the sight of our lifetime. The place was just a stone's throw away from the exact place our vehicle got stuck the previous evening and that made the experience even more chilling, momentous and indelible. It was day-2 and it was already worth our travel all the way. 

But there was another moment we almost died. The penultimate day of our holiday. We wanted to end the vacation with the views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest free standing mountain in the world. The view of the snow clad summit and the breathtaking golden sunset were so mesmerizing that we forgot we were in the middle of the animal kingdom where predators begin their hunt at twilight. It was almost 7 pm, the sun sank and we boarded our cruiser bidding bye to the adventures and reminiscing the bliss we experienced in the last 10 days.

Just then the driver stopped the vehicle, lifted the latch up and asked us to see something. We saw and we could not utter a word. We were flabbergasted and dumbfounded. There was a coalition of half a dozen cheetahs standing next to your vehicle that were anxiously looking for their next meal. Exactly 5 minutes away from the place we were on the ground for pictures with Kilimanjaro. 

The cheetahs were clearly outside of the designated "fence" and sneaked out in the so-called resort areas for food. But that was not all. A hyena was lurking not too far behind and was following the scent of Cheetahs. There must have been a fantastic action episode which of course we were not privy to. Our takeaway is that we left the place unscathed. For feeble minded, it could be a life-threatening incident but we list this among one of the best travel stories of our lifetime.

It was not just wildlife which made the adventure worthwhile. It's the people too. The Maasai tribes live in the middle of the savannahs with children and cattle co-existing with lions, leopards, cheetahs. For us, traveling is learning, understanding people, cultures and lifestyles. For all the fear of predators, we learnt that Maasai people are not scared of lions but they scare the lions instead. The tribesmen have created a aura by wearing the red garment called "shuka" and holding a spear that apparently scare lions away.

While the mornings were about pursuing wildlife, most evenings and travel time were spent on talking to locals, drivers, waiters, helpers, escort guards who took pride in their own small world while being exceptionally humble and respectful. Without batting an eyelid, we can say the people of Kenya & Tanzania are one of the sweetest, most well-mannered and nicest people on the planet. We were pleasantly surprised at the antithesis to the stigma and stereotypes associated with Sub-Saharan Africa. Hotels and resorts went an extra mile to pack us lunch boxes whenever we headed out for game reserves. Public toilets were spotlessly clean, the food was amazing throughout. From immigration officers at the border to the hotel staff, to restaurant managers to good Samaritans on the savannahs of Africa, everyone made us feel special with their hospitality.

We traveled there for wildlife and to begin a new dominion in our travel history but something else made the trip one of our best travel escapades ever. That is the landscape, the breathtaking scenery, unsullied nature, unpolluted air and surprisingly pleasant weather. 

Imagine you driving up a volcanic mountain, that erupted some 2 million years ago, to see a 2000 feet deep crater filled with wildlife and you descending into the crater to see turquoise colored lakes filled with flamingoes, and the summit of the crater around being covered by cloud forests - you can seldom fathom if you were dreaming or witnessing the drama of pristine nature. In a certain perspective, Tanzania could rank as one of the most visually aesthetic countries I have visited.

Rural Kenya with ubiquitous handwritten names on the stores, local cuisine that was finger licking delicious, Tanzania's spectacular views, Maasai Mara tribesmen and their hospitality and above all - the lion king and his kingdom will remain one of the best places we ever been to, period.

PS: The travel to Africa was followed by a month in India which fascinated me in a different way this time around. Then a 10 day exploration of Thailand and Cambodia followed. Coming up with those blog posts soon (before the memories could fade out of my mind). Till then, as they say in Swahili - Hakuna Matata.