Exclusive | Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Ananya Panday on Toxic Masculinity in Films: 'Everyone Wants To Make What’s Working'

In recent years, mainstream cinema in India has seen an increase in the dark and the violent — thrillers steeped in gore, heroes drenched in blood. For Women’s Month, The Hollywood Reporter India brought together Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Ananya Panday and asked them: what do they think of the rise of hypermasculine cinema?

Priyadarshan resists reducing this shift to masculinity alone. “I don’t know if it’s the masculinity aspect,” she says. “I believe the audience directs where cinema is going, not producers sitting behind a desk.” For her, the current wave is being propelled by the feedback loop of box-office returns.

“Right now, this trend, and I call this a trend because I don’t think it is going to last," she emphasises, "It is what’s [considered] practical, and every scene has to be sensational or shocking. You can show spectacle with violence, and people think that’s what’s selling cinema. It scares me a little, but I believe it’s a trend.”

Panday echoes that fatigue. “It feels repetitive in that sense, everyone wants to make what’s working.” In an industry that moves quickly to replicate success, imagination often gives way to formula. When one film breaks out, a dozen more follow its blueprint, she says.

Kapoor Khan also points out the lack of range in mainstream cinema today. “Now I think it’s all thriller, crime, gore, blood. No fun, energy, colour, love, romance," she laughs.

However, they agree, the solution does not lie with either actors or producers alone—there needs to be a combined effort to pave the way forward. "It's a systemic change that needs to happen," says Panday.

For Priyadarshan, a big part of this change lies behind the camera. “I think what worked for Lokah is that we had an amazing woman writer on the team," she shares. "I wish more movies would have women writers, because I feel a different perspective comes that way. Men write what they know; you can’t blame them. If they try to write for a woman, it will go off, in my opinion.”