Akshay Kumar was recently called out by social media users for instances of sexism in his films such as Tees Maar Khan and the Housefull franchise. In an interaction with the media, he was asked about his views on misogyny and the romanticising of stalking in films. The actor responded saying that one shouldn’t take things so seriously, and that these instances had been certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). He said,
“A film should be just taken as a film. You come and pay for a ticket and enjoy. Don’t take it so seriously. Playing a negative character doesn’t mean that I’m trying to teach you negative [behaviour]. I’m an actor. And censor board has passed that, then what is the problem?”Akshay Kumar, Actor
Akshay recently took to Twitter to condemn the rape and murder of a young veterinarian in Hyderabad. Some Twitter users took the opportunity to point out the dissonance between his sentiments and instances of casual sexism in his films.
One Twitter user pointed out, his 2016 comedy Housefull 3 contained lines such as “Uski pouches (ovaries in this context) nikal do. Na mamma banegi, na mia milega. Mamma Mia! (Remove her ovaries. She will neither become a mother, nor find a man.)” and a running joke where a character with a speech impediment says tawaif instead of wife, giving rise to lines such as, “Kya tum meri tawaif – oh – wife banogi?”
On the work front, Akshay will be seen next in Good Newwz. Directed by Raj Mehta, the film is about two couples who find themselves in a dilemma when sperm samples are mistakenly exchanged during their respective IVF procedures. The film reunites him with Kareena Kapoor 10 years after Kambakkht Ishq, and also stars Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani. Good Newwz releases on 27 December. Akshay is also playing an ATS chief in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi.
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