Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi calls for gender equality

MUMBAI: Famous Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi has criticized the toxic masculinity and called for gender equality.

During a recent interview with the Indian channel, the actress said that it was important for men to change and for women to become more independent. “At present, there is toxicity around the whole idea of masculinity. Masculinity means flexing muscles, wielding power over the powerless. That is a toxic thing,” she said.

“It is true that we want women to change, and become independent. But to establish gender equality we also need men to change. Why is masculinity not about tenderness, empathy, and being supportive?,” Azmi maintained.

 Moreover, another Bollywood actress Bhumi Pednekar expressed that the industry needs to change the depiction of genders. She said that there was a need to change the ‘white-washed’ image of women that currently exists in the movies.

Pednekar said, “We need to change the depiction of genders. We need to change how we show women and men. Women are not supposed to be whitewashed. We have desires, we have ambition, we have physical needs and emotions, and we have the capacity to balance. I believe women have superpowers. I think we need to see a lot more of that in our cinema,” she was quoted saying in an Indian magazine.