Dear reader,
One can say with some conviction that the year 2023 was the year of the Indian Alpha Male, especially at the box office. Look at the films that rocked the box office this year: Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan and Pathaan, Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal, Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2, Salman Khan’s Tiger 3, Vijay’s Leo, Rajinikanth’s Jailer, and many more. It’s not that other films with softer, non-violent male protagonists didn’t do well, but none of them became blockbusters like the films mentioned above. This was not exactly a 2023 trend alone. In 2022, the pan-Indian hits included the high-testosterone RRR in Telugu, KGF-2 in Kannada, Brahmastra in Bollywood, Vikram and Beast in Tamil, and such films.
In that sense, 2023 was an audacious continuation of 2022.
This forces us to sit back and ask what’s in store for 2024. Recent releases such as Salaar, starring Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran, give hints that the coming year is not going to be any different. So, what is it about high-octane action films with chest-thumping men, muscular, moody, and massacre-happy, claiming that all the bloodshed is for a cause, that draws such huge crowds to cinemas?
Films with flawed, failing, confused, and compassionate protagonists fail to make a ripple at the box office, and producers and studios are not lining up to sign up writers or directors pushing such content. It could be said that this has always been the trend, that there were always Khal Nayaks and anti-heroes and biceps-flexing heroes in Indian cinema. But that’s not exactly true. The angry young men Amitabh Bachchan played in the 1970s and 1980s reflected a different social reality. The anger was mainly targeted against a system, and the heroes were known for their flaws; there was reform or reward at the end of the tunnel, and more importantly, the violence was more subdued and subtle, especially when you compare the Zanjeers, Deewars, and Dons of yore with today’s carnage kings on screen.
So, what’s changed? One aspect to consider while discussing the ascent of Alpha Male films in India is the fact that the debate on Indian masculinity has evolved only over the past few decades, especially since the 1990s. Student groups, academics, activists, artists, and even politicians actively debate various aspects of masculinity now, subverting many of the preconceived notions around men and their traditionally conceived roles in society.
Since the advent of social media, the discussion on skewed and fantastic portrayals of men and man-woman relations has gained significant momentum. Gender studies and masculinity studies are some of the most sought-after search terms on social media. Handles and pages unravelling the toxic masculinity myth are plenty, and their popularity is only surging.
Ideally, this should give us reasons for hope. Unfortunately, as we write this, Animal, a film directed by a 1981-born young man called Sandeep Reddy Vanga, and rightly criticised by many for its unabashedly toxic-masculine plotline and glaringly misogynistic treatment and dialogues, is about to cross the Rs.600 crore mark at the box office. Considering that the median age of a theatre-goer in India is 27.5 years, what do the success and hoopla around such Alpha Male films tell us about India’s youth—who, unlike their early millennial peers or the Generation X or the so-called boomers—have all the access to progressive views and are aware of the dangers of toxic masculinity in society?
The way these men display their bodies is also a case to study. As Michiel Baas reminded us in his book, Muscular India: Masculinity, Mobility & the New Middle Class, “the body is never just a receptor but always also an actor: one that makes decisions and actively engages with its changing environment…The body is in dialogue with its environment and reflects what goes on in society.” What are these bodies and the men who embody them telling us?
This is something scholars must investigate with some urgency to find the real influences on Young India, aspirational, global, and ultra-mobile. Coming nearly three decades after India opened its markets and a fresh stream of capital flowed into the country, changing the way it lives, works, emotes, and communicates, the successes of these films where trigger-happy men shout, scream, and stomp around should be seen as a response to Capitalist India, unlike the mixed economy era of Amitabh’s angry young men.
And make no mistake: Animal is no different from say a Leo or a KGF or a Jailer, where men employ extreme violence to build a “better” world, for themselves or for people around them. Juxtaposing this in the context of the aggressive muscular right-wing nationalism that’s making its imprint in the country, the assumptions one can make about the trend are disturbing.
As Prathyush Parasuraman, our film critic, writes in his insightful review of Animal, this trend forces a raw reckoning with modern Indian masculinity. Vanga shows us broken men and perhaps studying them can get us some much-needed glimpses into the world they are going to build. Read Prathyush’s review here and write back to us with your comments.
On that note, here’s wishing a very peaceful, happy, and prosperous New Year. Also, we take this opportunity to thank you, dear readers, for being our loyal supporters. And to tell you that a surprise from our side is coming next week as the year ends.
For Team Frontline,
Jinoy Jose P.
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