The recently released Mrs., starring Sanya Malhotra in the lead, has sparked heated debate on social media. Today, we try to understand what is going on by digging deep and getting to the heart of it!
Over and above the comparisons made between Mrs. and the 2021 Malayalam film, The Great Indian Kitchen and Mrs. not giving credit to its technicians in the trailer, this film is now roped into a new controversy after its release. The debate surrounding the film on social media has expanded into a broader discourse on gender, questioning whether the emphasis on women’s suffering is being unfairly pitted against the often overlooked struggles of men. In today’s world, dominated by insecurities that seem to fester within all of us, perhaps this was inevitable, as the sensitive topic that this film discusses reached more ears than The Great Indian Kitchen.
The discourse reached a fever pitch after comments from the so-called men’s rights organization, SIFF, on X (formerly Twitter), turned the conversation into a battle over societal toxicity, particularly in the realm of gender. The film has been accused of spreading feminist propaganda, painting arranged marriages and the institution of marriage in a negative light and exaggerating women’s suffering. The point of argument that is kept forth is that the film gives undue prominence to women’s struggles, presenting them as if they were relics of the past while ignoring the fact that many others in society are also struggling.
A common thread in these criticisms is the argument that feminists have monopolized the narrative of suffering while neglecting the plight of men. These detractors claim that men work all day, enduring physical and mental toil, only to be met with complaints from women about what they perceive to be trivial tasks like cooking—tasks they say are more meditative than laborious.
Statistics are thrown around to argue that men suffer more, with some even pointing to the tragic reality of male suicide rates purportedly driven by women’s mistreatment. They highlight the supposed hypocrisy of feminists, suggesting that they focus solely on women’s rights while ignoring men’s issues, especially when men are burdened with providing for their families all day. This viewpoint states that the least men deserve is a warm meal and a loving wife to come home to, which, according to the film, the women find hard to do. What is interesting to note here is that women have also come out supporting this argument!
Now this isn't something new as we have often witnessed a #mentoo quickly to follow as soon as #metoo comes into existence. This is why the argument made on the other hand against these claims asserts that the backlash against the film is rooted in fear of confronting an uncomfortable truth. Those defending the film and adding some sense in to otherwise ranting rage go on a limb to explain the movie and exert the fact that cooking and household tasks are merely metaphors for more significant systemic issues. After all, the women in the film don't hate cooking or taking care of the family just as we understand that the real burden lies not in the tasks themselves but in the societal expectation that these roles are inescapable and gendered for women, akin to the pressure men feel to be sole providers, trapped by the weight of being the family’s breadwinner.
The crux of this flip side of the argument lies in men’s growing insecurity, leading them to call for banning or boycotting films that challenge their worldview. When films portray the struggles of men, however, these same critics are quick to defend them, dismissing objections by saying, “It’s just a film", summarising this double standard! Many men supported this argument and spoke for the film's effective messaging, which was the need of the hour, especially given the current news.
At the heart of the debate, no matter where you stand with the film, whether or not Mrs exaggerates women’s suffering, lies a crucial truth about gender roles and how both, men and women, suffer under the weight of these expectations. The film may simply serve as a mirror, reflecting back the struggles we still need to confront and discuss as a society. It highlights the urgent need for further dialogue on how rigid roles—assigned to genders—create a cycle of suffering that can only be broken by understanding, empathy, and honest conversation.
But probably this can be done in a better way, where men don't feel the need to attack women because of their heightened insecurity, and leading the viciousness to only provoke others to respond in a similar fashion. We need to foster more thoughtful discussions about films, especially those addressing gender issues. Because while Mrs was directed by Arati Kadav, Harman Baweja co-wrote it, and the original concept came from a Malayalam film by Jeo Baby—both of whom are men!
Mrs. is streaming on Zee5.
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