Top News

Director Tarun Mansukhani has spoken up about all the criticism that Housefull 5 has received for the sexist jokes and portrayal of women, among other things. Interestingly, he said that this is a project that’s ‘driven by women’, although viewers think completely otherwise.

Well, I’ve got thoughts about this, too!

Tarun Mansukhani on ‘Housefull 5’ criticism

Credit: Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment

In an interview with News18 Showsha, Tarun opened up on the criticism around Housefull 5’s storyline, female portrayal, among other things.

He did defend the claims on objectification, while also mentioning how social media attention is a good thing. He went on to say, “It means that they’re watching it with a certain eye and sensibility. You can scrutinise it. That’s fine. You’ve paid money to watch it and so, you get to have an opinion on my film. It’s not a placid film about which you don’t care or have an opinion. For those who’re calling it out, I want to say that it’s your choice of seeing and focusing on that aspect of the film.”

Also talking about the film not being sexist, he said, “It’s Sonam (Bajwa) who backstabs Riteish (Deshmukh) and helps further the plot, that in turn helps bring a third Jolly. The actual plot is driven by women – to get the money. There’s a Soundarya who’s equal parts a suspect in this entire thing.”

Well, Tarun added how the men are nothing but ‘flawed characters’, and while people may look at the sexist side of it, he does think he has done more.

It’s difficult to agree to such perspectives when the film has received a collectively negative review, and not just in terms of women and the plot, but also for the mess that the film is. The film’s humour doesn’t click, characters seem outdated, and everything was rather shallow.

We can’t defend shallow in the name of ‘flawed’, right? Even with a star-studded cast like that, nothing comes together right, and minds fried. We have enough flawed characters with films like Animal and Kabir Singh. Do we need more, that too in a comedy set up?

More on ‘Housefull 5’

Credit: Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment

Housefull 5 is a comedy that revolves around a murder on a cruise ship. It all comes down to who the successor will be, because while the billionaire announced that the wealth will go to Jolly, there are three of them aboard – Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, and Abhishek Bachchan, who are all suspects along with their girlfriends.

The film was released with two different climax sequences, and while it has raked in numbers, the reviews have been rather critical.

In addition, the movie also features Fardeen Khan, Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Ranjeet, Johnny Lever, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Chunky Panday, Dino Morea, Sonam Bajwa, and Soundarya Sharma.

---