Why the scene of man being molested in Badrinath Ki Dulhania made me cringe

I recently watched Badrinath Ki Dulhania, the sequel to Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (HSKD), a film without social messages, just entertainment quotient.

What changes in the sequel is it's a film that highlights the dowry menace, the problems of the working woman — appears anti-patriarchal and makes a case for women empowerment. It is, however, sad to see how the director chose to sell his film, laced with poor humour despite ace actors like Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan on board, ignoring the other side of the spectrum.

One scene that particularly disturbed me was where Varun Dhawan is suddenly surrounded by some goons from Singapore. You would think they are robbers and a fight sequence is in the offing, but the so-called goons start touching Varun Dhawan inappropriately and end up tearing his clothes.

This was a clear case of molestation. But the entire scene was shown in a humorous way. The audience in the theatre cracked up and almost everyone was laughing. I was not amused and turned to my movie partner to see if he had found it funny, like the rest of the audience.

Thankfully, he did not. What was the audience happy about, or was I being over-sensitive? Is it okay for a male to be sexually assaulted?

I quickly thought, what if it was Alia Bhatt in Varun Dhawan's place? Would the filmmaker still shoot it in a funny way? Would the audience have laughed the same way? We have torchbearers of women's honour, their reputation, but what about men? Don't they deserve the same response?

Somewhere, I felt it was the responsibility of the filmmaker to be thoughtful. Haven't our films progressed at all?

Almost ten years ago, Salman Khan's Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya had scenes where a gay person forcibly flirts with and harasses men with an apparently funny score playing in the background.

A decade on, it seems nothing has changed. Karan Johar recently admittedly that in his first film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, he was wrong to portray Kajol's character as a tomboy who is rejected by her love interest only to find love after she transforms into the stereotypical, desirable Indian woman who wears saris and has long hair.

Do they realise they are making the same mistake again, this time letting down the men?

KJo has produced BKD and it's disheartening to see he is still letting such portrayals of molestation slip in so casually.

Bollywood must understand that male molestation is no joke. I hope we, as an audience, mature enough to understand that men experience the same abuse as women.