R Madhavan calls out double standards, says ‘RHTDM’ was not ‘chauvinistic’

Recently, in an interview with The New Indian, R Madhavan looked back at his role as Maddy in the widely popular film "Rehnaa Hain Terre Dil Mein". The movie recently came under fire for its 'chauvinistic' approach to how Rina's (Dia Mirza) character was treated in the film.

In response to the outrage, Madhavan said, "Gautham and I followed our gut and made 'Minnale' and that paid off. 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein' is one of those films. Of course, we were accused of a lot of things, how we should treat women and stuff like that, which I have my own debates and arguments about, but it worked. The public liked it and it is still talked about."

The actor also criticised the double standards prevalent in the analysis of his other character in "Tanu Weds Manu", where his character is relentlessly criticised for his weight.

The actor said, "People who accuse us of being chauvinistic in 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein', I can throw the same accusation back at them by saying you guys laugh when I (my character) was called 'He is like ginger, he'd grow out of any place'. You think that's a joke, and it doesn't hurt a man? I am sure men will equally be sensitive about it."

He called the criticism that has risen against RHTDM as 'hypersensitive', claiming that it's a western concept that tries to 'perfect', while inherently, people aren't.

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Meanwhile, Dia Mirza—who made her acting debut in 2001 with the film, has spoken out about the film's alleged glorification of stalking. If she were offered the project now, she would reconsider 'certain aspects' of it and would be totally opposed to the stalking elements. Dia and her co-star, R Madhavan both made their debuts in "RHTDM".