Housefull 5 Director Reacts To His Film Being Called 'Sexist': 'Plot Is Driven By Women'

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Director Tarun Mansukhani hits back at trolls and call Housefull 5 a film 'driven by women'. He adds that those calling it 'sexist' are choosing to view the film from that lens.
Akshay Kumar starrer Housefull 5 maybe breaking all box office records but it's not sitting well with a certain section of audiences. Many took to social media to slam the film for its portrayal of women and objectifying them. Soundarya Sharma, particularly, has been at the receiving end of incessant trolling for choosing to do a film that's all about 'skin show' and makes her look like an 'eye candy'. Others criticised the makers for its dialogues laden with sexual innuendos, vulgarity, thus comparing to adult comedy films like Grand Masti.
But director Tarun Mansukhani remains unfazed. Speaking exclusively to News18 Showsha, he says that he's choosing to look at the silver lining. 'I feel like that there's a lot of scrutiny on social media. I also believe that scrutiny tends to only happen on successful films. You tend to keep quiet if a film isn't working at all. That's when no one has any opinion and they don't say anything. So, when people are making noise about my film, I actually feel very happy about it," he opines.
Tarun hits back at detractors and says that people who're expressing dissent are deliberately choosing to focus on objectification. '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," he remarks.
Defending the women in the film, he states, 'Akshay decides to play Jolly and he comes to know that there's a missing son. So, he hires the character of Nargis (Fakhri) and asks him to join him on this search. One thing leads to another and they decide to backstab together. 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 because she's busy transferring funds into an offshore account."
As for the men in the film, Tarun refers to them as 'flawed characters'. 'They aren't placid characters. In a murder mystery, nobody is a good person. Everyone is a bad person and that's what the endeavour was because they're all suspects and if they ethically or morally bad enough to commit murder, is the question. One may choose to see a sexist side to it but I feel that I've done a lot more. If people haven't seen the film, how will the plot details transfer to them? And when they see it, it's the audience's choice to focus on whichever aspect they want to," he points out.
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