Pushpa movie worships and celebrates a certain type of masculinity which has no respect for women. The movie also glorifies caste-based hierarchical oppressive structures that are still incumbent in our society. The list continues.
Hero or a Super Hero?
The hero of the movie is just like any other hero of any other movie that we have seen in the past. There is nothing new in his portrayal. He has to win all fights; he is entitled to save his love interest from villains and he has to mock elders to establish himself as a macho man.
He also needs to be inhumanly strong physically, not flinching even when being beaten badly and fighting back against the baddies. Watching a hero like him could be damage the mental health of the people watching him on the screen.
Worships patriarchy
Pushpa pushes back women empowerment efforts backward. As a society we have made some progress to ensure that not having a legitimate father’s name should not come as a deterrence but the movie show otherwise. The hero gets uncomfortable whenever the question of his father came again establishing the same old regressive mindset.
False portrayal of the notions of purity
The female lead follows the society-mandated construct of her virginity. She reserves to right of first kiss for whoever becomes her husband. This can be taken as re-enforcing the pure-impure dichotomy made for controlling the agencies and autonomy of women. What is more surprising is the fact that the same movie normalises a man sleeping with underprivileged women.
Thus, Pushpa is a work of art that is heavily influenced and goes on to normalise patriarchal structures.
