Zoya Akhtar Feels Men Were Badly Represented In 80-90s Films With Molestation Scenes; 'You Never Saw Consent'

Zoya Akhtar in her recent tete-a-tete with a leading daily, said that representation in films affects the psyche of a nation. The filmmaker talked about how the male characters in the cinema of 80s and 90s had no tenderness or saw consent and featured molestation scenes.

The Dil Dhadakne Do director was quoted as saying by Hindu, "Representation is when your identity or personality is validated in any kind of popular culture. It is not just women; other communities, disabilities and even men are also represented badly many times."

She continued, "In the 80s and 90s, you never saw tenderness, you never saw consent. But we had molestation scenes. That affects the psyche of a nation. You saw women that had no right to express how they felt, and that definitely makes a difference. So how you're representing is key, as people need to know they're not alone."

Zoya emphasized that on screen representation is very important in our country as films are the biggest form of pop culture. She said that it's very important that we see ourselves represented in our popular culture; to know that we exist in this context, and that we exist in this society. She added that we'll normalised and a part of the fabric only when we see ourselves represented.

Zoya is currently busy shooting for her upcoming Netflix film The Archies. The filmmaker told the tabloid that she is excited to bring this comics to life as they were a large part of her childhood and teenage years.

Further, she also admitted that she is a little nervous about helming this project as the characters are iconic and globally loved. She said that she will have to make sure that her film stokes the nostalgia of a generation which grew up on the comic, and yet resonates with young adults today.

The Archies features Shah Rukh Khan's daughter Suhana, Boney Kapoor's daughter Khushi and Amitabh Bachchan's grandson Agastya Nanda.