Soon
after
watching
the
trailer
of
ALTBalaji's
Broken
But
Beautiful
Season
3,
one
wonders
if
they
are
stuck
in
2019
when
Kabir
Singh
with
its
toxic
masculinity
and
hyped
machismo
still
went
on
to
do
surprisingly
well
at
the
box
office.
In
Broken
But
Beautiful
S-3,
we
see
the
protagonist
Sidharth
Shukla,
former
Bigg
Boss
and
Fear
Factor
winner,
play
a
raging
alcoholic,
who
is
aggressive,
angry,
abusive
and
violent
and
we
can't
help
but
draw
parallels
between
Agastya
Rao
and
Kabir
Singh.
This
leaves
us
wondering
whether
the
show
is
yet
another
presentation
romanticizing
toxic
masculinity
made
famous
in
films
like
Fifty
Shades
of
Grey,
Kabir
Singh
and
Netflix's
365
Days.
Are
we
watching
a
repackaged,
more
polished
version
of
Kabir
Singh?
Can
obsessive
and
abusive
behaviour
be
passed
off
for
romance
and
intense
love?
Do
our
screens
need
any
more
bouts
of
drunkenness,
offensiveness
and
rage
which
isn’t
just
normalized
but
glorified
and
glamourized?
ALTBalaji
is
known
for
the
nature
of
its
controversial
content,
which
is
often
hungrily
lapped
up
by
its
audience.
However,
as
we
slowly
move
towards
untangling
gender
norms
and
stereotypes,
popular
shows
such
as
these
continue
to
depict
misogyny
and
masculine
stereotypes.
Broken
But
Beautiful's
tag
stating
'Sometimes
the
things
you
want
are
not
the
things
you
need'
has
us
questioning
whether
we
need
some
more
toxic
masculinity
on
the
small
screen
in
2021.