Actress Radhika Apte says she felt “really taken aback” after revisiting some older Shah Rukh Khan films, describing how certain romance tropes now feel unsettling. She says she remains a fan of Khan, but the scenes she once enjoyed are uncomfortable to her in retrospect.
In her comments, Apte argues that many classic Hindi films portrayed persistent pursuit as romantic, even when a woman has expressed refusal. She cites earlier depictions where behavior that involved controlling or ignoring a woman’s “no” was framed as love or longing. She also points to how female characters face sexualization and moral scrutiny at the same time, with women often viewed through a male gaze.
The outlets emphasize slightly different aspects of her critique. Times of India focuses on the broader influence such films had on contemporary perceptions of love and relationships, while Free Press Journal highlights specific examples and includes remarks about how women’s choices were overlooked. Both pieces connect her reflections to wider discussion of gender portrayal in Bollywood and note her upcoming involvement in the anthology series “Lust Stories 3.”
