BEIJING: Aamir Khan’s Dangal, running to packed houses here, has sparked a furious debate in China, with some viewers saying it broke gender stereotypes and others holding it reeked of prejudice and made them vomit.
The film, on a man’s dream of turning his daughters into wrestlers, has raked in about USD 72 million since it was released two weeks ago.
But while it has been widely acclaimed, it has also been panned by a large section of people, especially by feminists.
On the popular Chinese culture site, Douban.Com, where the movie received an aggregate rating of 9.2 out of 10 based on user reviews, hundreds of people also submitted low ratings and bad reviews, local media reports said.
One review read, “The father’s values make me vomit, he forces his daughters to live a certain type of life with his dream, with money and becoming a champion. You think the movie is about breaking gender stereotypes, but actually it’s knee- deep in prejudice.”
Another said, “The movie reeks of patriarchy and male chauvinism. The daughters didn’t have any freedom to choose and were raised ferociously by their father to be world champions.”
While Dangal was being advertised in China, it was touted as a feminist film because the lead female character in the movie struggled against patriarchal beliefs and ended up winning a gold medal for India, an article in the state run Global Times said today.
But some aspects of the film sparked a fierce online debate on whether the film could be seen as a feminist story. (AGENCIES)
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