Mrs Producer Harman Baweja REACTS To SIFF’s ‘Toxic Feminism’ Remark: ‘Not All Men…’ | Exclusive

Last Updated:February 19, 2025, 04:39 IST

Actor-producer Harman Baweja reacts to SIFF’s criticism of Mrs, stressing respect in relationships over rigid gender roles.

Sanya Malhotra starrer Mrs depicting sexism in marriage has opened to raving reviews from all quarters. But amid this, a men’s rights organisation has accused it of spreading ‘toxic feminism’, that has been receiving wide backlash from netizens. Recently, SIFF (Save Indian Family Foundation), took to X and issued a long statement criticising Mrs, questioning how ‘a happy young woman cooking food, doing dishes and pressing cloths of her father-in-law is oppression for her’. “What stress does a woman feel, while chopping vegetables and cooking food on a gas stove or doing dishes wearing gloves? Zero. Nothing (sic),” the statement added.

Reacting to this, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, producer Harman Baweja, says that he’s hardly ‘infuriated’. “I’m way past the infuriated stage now. It will take a lot to infuriate me. Maybe, that section of men is looking at this film as a solution and saying that this is the exactly representation of all men, which isn’t necessarily the truth. If a film has a male and female character, it doesn’t mean all men and women are like that. Every house is unique. The fragrance, the etiquette and the way food are served in every household will be different,” he tells us.

Harman, in fact, stresses on the importance of viewers exercising their empathy towards the character of Richa, played by Sanya, even if they’re unable to relate to her. “It’s important to not look at the film in isolation. We need to understand that Mrs is the story of a particular woman and a lot of women relate to parts of it. There may also be those – who I would think belongs to evolved households – who don’t relate to the film but understand it because they’ve seen it happening with their mothers. That’s the lens one needs to view the film with,” he states.

SIFF further argued that men should never share ‘50% housework, because 70-80% material, cloths, furniture and gadgets are craved by women and enjoyed by women’. Sharing his stance on it through the example of his equation with his wife Sasha Ramchandani, he says, “I’ve a different perspective on it. The essence of the film is to respect each other for what we bring to the table. I love and respect my wife and she loves and respects me for what I bring to the table. We’ve just had two kids and her hands are full.”

Harman continues, “And she’s a health coach. If I’ve to come in at some point when she has got back to back calls, I’ll do that. The same goes for her. If I’ve a hard day at work and she puts food on the table for me, I’ll appreciate it. It will become a problem if she has to do it for me out of no choice. But if she’s doing it out of love for me, I’ll happily take it. I remember baking a cake for her three years back and it was the worst cake I ever baked. But she talks about it fondly even today. Appreciating each other’s efforts cuts across everything in life.”