Here Are 5 Reasons Why Sonakshi Sinha’s Akira Cannot Be About Women’s Empowerment

Akira makes the fatal mistake of gender reversal as a sign of progressive feminism. In the original Tamil film Mouna Guru directed by Santha Kumar a male actor Arulnidhi played Sonakshi’s role of a college student who takes on the khaki mafia(a.k.a cops’ day out) . By simply turning the male hero into a female a filmmaker cannot hope to make a statement on what women can do.Just as making a man wear women’s clothes and high heels wouldn’t make him look procreational. The ‘bra’ can’t be fitted into a ‘bro’. It’s not that simple. Reversing the protagonist’s sex doesn’t sanction her empowerment. There is no equality of the sexes in making the female heroine behave like a hero.
A video released by the Akirateam shows Sonakshi preparing to throw her adversaries(all male) to the ground.The video is a clear giveaway that throwing punches like the male lead Arulnidhi in the Tamil originalMouna Guru does not make Sonakshi’s character equal to he male. It just makes her a copycat. Hopefully a good copycat.
What level of sensitivity towards the portrayal of women can we expect from director A R Murugadoss in whose Ghajiniwe saw Asin being bludgeoned to a bloodied death over and over again…and we do mean, over and over again. She played the same role in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
The theme of the female hero fighting a corrupt system is as old as the hills. Think Rekha in Phool BaneAngaaray.Think Sujata Mehta in Pratighaat. Think Trishna in Khatta Meetha. Think Rani Mukherjee inMardaangi. What can Sonakshi add to the theme of women empowerment? Incidentally, or not so incidentally,Sonakshi and Murugadoss earlier teamed up for Holiday where she was no more than a pretty prop for AkshayKumar’s heroics.
5.Come to think of it,Murugadoss’ track record so far with female characters has been abysmal. From his first Tamil film Dheenain 2001 to 10 Endrathukulla in 2015 all his films have glorified patriarchal values and projected the hero as a larger-than-life figure battling the baddies , frequently because the heroine’s life and izzatwere under threat.Is this man-powered movie maker equipped to handle a sensitive subject like women’s empowerment,