5 Times Men Written By Women Were Better Than Men Written By Men – MensXP.com

September 4, 2022 Kim Martel

The ‘men written by women’ trend is not new by any means, but it’s one that needs to be appreciated more often. In the world of fiction, these are male characters written by women and in real life, these are the kind of men women want.

They’re good listeners, respectful towards women and their needs, secure about themselves and believers of equality between both genders. These are the men who will make dinner for their wives and girlfriends, share household chores with them and resolve issues with meaningful conversations rather than impulsive reactions.

Of late, Bollywood has presented us with many such swoon-worthy men written by women who deal with the same old issues in their own unique ways. Here is a list of five times when men written by women were much more lovable than men written by men:

1. Overcoming Heartbreak

Written by Niranjan Iyengar, Karan Johar, in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Ayan (Ranbir Kapoor) spends the whole movie trying to win over Alizeh while she clearly says no. Repeatedly. Things turn even uglier when she’s diagnosed with a terminal disease and Ayan can’t think beyond wanting to kiss her or win her heart.

While Ayan can’t find a productive way to deal with his unrequited love, Robbie (Abhishek Bachchan) in Manmarziyaan becomes an endearing character, written by Kanika Dhillon.

When Robbie finds out his wife is in love with her former flame, he is heartbroken but files for an annulment, not wanting to stand between two people in love. Neither does he react violently to her ex, nor to her, and instead gives her the freedom to choose between the two men.

2. Dealing With Grief

Dabangg’s macho man Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) was written by the movie’s director Abhinav Singh Kashyap. He is outrageously brash and insensitive to the point that he asks a woman to marry him while she’s having a funeral for her father. Similarly, he’s unable to deal with his mother’s death and kills the antagonist in a way similar to how his mother was killed.

On the other hand, Shutu’s (Vikrant Massey) character from A Death in the Gunj was written by Disha Rindani and Konkona Sen Sharma. Shutu is more adept at forming deep, meaningful relationships than the former.

While his growing alienation, isolation and eventual suicide is not a great example for dealing with grief, neither is Chulbul Pandey’s suffocation of the villain with smoke.

3. Going On A Boys’ Trip

Going on a trip with the boys doesn’t really have to be about nights of debauchery, booze flying everywhere, guys surrounded with naked women — you get the gist.

The Shaukeens shows three old men go on a trip to Mauritius with such expectations and eventually becomes a race to sleep with a young woman, Lisa Haydon. It’s shocking that the movie was written by Tigmanshu Dhulia, the writer behind gems like Paan Singh Tomar.

Meanwhile, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, written by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar turns the boys’ bachelorette trip into one where they overcome their fears. There is much more to life than skirt chasing and boozy nights, and the men of ZNMD get this. Be it falling from the skies or falling in love, the movie is about experiencing life’s adventures.

4. Mental Health Doctors

Though Atrangi Re’s female protagonist was a mental health patient, writer Himanshu Sharma insisted that this movie was a love story and not about mental health disorders. Never mind the fact that the plot is completely spent on trying to cure a woman of her delusions and a psychiatrist, Dr. Madhusudhan (Ashish Verma) administers her medication without her consent.

As the writer and director, Gauri Shinde sculpted Dear Zindagi as one of the best examples of mental health and Dr. Jehangir Khan (SRK) as one of our favourite on-screen psychologists. He listens to Kaira (Alia Bhatt) without judgement and doesn’t give her advice.

Instead he allows her to peel back the layers of her life and find the rotten core that’s holding her back from living fully. He’s here to support, not school her.

5. Gay Men

Homosexuality in Bollywood has always been portrayed with a comical or scandalous undertone. From showing gay men as lascivious beings strutting around in bright clothes with a bent wrist, as seen in Mast Kalandar written by Salim Khan, we’ve come a long way.

In this movie, Anupam Kher played the role of Pinku, Bollywood’s first gay character who hits on any man walking by him and doesn’t understand the concept of consent.

Amazon Prime Video’s Made In Heaven gave us one of the most realistic depictions of homosexuality in India through Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur). Written by Reema Kagti, Zoya Akhtar and Alankrita Srivastava, Karan’s struggle to find true love in a society that supports homosexuality on Twitter, but persecutes them in real life is as honest as it gets.