Many Indian movie fans say it’s now the time of tough “alpha male” heroes on screen. It started with Kabir Singh and has grown stronger lately, with super-macho, angry guys, even in love stories. This makes some people with happy memories of old films wish for gentle romantic heroes, like the main guys in Sooraj Barjatya‘s movies such as ‘Vivaah’ and ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’. But Barjatya says his quintessential hero Prem (the name for all his leads) is not so different from Kabir Singh.
Sooraj Barjatya on alpha males
Barjatya’s latest series, ‘Sangamarmar’, recently released on JioHotstar. This heartfelt romantic drama follows Sourabh Raaj Jain and Sheen Savita Das as lovers whose bond deepens across 25 years, even without marriage. In a chat with Hindustan Times, the director shared that audience views on love remain pretty consistent. He calls the male lead a true romantic: “He waits for the woman for 25 years even as she is taking care of her responsibilities,” says Barjatya. Despite crafting many such characters who boldly defy traditional macho norms without hesitation, he often gets criticized for straying from reality.
Barjatya shares with a laugh, “Every two to three weeks, people tell me such a world does not exist. Don’t give us this wrong hope. Girls tell me that their parents want this sort of guy for them, and yeh banne band ho gaye hain (These don’t exist anymore). But I say jitne pehle the aaj bhi hain (they exist today too). You just have to find them.”
Sooraj Barjatya’s heroes like Prem
Barjatya film’s male leads are known to swap old-school toughness for tender romance. The Prem in ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’ (Salman Khan) gives up his own love to keep his family happy, and the one in ‘Vivaah’ (Shahid Kapoor) stands firm on his promise even after his fiancée suffers a devastating accident. Yet Kabir Singh’s box-office hit has fans questioning if viewers still crave this Prem vibe. Barjatya rejects any “this or that” divide. “They are representations of the same men,” he says, adding, “Itna pyaar to kare koi (Someone must love this passionately). If you look at it, whether it is ‘Kabir Singh’, ‘Animal’, Prem, or the protagonist from ‘Sangamarmar’, but itna pyaar to kare. All of them have come through the journeys of their soul. They have their own upbringing and values. But essentially, it is the power of love. I feel they are two sides of the same coin.”
About ‘Kabir Singh’ and ‘Animal’
Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani led ‘Kabir Singh’, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Hindi adaptation of his Telugu blockbuster ‘Arjun Reddy’. It held the record as India’s top-earning romantic movie until ‘Saiyaara’ topped it last year. Ranbir Kapoor headlined ‘Animal’, which ranked among the biggest box-office hits in Indian film history.
