Can a male actor act after marriage? Shraddha Srinath's posts counter stereotypes
Actor Shraddha Srinath, who was recently seen in the Tamil film Maara, is known for speaking her mind. On Instagram, Shraddha's recent tongue-in-cheek posts, published as stories, on Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan getting married to his girlfriend Natasha Dalal, caught the attention of fans. And though Shraddha was joking, she sure had a valid point to make.
In her first post, Shraddha mimicked the common reaction that women actors get when they announce their marriage plans. Only, she was speaking about Varun Dhawan and it obviously sounded absurd when applied to a male actor since they're not stereotyped like their female counterparts:
“Another good actor bites the dust. Sad that we will not see him on screen again. Obviously his wife and in laws will not be okay with him acting with other heroines. Maybe he will switch to doing male-oriented films? But how to balance personal life and work-life ya. Tough. Will miss him. Congratulations though, Varun,” she wrote.
In response to some irritated Varun Dhawan's followers who clearly missed the point that she was making, Shraddha later wrote: “I took a jibe at patriarchy yesterday. I merely switched genders. And it sounded like a joke right? It sounded absurd to you all when I said an actor will have to retire from work because he’s getting married. Why doesn’t it sound just as absurd when the same assumptions are made about an actress?” she asked.
When actor Samantha announced that she was getting married to Naga Chaitanya, she said that film offers began to dry up because producers and directors assumed that she would stop acting after marriage. Recently, when actor Kajal Aggarwal said that she was getting married to her boyfriend Gautam Kitchlu, she added that she would continue to act, anticipating that the question would be put to her. Actor Sayyeshaa, who got married to actor Arya, also had to clarify that she would continue to act in films after the wedding.
Several Bollywood women actors have continued to act after marriage. While it's less common in the south, many more leading ladies are making the choice to not let their personal lives interfere with their film careers. Some like Manju Warrier and Jyotika have made strong comebacks while others like Sruthi Hariharan and Rima Kallingal have continued their respective careers without long breaks.