Actor and former video jockey Rio Raj is facing fresh flak over a film he starred in a year ago. During the promotions of his recent Tamil film , Ram in Leela, he made comments about feminism that did not go down well with the internet.
Many also called him out for starring in Aan Paavam Pollathathu last year, as well as pandering to an ‘incel’ audience despite being happily married.
When Kalaiarasan Thangavel’s Aan Paavam Pollathathu was released, it sparked controversy over its gender politics and portrayal of modern relationships. Many thought the film was biased towards the male character while portraying the female character as shallow. Many even compared it to Varsha Bharath’s Bad Girl , which got female representation right.
Rio, who gained fame on Star Vijay and Sun Music, ventured into films with the 2019 Nenjamundu Nermaiyundu Odu Raja. He hosted Bigg Boss Season 2 Kondattam in 2018, was a guest on Bigg Boss Tamil Season 3 in 2019 and the second runner-up of Bigg Boss Tamil Season 4 in 2020.
The host pointed out that terming women who suffer, bring up children alone without help, mostly due to no choice of their own, as ‘strong’ while sidelining the women who choose not to marry or have children isn’t what feminism is about. On Sudhir Srinivasan’s YouTube channel, Rio spoke about feminism when the host brought up his last release, Aan Paavam Pollathathu. We are the ones who talk without knowing what we’re talking about. My mother is a strong lady. She didn’t talk about feminism; she lived it. Without my father’s support, she raised two children. He clarified that she was not a single mother but still had to raise two children on her own. It has no boundaries, principles or theories; it’s a feeling. That’s not the position we took. Both the characters in my film are flawed.”
He said, “Feminism is not about taking a stand. The actor then said, “Feminism is a feeling.
One X user pointed out that other actors have been cancelled for less, writing, “Loving the public’s response to @rio_raj ’s f**kass misogynistic incel mentality from that interview. But all I’m saying is that other small actors were cancelled for much less. Many questioned why Rio continued to star in films with problematic views despite being happily married to Shruti Ravi. Another wrote, “He is pandering to his target audience. In real life, he has a loving marriage and was a cheerful, romantic husband.
“bro is happily married with love of his life…but why still complaining about women in marriage life constantly in his films? or u just creating cult among men so that they mess up with women who just want to be themselves?” read one comment. However, in films, the scripts mostly portrayed the narrative that “men are the unfortunate ones, while there is nothing to be said against women.”
