by Suman Gupta
In an intriguing bonus episode of Yuvaa’s groundbreaking, hit series, ‘Be A Man, Yaar! with Nikhil Taneja,’ women take the spotlight to discuss their experiences with love, friendship, and intimacy. The panel of extraordinary women includes actor Mithila Palkar, content creator Srishti Garg, and sex educator Leeza Mangaldas. These three new-age artists from different fields talk about their ideal men, dating during their teens, Gen Z dating apps and preferences, what they find safe in sex and in men, while also sharing a few personal stories and challenges they have individually faced.
While opening up on conversations about what an ideal man is, Srishti talks about actor Abhay Deol and says – “He is not like a regular macho hero but someone who’s a rebel and is open to criticism and is very down to earth.” Whereas Leeza mentions that there is no such thing as an ideal man or a woman, “like a man who is rich, strong and powerful or a woman who is a wife, mother or homemaker. A man can be a homemaker too and a woman can be powerful and rich.” Mithila nodded and continued along the same lines saying – “It’s too specific to call someone ideal and relationships are built on a chemistry that is worked on together not like aisa perfect mila toh usme mazaa bhi nhi hai.”
When asked what a man can do to make women feel safe, Leeza Mangaldas had this to say – “It’s not so much an action that you can do. Unfortunately, it’s either you’re safe or you’re not so safe, man. You can’t fool me into thinking you’re safe. It’s cultivated over years of being a woman. It’s like a safety radar, like an intuition.”
Answering a question if boys are misunderstood or not given as much as a chance as girls are while growing up, Mithila shared that she has always written emails to boys she has liked while sharing a recent conversation with her friends, “There’s a little bit of a stereotype that was recently noticed out of conversation with my girlfriends, I realised that the notion of a guy should ask me out is very prevalent even now for a lot of girls which I don’t agree with at all. I have been the kind of person who if I like someone I’ve actually written to them. I have written emails and I don’t wait for them to do it because it’s a 2 way street.”
The episode further delves into the sensitive topic of unsolicited explicit messages received by women in their DMs. Srishti shares a distressing incident from her college years when someone created a fake account with her name and profile picture, broadcasting explicit content to her friends “I think this was in the first year of college. Somebody made a fake account with my name, my DP, and they went live and they started like masturbating and they had like all my friends added, my friends were following that person because they thought it was my second account or something.”
This bonus episode encapsulates a profound exploration of masculinity through the unique lens of three powerful women. “Be A Man, Yaar!” with Nikhil Taneja has been a massive hit and resonated well with audiences of all groups. It features Vicky Kaushal, Zakir Khan, Karan Johar, Naseeruddin Shah, Nakuul Mehta and more, and is out exclusively on Yuvaa’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/WeAreYuvaa). The unfiltered version of this conversation can be found on Amazon Music.
