Imran Khan is finally back under the spotlight! Katti Batti, which was released in 2015 and co-starring Kangana Ranaut, marked his last onscreen appearance. After his fans began trending ‘Laut Aao Imran,’ he has emerged from his hiatus and will soon be making his comeback. The last few years of his life have been rather tough, with him navigating a separation from Avantika Malik and enduring bouts of severe depression.
In fact, in an episode of Nikhil Taneja’s Be A Man Yaar Season 2, Imran spoke at length about how he went through anxiety attacks, felt suicidal, and eventually resorted to therapy to get better, just for his daughter, Imara. At the screening of the episode held yesterday (August 5) in Mumbai, he interacted with the Gen-Z crowd and got candid about his thoughts on toxic masculinity, sharing custody of Imara, how the idea of earning money and doing brand endorsements stopped exciting him, and the importance of healing and mental health awareness.
Imran, who in the episode talked about not confiding in his uncle Aamir Khan about his struggle with mental health, told News18 Showsha that a lot has changed since he decided to get vocal about what he was going through. His cousin, Ira Khan, who now hosts a podcast on mental health and therapy and runs a community organisation focused on making mental well-being more accessible, also played a role in it.
Talking about how he and Aamir, along with their family, now often discuss these issues whenever they catch up, he said, “In the past couple of years, at various points, we’ve sat down [and talked]. With Ira starting to really advocate for mental health awareness in the past year and me beginning to emerge back into the public eye and speak about my journey, the joke around home is that we now get together and finally talk about mental well-being, consciousness, and healthy patterns. It’s now a thing. In our family, we’re trying to support each other in our mental health journeys.”
For his character portrayals in his rom-coms, Imran has earned the moniker of a true-blue ‘green flag’ from his fans. Earlier, he had voiced how many couldn’t wrap their heads around the kind of masculinity he represented in his films. And while Imran went on a hiatus, actors like Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao became the poster boys of soft masculinity.
Sharing his stance on the same, Imran remarked, “Cinema reflects societal changes, and historically, mainstream cinema leaned into very restricted and stereotypical portrayals of masculinity and femininity. Over the past twenty years or so, our cinema has really started to come of age. I think we now have far more positive and inclusive portrayals of masculinity, femininity, and beyond.”
He added, “Today, we’re talking about queer identity in our movies. It’s a great trend. Having said that, it’s perhaps still not at the place where it’s absolutely mainstream. Our largest commercial successes and the most popular and mainstream content still lean quite heavily into retro portrayals. But we’re definitely doing better. I’m optimistic about it [the road ahead].”
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