What does it mean when people say a 'real man'? Is he physically strong like Thor? Is he protective like Iron Man? Does he always have to be idealistic like Captain America? Honestly, I am fine if he is all that but let's be honest, there is much more to it.
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Every year on International Men's Day, there are at least a couple hundred men on the internet complaining about how the day does not get as much recognition as International Women's Day. Well, it might not be completely untrue. Icons of the dominant ideology of patriarchy, predators, abusers and a lot many bad names have been brought to the male gender by nobody else but men themselves. This surely does not give us a reason to generalise and go about hating every man. This Internation Men's Day, we could not help but admire some male public figures who made grabbed headlines in 2021. For good reasons only.
Neeraj Chopra
If there has to be a man of the year 2021, then Chopra would easily top the list. The javelin thrower grabbed national attention in the second round of the game event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this year. With one throw, he placed himself at the top and became the only Indian to ever win Olympic gold in the javelin. His win did not just put India on the map in the sport but also intrigued the youth about the sport. Magazine covers, advertisements, news channels, Chopra's face was everywhere.
Virat Kohli
When the Indian skipper announced that he is going to take paternity leave at the time of his daughter's birth, he normalised that parenting is a partnership. The brutal cricket fans did not leave the chance to troll him for his perfectly fair decision and blamed him for 'taking a holiday' but Kohli had his priorities set.
Kal Penn
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A Famous Indian-American actor surprised everyone when he came out as gay. He shared the name of his partner, Josh, with whom he fell in love with 11 years ago when he worked in the Obama Administration. He said, ""I discovered my own sexuality relatively late in life compared to many other people. There’s no timeline on this stuff. People figure their s**t out at different times in their lives, so I’m glad I did when I did.”
Prince Harry
Supporting his wife, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry first decided to move to another continent. He not only backed his wife publicly by calling out the royal family on racism, he also gave up his title of an active royal family member. During his interviews, for the first time, Harry spoke about how his family treated his late mother, Princess Diana. He said that he saw the same being repeated with his wife and decided to leave England because of it. Goals?
Timothee Chalamet
The Call Me By Your Name fame and Oscar nominee made his mark on the franchise film category when his film Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve enjoyed worldwide success. Chalamet who was mostly seen in non-commercial films like Ladybird, Little Women and Beautiful Body was seen walking the red carpet of a million-dollar movie. He also stood by the people of his country when he decided to join the Black Lives Matter protest like many Americans. Of course, his Saturday Night Live debut broke the internet and his fans never missed a chance to make his red carpet looks viral.
Pankaj Tripathi
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The actor famous for his roles in many films made a significant mark with his role in the Gunjan Saxena film. Tripathi who was mostly seen doing heavy-duty villain characters was seen being tender. He also spoke about his personal later in the interviews. He talked about his struggling days as an actor when his wife used to be the sole breadwinner of his family. He did not take credit for being the man who is not shy about taking money from his wife, he made it clear that it is a normal thing to do.
Vivek Gomber
In Rohena Gera's independent film, Is This Love, Sir? Gomber played the role of the main lead who is a rich man with feelings for his maid. While the movie sheds light on a love story that cannot be separated from the topic of class difference, his role in the film showed the rich man's perspective who can be ignorant but is not disrespectful. Talking about women's representation in Hindi cinema, he said, "The Sir was directed by Rohena, A Suitable Boy by Mira Nair and my upcoming film Bombay Begums have been directed by two women Alankrita Srivastava and Bornila Chatterjee. I think the change is happening and it is always slower and I wish we could have done more. "
Sidharth Malhotra
The Student Of The Year fame again rose to popularity in 2021 with his film Shershaah. The film was about martyred war hero Vikram Batra and his relationship with his girlfriend Dimple Cheema. Malhotra with the perfect accent and mannerisms stole hearts and made the film a fan favourite.
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