Watch: YRF's 'Man's World' is a funny but cliched take on gender equality

The battle of the sexes. It’s a topic of interest in a lot of movies, books and new media. We’ve explored the themes of gender in so many different ways and yet the idea of switching genders is an exciting one. What if a man were to spend a day as a woman, and vice-versa? That is the premise of Man’s World, by Yash Raj’s youth films wing, Y Films.  The trailer of Y Films' new web series took social media by a storm, with appearances from Kalki Koechlin, Parineeti Chopra, Shruti Seth, Soni Razdan, Bhumi Pednekar and more. [caption id=“attachment_2453200” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Gaurav Pandey in Man’s World. Screen grab from Youtube[/caption] The first episode, starring Gaurav Pandey (who was earlier seen in Humpy Sharma Ki Dulhaniya) tackles the life of a young man Kiran, who thinks the world is unfair to men. After getting frustrated by the opportunities women receive in the name of gender equality (like seats in buses, preferential treatment at work and more), Kiran wishes that women could lead the life of men for one day to face the reality. However, when he wakes up the next day, it comes true. Kiran has been transported into a world where women have taken men’s place (we see women driving autos, trucks, buses, spitting on the roads, eyeing men in bus stops etc). The first episode zips past, and grabs us into this supposed world. It’s funny and Pandey does a stellar job at pointing out his frustration of being a man in 21 century. However, in an attempt to drive the point home (which the series aptly manages in 20 odd mins), Man’s World also ends up being extremely cliched. ‘Ladka hai, apni aukaat mein rahe, nahi toh kaam chudwake ghar pe bitha doogi (He’s a boy, he should know his place. Otherwise I’ll make him quit his job and sit at home)," says Kiran’s mother at one point, after the switch of gender roles has been made. “Life is a war between chest and breast, and breast will always win,” says Kiran’s friend. The first episode is filled with dialogues like these. And while we get the intention, and admittedly laughed at a few moments in the show, we’re wondering if some of the gender comparisons were needed, and if so, maybe they could be represented better? For instance, in his drunken frustration, Kiran says to his friend, “You know there’s a thing called marital rape? It’s like me taking money out of my wallet and calling myself a thief.” Now, was that really necessary? Judge for yourself. Watch the first episode here: