Mumbai, Feb 15 (.) With a television career spanning close to 20 years, Nakuul Mehta has often been described by fans as the quintessential “green flag”, a term used to celebrate emotionally aware and respectful men.
“I am not a fan of that label — it’s like a shorthand for emotional accountability in men! I don’t like labels, firstly. It could be a positive label, or it could be whatever. I think these are all signals putting you in a bracket. I’m a human being. I will make mistakes, I will have bad days, and I want to put it out there that I am not living up to this image,” shares the actor, in an exclusive conversation with Variety India.
While he resists reductive branding, Mehta does not shy away from acknowledging that feminism and equality are integral to his worldview.
His portrayal of Ram Kapoor in “Bade Acche Lagte Hain” earned him praise for portraying what he once described as a “feminist hero” — a rarity in mainstream Indian television.
On being asked if his lived experience, especially lessons from women in his life, shapes the masculinity he portrays on screen, Nakuul answers, “I think at some point of your career, a lot of what you have learnt and absorbed as the person you are, and the knowledge you have sought or the curiosity you have, you can take all of that and bring it to the roles you play.
“And television allows you to do that. I think what people don’t get is that television is mass media, just like mainstream Bollywood is,” said Mehta.
He believes that he is a product of many women. Most of his hit shows are produced and penned by women like Sarita A. Tanwar, who produced two seasons of “Never Kiss Your Best Friend”, Ekta Kapoor did “Bade Acche…”, Gul Khan did “Ishqbaaz” and Kavita Barjatya did “Pyar Ka…”
Nakuul agrees he borrows all this from the women in his life. “I’ve been with my wife, who was my girlfriend first, for about 22 years. I have a girl child at home. All these people have somehow contributed to the person I am. And from all the beliefs you hold and all the things you grasp, you try to sort of bring those nuances to the character.” . . .