Originally posted by: MainHooYeha
I think the overall perception that a filmmakers trying to give to viewers by creating a character that's completely flawed, is to give a female the upper hand in thinking that she holds the power " to change him ". For a male flawed character it's perceived that they are badass or that they need a woman's perspective to see world a little bit different. So you place a demsal in dismay like situation and the hero will come to her rescue as he sees fit. He won't care how he abuses her from time to time when he doesn't get his way, nor will he see reason if she provides an alternative argument to his thinking. It's always shown as a journey of self-discovery. And therefore the flawed hero looks even more attractive nearing to the end of the film because we saw his journey from really bad to becoming better with her help.
The real problem with this formula is that the viewers watching this is that there take away is be asshole you are, she will find it was likeable and endearing. But for the female character it's all about someone will come to my rescue. Even when she does not need any rescuing from anyone.
I think filmmakers too find it more fun to write flawed and problematic characters because it's easy to write stories around them as it's more often for these people to get into a conflict.
Writing stories with good and noble characters as protagonists is more challenging.
@bold, This is definitely true. Indian TV shows are filled with love stories between an MCP hero and doormat heroine. The target audience of these shows are primarily women. So it's unfair to blame the so-called "launde lapades" for making these type of characters popular.
Originally posted by: Krishnapanchali
because nowdays toxicity is misinterpreted to be sexy
Nowadays? RHTDM Flopped at the box office in 2001 while Kabir Singh was a Blockbuster in 2019.
Implies that audience had more sense back then.
Originally posted by: FilmiDhun
... who is this "we" who liked Maddy more than Saif? 
Even as a 5year old kid, I liked Saif's character way more than Maddy's in RHTDM when I saw it for the first time. Sam ( Saif's character) came across as well-mannered, mature and rational- qualities that I admire in real life people and always found attractive. Maddy on the other hand was a misbehaving, hot-headed, gunda who had little conscience about the consequences of his actions. Forget what he did to Rina, the kind of behaviour he dishes out to other people in the film I also found very disturbing.
Like that one guy who tried to intervene in between Maddy and Rina at the latter's house when Maddy's deceit was revealed. The guy didn't even do anything much aggressive and just told him to back off(edit- ok I just rewatched the scene again and the guy did slap maddy. But it was after Maddy pushed him, and Rina herself had called the guy to throw Maddy out of the house, so there's that). Maddy and his entire gang beat the guy up the next day. They also try to gang up and brutally mutilate Sam (who did absolutely nothing btw) but at the last moment Maddy comes back to his "senses" 
Let me make it clear I like RHTDM only and only for the songs. Otherwise, the countless problematic stuff that Maddy does in the film, his audacity to behave like he is the bechara and the one who got his heart broken by the girl, his little to no introspection about his past actions, his friends and father treating him as some kind of hero, all of this makes it really difficult to appreciate the film or the kind of love story it tried to glorify in it.
@bold, The people who made this film a cult classic definitely liked Maddy's character.
Saif was also shown as a bit of a gunda, with him having his own gang in the college, and also getting in regular fights with Maddy and his friends.
He was just more sophisticated, along with being studious.
Originally posted by: Daechwita
Disagree about Iron Man and Captain America thing. Iron Man wasn’t the most popular Avengers in the comics( Cap was more popular). He is most popular Avengers in the movies due to Robert Downey’s acting . Replace him with any other actor and it would have fallen flat .
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Iron Man in the comics different from the MCU version? The role of Tony Stark in the MCU was tweaked to fit RDJ's persona.
He's not actually a funny, quippy, narcissistic asshole in the comics like he's shown in the MCU. He's egotistical in the comics also but again not at that level at which he was shown in the MCU.
So RDJ did make Iron Man popular, but that was only possible with the help of the writers who changed the character to make it more appealing to the masses.
Edited by AwaamKiJaan - 4 years ago
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