Arjun Mathur: Men send me dirty messages, some ask me to marry them
Actor Arjun Mathur who has become popular for his gay character in the web series Made in Heaven, says his Instagram inbox is full of messages of all kinds.
Actor Arjun Mathur’s fans are absolutely loving his impressive portrayal of a gay character in the web series Made in Heaven. Arjun plays a sophisticated wedding planner who organises Delhi’s big fat weddings. He happens to be gay man whose family is clueless about his sexual orientation. Along with the accolades, his role has also created an amusing situation, something that he wasn’t really expecting. The actor’s inbox is flooded with messages from men, asking him to marry them! Arjun says, “Nobody ever came up to me and asked if I’m gay. I have played gay character twice before — in Onir’s film I Am (2011) and Mira Nair’s short film Migration (2007). So, in real life, it’s understood that I’m an actor. But on Instagram, people want to know if I’m gay. After Made in Heaven, I have been receiving messages of all kinds from downright dirty to appreciative to ‘marry me’.”
Arjun been appreciated for his acting in Bollywood starting from Luck By Chance (2009) to The Accidental Prime Minister (2019). He says his family has seen the web show, and he is pleasantly surprised by their positive response. “I thought there would be some people in my family for sure — whether it’s some chacha — who would cringe a bit watching me do this. But it’s been so surprising the way [the gay character] has cut across generations. There’s not one person I know who hasn’t been able to digest the love shown between two men on the screen. Everybody accepted it as a pure form of love,” he says.
The actor says that his father probably had a bit of homophobia in him, but that’s not the case anymore. “I was out with my father and his friends, and it was interesting for me to observe all of them talk about this. It’s kind of become a living room conversation. Even people who have had some level of homophobia in them, enjoyed the performances and cried.”
Apart from the “dirty messages” , Arjun is also getting some meaningful and moving messages. “A 35-year-old mother of two wrote to me saying that homosexuals always made her a little uncomfortable. But, the show totally changed her outlook, and now even if both her kids grow up to be gay, she’s going to love them and be proud of them. So, the depth at which [my portrayal of a homosexual character] has penetrated and touched people, is amazing. To be able to touch people like this is very special,” he says.
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