Sanya Malhotra’s latest film Mrs. which got released on ZEE5 on 7 February 2025 has done more than just make waves in the streaming world, it has set X (formerly known as Twitter) on fire with a raging debate on gender roles, domestic labour, and patriarchal entitlement. The Great Indian Kitchen remake, which highlights a newlywed woman’s slow suffocation under the weight of unpaid household work, has resonated deeply with many, especially women, who are sharing their own experiences of being expected to cook, clean, and serve without question. Meanwhile, some men have taken personal offence, calling it “feminist propaganda” and claiming that the film unfairly paints them as oppressors.
So, is Mrs. a much-needed reality check, or has it just exposed how deeply uncomfortable some are with confronting the truth?
For many women, Mrs. has been a gut punch, a raw and painfully accurate depiction of the invisible labour that is expected of them. The internet is flooded with tweets describing how the film hit too close to home:“I thought spending years online had desensitised me to all kinds of horror, but watching Mrs. affected me so much that I had to take breaks in between.”
Another user recalled a moment from real life that could have been ripped straight from the film:“My mum came home after two weeks in the hospital, and the first thing my granddad asked was, ‘What’s for dinner?’”
One of the most powerful responses came from a woman who pointed out how men (and their female enablers) are refusing to engage with the film’s message:“The amount of hate Mrs. is getting from misogynistic men pretending to be dense on purpose is wild. They know very well it’s reality, and it scares them because awareness means they might actually have to contribute at home for once.”
For many, Mrs. isn’t just a film it’s a mirror held up to an uncomfortable truth. And as expected, some people are looking away.
On cue, several men jumped in to argue that the film was exaggerating the struggles of housewives. One tweet, dripping with exasperation, summed up this argument:“Take something normal like women cooking at home—and blow it up as if it’s some extreme suffering.”
This didn’t go down well with women (or many men who actually understood the film). One response put it bluntly:“The meltdown over Mrs. isn’t surprising. Every such take just proves how accurate the film’s portrayal of gender imbalance is.”
But perhaps the most telling reaction came from SIFF (Save Indian Family Foundation), a so-called men’s rights organisation, which attempted to dismiss the film’s message entirely by romanticising housework:“Men work 8-9 hours at construction sites, railway stations, airports, and borders… but apparently, a woman cooking and doing dishes for her in-laws is ‘oppression’.”
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This argument triggered an entirely new discourse: the class divide in gender roles.
While SIFF and similar voices tried to argue that men suffer more due to their physically demanding jobs, others pointed out that working-class women have it the hardest.“The discourse that men do majority of the dangerous jobs needs to end. It’s mostly the underprivileged doing those jobs and women from those same communities work just as hard.”
Another user shared a brutal reality check:“A few months ago, construction work was happening near my house. A pregnant woman was working alongside her husband, and she was back at work two weeks after giving birth.”
According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, nearly 50% of India’s construction workers are women, yet they are paid less and never considered skilled enough to work as masons or carpenters. The idea that men alone carry the weight of difficult jobs was quickly dismantled.
Perhaps one of the most interesting shifts in the conversation was how Mrs. became a relationship test. A viral tweet advised:“If your boyfriend is getting triggered by Mrs., DO NOT MARRY HIM.”
Others chimed in with their own warnings:“Goes for men too—if your girlfriend finds movies like these unnecessary, it’s a red flag.”
At its core, Mrs. has not only started a conversation about patriarchy and unpaid labour but has also become a tool for many to gauge how the people around them truly think about gender roles.
