Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub is winning praise for his portrayal of a lawyer fighting to get justice for a sexual assault survivor in Hunkkaar - The Roar. Being a woman’s ally comes to the actor even off script. A case in point being his objection to the way women are depicted in songs that are shot to cater to the male gaze.

“It’s important for all of us to raise our voice against it because this idea of male gaze and how female body is being shown is problematic. It’s not an individualistic fight,” he said.

But change is hard to come in a society that is steeped in patriarchy. Ayyub shared one aspect of patriarchy that irks him is men’s self-appointed role as protectors of women — an idea that the JioHotstar series subverts as it shows Aneet Padda’s protagonist going up against her perpetrator.

“They say it’s a man’s duty to protect a woman. It’s important to note why a man does that — so that he doesn’t lose his authority over her. I feel men should be barred from stepping out post 7 pm. But they won’t do that. Instead, it’s said that girls shouldn’t step out at night,” he told us when we met him mid-September, unknowing that his words would turn prophetic in the aftermath of the recent Delhi rape cases.

The actor also emphasised his dislike for the phrase ‘Not All Men’, used as a defence whenever women talk about gender oppression. He added, “I say this that if someone [a woman] doesn’t know me, please beware [of me]. Be suspicious of me and of every man because it’s a cruel world.”

‘Hunkkaar - The Roar’ revolves around Aneet Padda’s character, a minor girl, who accuses a godman, played by Raghubir Yadav, of sexual assault.