Shaktiman’s various controversies and why he is called a ‘dejected uncle’

Shaktiman has returned but for all wrong reasons, stuck in his 80’s and 90’s time zone while he spit hatred for all things modern-advertisements, nude photoshoot, character roles in movies, live-in relationships, superheroes, social media and more.  

Taking his ‘choti choti magar moti baatein’ seriously, the Shaktiman actor has taken it upon himself to clean the entertainment industry of any inappropriate content. He called veteran actor Zeenat Aman’s support to live-in relationships ‘unacceptale’ and labelled it as ‘Western’ and ‘modern influence’, objected to actor Ranveer Singh’s nude photoshoot, and taking actress Sonakshi Sinha’s example of her inability to answer a ‘simple’ question on Ramayan, the Mahabharat actor blamed the entire ‘Genz’ for being slaves to new technology like Google, mobile phones, YouTube and Wikipedia. He even labelled comedian Kapil Sharma’s show as ‘obscene’ and ‘indecent’ calling his jokes as ‘double meaning’ and ‘below the belt’.  

Mukesh Khanna has been trying to become 'Shaktiman' of real-life sans his power as he feels no shame in giving unsolicited advises and moral policing. Criticising Sonakshi for not knowing Ramayan, actor Akshay Kumar for his portrayal of Samrat Prithviraj and called him lazy, actor Saif Ali Khan for his Raavan character which he labelled a mockery, actor Ranbir Kapoor for his portrayal of Ram and called him "lampat chhichora", he has stopped at nothing and poisoned the film industry with his remarks. For his advises, he told Akshay Kumar to focus on action roles and opined about Rambir's Ram portrayal saying, “whoever plays Ram must embody Ram” and “If you're playing Ram, you're not allowed to party and drink”.  

Even when people give a befitting reply and reject his moral policing, he continues his frustration. After being slammed by veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha in 2020 for commenting on his daughter and actor Sonakshi Sinha, Khanna again criticised her recently. When Kapil Sharma did not acknowledge and greet him at an event for straight 10 minutes, Khanna said that even though Sharma had contacted him he would have declined. Netizens also don't spare him for his behaviour and criticise him for being "stuck in his time frame" and " Playing religious/moral police." 

Wearing his character Shaktiman’s costume in media, talking about who should and should not play the superhero character and making this debate magnanimous and rejecting the idea of selling Shaktiman’s rights to YRF, has made netizens troll him heavily. Mentioning it as a “clarification” Mukesh Khanna confused everyone with his post first mentioning that it is a misconception that he is playing Shaktiman and then saying, “Without me there cannot be other Shaktimaan.” He even rejected some actors as being unsuitable for the role like Ranveer Singh, Tiger Shroff, but called South actor Allu Arjun fit for the role.  

Netizens gave him a "reality check" and called his announcement "arrogant" and "Not every old stuff is cult", some even said that if he reprises the role no one will watch not and that it is time to move on. One user wrote that he is acting like a majnu who is obsessed with his laila Shaktiman.  

From a heroic image that he gained with Shaktiman, Mukesh Khanna became a dejected uncle who’s on a criticising spree. He has earned the nickname "Dejected Uncle" in a humorous or satirical reference to express frustration or exasperation with Khanna's views and opinions which are frequent expressions of disappointment, frustration, and disillusionment with various aspects of modern society, culture, and politics. 

His traditional and conservative views like, “women should not go out at night, it's their responsibility to avoid getting raped and “only educated people should be allowed to vote” and calling them incompetent and weak have led to accusations of being intolerant and close-minded and Khanna's tone and language, which can come across as condescending, patronizing, and dismissive, have contributed to the perception that he's a "dejected uncle" who's out of touch with the younger generation. 

Now whether he will return as Shaktiman or not younger generation want Shaktiman to say “Sorry”.