Scale and magnitude aplenty, the viewers have been treated with a show portraying the ultimate battle of the genders - 'Paurashpur' streaming now on ALTBalaji. An epic fictional drama, Paurashpur talks about burning issues like gender indiscrimination, royal betrayals, double standards, lust, greed, and power, among others.

Post receiving tremendous excitement and praises galore for Paurashpur, ALTBalaji decided to curate a debate on 'Battle of Genders' with the brilliant cast of the magnum-opus, including Milind Soman, Poulomi Das, Sahil Salathia, Anantvijay Joshi, Aditya Lal, Kashish Rai, and Ashmita Bakshi.

Moderated by popular columnist-author Shobhaa De, the debate showcased conversations about gender issues featuring the show's celebrated cast prevailing in the medieval period and a direct comparison of the current times.



The highly engaging and interactive debate got off to an exciting start with the incredible Shobhaa De as the host. Touching several essential questions about gender inequality, pay disparity, male patriarchy, and same-sex love, the debate certainly proved to be big and spectacular. It raised many eyebrows with startling revelations and unabashed reverts by the cast.

Speaking about his third gender character, Boris, that has certainly raised a lot of eyebrows, Milind Soman says, "We had certain fear when we started of stereotyping this character. We have seen other representations so far of the third gender, and a few of them have been stereotyped. So, I would say Boris is a whimsical character. He dresses the way he wants and wears jewellery. Boris refers to himself as him, but he is not a man or woman. So, the idea was to get into the human aspect of Boris, and he fights against indiscrimination against women because he has faced it himself."

Sahil, who has a parallel story with Boris in the show as nrityaguru, adds, "We have tried to represent the LGBT community with a lot of respect. If you see the romantic inclination of the sexual preference for another man, it's been done very tastefully. Unfortunately, we like to put people in boxes and like to make caricatures out of people. Your sexuality is a tiny part of your being, and it's about your friends, hobbies, etc. likewise in the world of Paurashpur, my special equation with Milind in the show is a part of their lives, and one has to watch the show to unravel the secret behind it."

Talking about atrocities faced by women in that era, Ashmita Kaur Bakshi informs, "I would take reference of my character that I play in the show. She is abused physically by her husband, who is the king, and that's not because she is his wife but also because he wants to show male dominance over women. So yes, in the context of Paurashpur, male dominance is shown, and women are treated as sex objects. Paurashpur's climax makes you root for the queens of the kingdom."

Watch the episodes of Paurashpur streaming now on ALTBalaji!