Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana wants to see more gender-neutral festival awards

Ayushmann Khurrana has made it a point to play diverse characters in his career. Photo: YouTube

Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana hopes more film festivals will adopt gender-neutral acting award categories, reports Deadline.com.

His statement comes after Berlin Film Festival’s decision in August to have gender-neutral trophy starting from next year, and not have separate best actor and best actress categories.

The Andhadhun and Vicky Donor actor told Deadline.com: “Gender-neutral awards should become the norm. I wholeheartedly laud the Berlin Film Festival’s decision to award gender-neutral recognitions and I hope all film festivals across the world and India follow suit.”

He added: “Gendered awards, according to me, are totally outdated and should be scrapped. I seriously hope all award functions in India take a step in the right direction and do what is the most obvious thing towards having a more progressive society.

“For me, good performances are good performances and they should be seen without the gender lens.”

Other actors who have voiced similar opinions include Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton, both of whom are currently attending the Venice Film Festival (happening from Sept 3 to Sept 12). Venice Film Festival is the first international in-person film showcase since Covid-19 shut down the film industry in March.

Next up for Ayushmann is playing a cross functional athlete in an Abhishek Kapoor's film.