Housefull 5 is seeing the highs that most of Akshay Kumar’s film didn’t witness at the box office since COVID-19 pandemic. The film crossed the Rs 100 crore mark in India in just four days of its release. However, it has also sparked debate around the objectification of women and adult jokes in the film. Actress Soundarya Sharma has become the target of trolls for taking up a role full of “skin show” and being reduced to an “eye candy”. Now, the director of the film Tarun Mansukhani has reacted to the backlash and said, “Scrutiny tends to happen on successful films.”In an interview with News 18, the filmmaker said there was nothing wrong in his film but people’s mindset who only focus to see these aspects of the film with a certain eye for it. “I feel like that there’s a lot of scrutiny on social media. I also believe that scrutiny tends to only happen on successful films. You tend to keep quiet if a film isn’t working at all. That’s when no one has any opinion and they don’t say anything. So, when people are making noise about my film, I actually feel very happy about it.”He added, “It means that they’re watching it with a certain eye and sensibility. You can scrutinise it. That’s fine. You’ve paid money to watch it and so, you get to have an opinion on my film. It’s not a placid film about which you don’t care or have an opinion. For those who’re calling it out, I want to say that it’s your choice of seeing and focusing on that aspect of the film.”ALSO READ | Navjot Singh Sidhu says he put one condition regarding Archana Puran Singh before returning to Kapil Sharma’s show: ‘How can I be the reason of…’Tarun Mansukhani went on to claim it is a film driven by women characters. “Akshay decides to play Jolly and he comes to know that there’s a missing son. So, he hires the character of Nargis (Fakhri) and asks him to join him on this search. One thing leads to another and they decide to back stab together. It’s Sonam (Bajwa) who backstabs Riteish (Deshmukh) and helps further the plot, that in turn helps bring a third Jolly. The actual plot is driven by women – to get the money. There’s a Soundarya who’s equal parts a suspect in this entire thing because she’s busy transferring funds into an offshore account.”Further in his defense, the filmmaker said that none of his characters are flawless as they are all suspects of a murder on the cruise ship. “They aren’t placid characters. In a murder mystery, nobody is a good person. One may choose to see a sexist side to it but I feel that I have done a lot more. It’s the audience’s choice to focus on which ever aspect they want to.”Housefull 5 released on June 6 with two different endings. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Abhisehk Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Sonam Bajwa, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Ranjeet, Dino Morea, Fardeen Khan, Chitrangada Singh, Johnny Lever and Chunky Panday, among others.Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd