A Thousand Dreams....

It continues to bother me and I guess it always will. Women portrayed in Indian Cinema. I've wondered why it continues to be so, why for easy laughs, the pretty woman with an active sex drive, is portrayed as a bimbette who flutters her eyelashes and goes oooh what are doing, but enjoys it all the same. And she'd be the woman in the movie who'll have to wear all the short skirts and deep necks, not the good heroine.

And then I found this gem of an insight. Sudhir Mishra, the creator of Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi was asked: So you believe that there’s still hope for intelligent cinema?

And he said:
"I do but most of our distributors don’t trust the audiences enough. There’s a latent obscene eve teaser in many of these traders who believes that all human beings are like him. Consequently, they are only interested in churning out crap."

Hmmmmm....

Sleeping with the enemy - Do some of us have a choice?

Two articles in India Together caught my attention this month- the stories of the other halves. In rural India.

"Dilution or outright waiver of punishment if a rapist offers to marry his victim is an extra-legal step, one that is not written into law anywhere. But it continues to be entertained..." Read more >>

"For decades, girls in northern Karnataka have been 'dedicated' to goddess Yellama and then turned into sex-workers. In olden days, after dedication, the girls danced at temple festivals and functions. The priests freely used them for sex and were later passed on to the village chiefs...." Read more >>

Men are tough and dangerous people. Avoid hurting ego at all costs.

A few days back a friend called while in the middle of an argument with an auto driver. Apparently the meter was tampered with and the fare was way too high. As she was speaking, warning bells went off in my head – Is she on a lonely road, will she ‘go overboard’ and swear at him, I hope its not too much of a scene!

Thankfully she was angry, not afraid. So she stood her ground and fought back hard in broken Kannada. I didn’t transmit any of my fears over the phone, knowing well that it was ill found. But strange isn’t it, how we always assume ‘local chaps’ mean trouble? That they will get dirty and you’re better off not picking a fight with them?

Well I have had some nasty fights with mechanic, conductors, etc. Fights on the road/public kinda things. So no matter what my apprehensions I still go ahead and fight it out, but those darn warning bells are so annoying. The last time I fought with an auto driver, I stopped going to the auto stand, where he usually hung out, for a week! Tell me, does anyone else here share this same anticipatory fear of a ‘scene’?

Moving on, was doing a lot of browsing. Seems like, feminism though not new to India, is gaining a lot of urban ground of all. The new-age feminist is however not asking for right education or to work. Around the world, she is found asking for fair representation in literature, right to public space, for equal opportunities in art and stopping of stereotyping in advertisements/media (if you haven’t already seen this ad, you must!)

How about representation of women in mainstream cinema? That’s something that has always got me up in arms – the way the hero always saves the women while she stands screeching in the background. And mostly it’s her fault that she got into trouble in the first place, because she wore something she should have (remember Raja Hindustani, when Karisma wears that red dress and the next scene – after understanding the gravity of her mistake – she dons a salwar kameez?). Movies like DDLJ or Kal Ho Na Ho, had the lead (and decent) lady drinking for the first time because she was tricked or dared, or was unusually pissed about something. Some terrible circumstances, mind you, not that she wanted to, or is used to drinking. Pah! I can go on and on, but what do the rest of you think - Women in mainstream Indian Movies…. What’s your take?