S
omething that you cannot define or always fully understand is despised by people most of the times. Gender falls into one of these categories! Since the beginning, masculinity has been associated with words such as ‘strong’ whereas femininity with words like ‘weak’. This leads to gender stereotyping which avoids the acceptance of its fluid nature. It is time to change this binary view towards gender and not restrict it to just that. Gender Ink is an exploration into this world and all it has to offer. Here, we throw off everything we think we know, and relearn what it means to be human. Welcome reader! This week we look into Bollywood, how gender roles are portrayed in it, some misogynistic mistakes committed by the industry and how it has impacted the public.
on the house notes from the classmates much ado news at its best editorial a small note by our editors ink recomends handpicked recomendations of the best movies ever
Struggles of Women in Bollywood
-Saloni Punatar The Hindi movie industry or as we call it, “Bollywood” has been an influential part of the daily life and culture in India for decades now. In fact, movies are the mainstay of entertainment and almost a religion in the nation. Being the second largest film fraternity, it has made people around the world fall in love with it. But as a feminist, I can’t help but notice that Bollywood movies enforce many ideas which are offensive, sexist and stereotypical. It has a huge impact on millions of viewers and the regressive content affecting the mindset of people is especially terrifying Ranjana Kumari, Director of Centre for Social Research, and member of the National Mission for Empowerment of Women says “Barring a few exceptions, mainstream cinema in India has a patriarchal, sexist and misogynistic character to it.” In Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam (2002) Gopal (Shah Rukh Khan) says to Radha (Madhuri Dixit) “Tum ek patni ho...Tumhara pati jaisa chahega vaisa hi hoga…” In Dabang (2010) Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) orders Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha) “Pyar se de rahe hai, rakh lo, varna thappad maarke bhi de sakte hai” So you might have noticed that in the span of 8 years, nothing has changed! As unfortunate as it is, the youth of our country actually watch such movies and learn the vilest details from it. They often forget that these actors are only playing characters and try to imitate their ‘Ideal Movie Hero’. So when Gopal slaves his wife and Chulbul Pande (a cop) objectifies women, and tries to charm her despite her disinterest, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan are endorsing such characters what the audience perceive as ideal men. Now let’s have a look at the wage gap. While actors like Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan charge around 60 crores per movie, their leading actresses
like Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut make 11-12 crore. The stark difference between the two would even shock the Hollywood actress Patricia Arquette who in her Oscar’s speech spoke about the problem of pay gap between men and women. While America is facing its own pay gap issues, they’re still much better off than the ones faced by women in Bollywood. The preference for men over women does not end with wage gap, there is also domination from male actors as the directors and producers allow them to pick their own female co-stars. Salman Khan is notorious for choosing his favourite actresses and has been known to ostracize anyone who crosses him. Even after that, women are barely given enough screen time when they’re in the movie. Katrina Kaif had a 15 minute screen time in Dhoom 3 and half of it was spent on her item song. This abasement of women is further escalated by the infamous ‘Item Songs’ of Bollywood. Characterization of women as sexual objects of desire is the objective in these songs: Munni badnaam hui, Sheila ki jawani, Chikni chameli, Ram chahe Leela. Skimpily clad actresses dancing to the tune of tasteless and anti-feminist lyrics seems to be the standard in any popular Bollywood movie. We all have heard stories about half the audience leaving in the middle of the movie ‘Tees Maar Khan’ after Katrina Kaif’s item number, Sheila ki jawani. The thought of these women being used to only increase the revenue not only undermines the art of filmmaking, but is also truly disgusting. Presenting women as objects of sex is completely acceptable but the society frowns at the movies where the idea of women too being sexually active is shown. This depiction of women in such an ‘unsanskari’ way was actually banned by the Censor Board on the much awaited Oxfam Award winner for Best Film on Gender Equality film, ‘Lipstick under my Burkha’ which is slated to finally release next month. There is a widespread belief that women centric films will not be watched by the masses but there are glaring examples of some excellent movies like Page 3, Fashion, Kahaani, Queen, Dear Zindagi, Highway or English Vinglish who have won accolades as well as have been a hit on the box office. It’s time that we consciously avoid and criticize the regressive Bollywood movies and start portraying Indian society as more tolerant and accepting of women for who they truly are - as hardworking housewives, strong entrepreneurs and independent humans.
No Bollywood, ‘Jay Mehra-Gay Mehra’ jokes do not make you cool. -Guest article by Joanna Joseph “LOVE IS LOVE” “Sure” -Bollywood. Considering the influence Bollywood has on the minds of a developing India you’d expect them to be a little more responsible in their dealings, but they haven’t failed to continually disappoint with an unrealistic and ridiculous portrayal of the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ community is seen as a violation of our ‘sanskars’ and hence always shown in a negative light, sometimes as a warning signal to the LGBTQ members of the audience of their fate as the ridicule of society lest they choose to come out of the closet. Gay characters are added to Bollywood movies as a dose of comic fodder with the sole intention of making the audience ‘LOL’ with their flamboyant antics and outrageous costumes. But then again what can one expect from an industry who declares a woman to be a piece of ‘tandoori’ to be chomped down with a serving of alcohol or where a lover finds the only apt metaphor for his ‘pyaar’ to be a ‘hookah bar’. Although mainstream Bollywood cinema has been a continuous let-down with its unintelligible dialogues and boisterous music, emerging artists seek to break the glass ceiling by creating powerful on-screen characters belonging to the LGBTQ community, thus providing the younger audience with a set of diverse role-models. A deviation from the mainstream Bollywood gives us a few on screen gems that incite thought provoking conversation and leave the viewer with a sense of rising above the times. An extraordinary portrayal of a gay character without any excessive flamboyance added, can be seen in the movie ‘Kapoor and sons’(2016). Emerging cinema like this can be seen as a progressive move and a step into the free-thinking world where societal and cultural inhibitions do not bind us as we walk toward the unified goal of equality for all.
Defination of A Macho Man -Suraj Subramanian We absorb poisonous images from the fiction we consume. Bollywood’s brand of fiction is especially toxic, and one of the most perennially problematic images in Bollywood is that of the ‘Macho man’. Heroes today are a lot more shredded than they used to be. The original actors look almost willowy compared to our muscle-bursting modern-day versions. If you think about the changes over the last 20 years in how men are depicted in Bollywood, magazines and action toys, you’ll see that male bodies [today] appear much more muscular and shaved than they used to be. These unrealistic media images have contributed to a low body image satisfaction among men—usually just considered a problem for women. Very recently a wave of young talented men have became active members of the industry. Along with them came the idea of perfect jawlines and ripped muscular bodies. This made most men previously working in the industry, insecure about their bodies as more and more jobs were taken over by the young crowd. If you have noticed, most of these men have ended up working out and building their bodies. This has also made Bollywood hostile to actors who are not as muscular as most actors these days. Many are also turning to anabolic steroids to achieve the muscle mass they associate with masculinity. There’s this drumbeat that muscularity equals masculinity, and so we’re seeing more and more young men with muscle dysmorphia. More and more men hit the gym in the hopes of transforming themselves into ‘The Rock’. The consequences of this kind of thinking can be dangerous. Here’s where the idea of metro sexuality came into the picture giving these self-conscious, more “women like” men an entirely new identity. That’s not a coincidence. India is in the midst of a cultural shift in terms of the ideal male body image, and as the ideal man grows more muscular, men stuck in the real world with real bodies are growing less satisfied with theirs— with potentially dangerous medical consequences. Probably the only way to stop it is to make Bollywood friendly to all body types and chance the idea of macho man!
Lyrical Dilemmas of Bollywood Songs -Ritu Vasani Songs are an integral part of any Bollywood movie. The songs are catchy and full of dhamaka but their lyrics have never specifically made sense to me. The songs in the recent days have reached the peak of ridiculousness. As if creating uni-dimensional female characters wasn’t enough, Bollywood’s other favourite technique is to undermine the women with the sexist lyrics which has been prevalent since a long time. These songs are unwarranted, derogatory and they may even be dangerous for society. As a woman, I have personally witnessed random rowdy men following women singing such songs. It creates an even strong disgust in my mind for such vapid lyrics. Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar composed the famous song; ‘Kabhi Kabhi’ in the year 1976 has lyrics which are so regressive. “Kabhi kabhi mere dil me khayal aata hai Ki yeh badan yeh nigahe mere amanat hai” Listening to this song in the context of the 21st century appalled me! Lyrics here clearly state the male dominance and right over not only the woman’s thoughts but also their physical existence. “Are tu boli thi pichhle jumme ko Chumma dungi agle jumme ko Aaj jumma hai to aaja aaja Aaja aaja aaja aaja”
Credits: Ohmygod yaaa (Facebook)
She promised him a chumma on the next jumma. Maybe she does not want to kiss him now. Let her breathe people! This famous song from the 1991, Amitabh Bachchan starer movie called ‘Hum’ is still being danced on. Like sure, just casually ignore the way she was harassed by him for a kiss.
“Urre aa tenu ik gal samjhawan, maade purje nu kade hath main na paawan” So according to Yo Yo Honey Singh in the song Brown Rang, if the girl comes near him he’s going to hold her close against her will. Like sure, dude! Casual kidnapping is totally acceptable. And then he continues to degrade white women just because his friends have been with them. “Vaise taan mitran da bahut vadda score but white chicks na I don’t like them anymore, bann mitran di whore I mean mitran di ho” Furthermore, he adds that since his friends have been with a lot of white women, he doesn’t want to be with them because his ‘desi’ mind can’t wrap around the idea that these women have the right to choose their own sexual partners. In addition, he prompts the other woman to become his whore. Another example can be seen in Mika Singh’s ‘Tu mere agal bagal hai’ from the movie ‘Phata Poster Nikla Hero’, which has some strong patriarchal lyrics. “Hai tujpe right mera, tu hai delight mera, Tera rasta jo roku, chaukne ka nahi” It basically translates to, I have every right over you and the so called ‘delight’ has no right to even react if the man blocks her way and stalks her. Likewise many such songs have lined up to limelight despite their super sexist content. On the other hand there are songs which prove the preferences of the viewers with the level of their success. ‘Banno tera swagger’ (Tanu Weds Manu 2, 2015) is raising the bar for women. ‘Patakha guddi’ (Highway) portrays how free a women is. Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai (Guide, 1965), Aisha (Aisha, 2010) and Piku (Piku, 2015) are a few other songs which Credits: Ohmygod yaaa (Facebook) are empowering.
It is high time for filmmakers to understand the negative impact of these songs on society. They should stop objectifying women and write meaningful lyrics which actually don’t show women in a bad light. We all should boycott the movies that have these degrading songs. These actions and messages will force the filmmakers to rethink what they are doing.
-Tanvi Jani
Equality in its True Sense -Suraj Subramanian Will he be nominated for the outstanding actor in the male role or for the outstanding actor in a female role? This was the question that started bothering me when my colleagues and I were discussing about a play called 786 that happened at Thespo (India’s Annual Youth Theatre Movement). Thespo like most awards follows the binary system of gender, here there is no place for an actor to win an award for playing a eunuch. Being a Nurturing festival could it afford to be conservative in a topic like this? The problem is not only about other genders, there is a flaw in the core of the binary system as it disguises equal opportunity for a male and female actor behind equal number of awards. It’s not just theatre, all major Bollywood film awards too have the same problem. Is equal number of awards the same as equality? Last year I was running Thespo, my colleagues and I decided to try and fix this problem by introducing a gender-neutral award at the festival but before we did so, we had to make sure that our decision was absolutely true to the cause and not adding to the major sexism that is prevalent in the industry. So, we started with three questions to which we hoped to achieve an answer by at the end of our research. Should the binary system of awards be completely broken down and only one category of outstanding actor award be introduced? Maintain the binary system and introduce a third gender-neutral award be introduced? Or is there a need for a gender-neutral award at all?
On 7th May of this year, MTV presented Emma Watson with a gender-neutral award for her excellent performance in beauty and the beast. An award first of its kind. As Emma accepted the award she said (on stage)
Unlike what most people believe, it’s not the first time that a gender-neutral award for acting was presented. In IPTA (Indian People Theatre association) festival, an award called Balraj Sahni is presented along with the binary categories which acknowledges talent overlooking their gender. The Television Critics Association (TCA) also gives out annual awards for excellence in acting to one performer each in the categories of drama and comedy, without regard for gender. The association first began recognizing individual actors as back as in 1997. But this hasn’t really changed anything, according to the Atlantic reports, TCA has given 15 out of 20 drama awards and 13 of 20 comedy awards to men. Even at IPTA, the number of men winning the Balraj is more than the number of women. This is where genre neural awards get really scary. During the research, my colleagues and I realised that a single acting category could be extremely dangerous to be introduced in India when there remains so much work to be done on the undeniable male bias of the entertainment industry. The main problem of gender-neutral awards is underrepresentation of women which can be clearly seen in the already existing
non-gender based categories such as outstanding writer or best director. More number of men and less number of women competing in the same category has obvious results. Moreover, very few writers (men and women) are writing female characters as protagonists of their stories. Directors prefer to cast younger women or middle-aged women even for characters of older women. This dearth of roles for women, especially older women, forces the academy to find and recognize standout female performers in an industry that places far more barriers on their roads to success than it does their male peers. When it comes to other genders, there are totally different view to the issue as Transgenders would prefer to nominated to a category they identify with and eunuchs would prefer to have their own category to increase recognition. So while it’s hard not to be pleased that the world is becoming less reactionary about gender, there’s a real worry that the creation of gender-neutral categories when the film and theatre industries are still so male-dominated might be jumping the gun. Nevertheless, with MTV’s gender-neutral category and women winning Balraj Sahni Award for three consecutive IPTA’s, the world has taken a big step towards breaking the binary system and there is sure as hell no looking back!
-Tanisha Mehta Whenever somebody mentions India, the first thing that probably pops in our mind is Bollywood. With its most fantastic use of colours, music and dance, it has impacted the lives of various individuals and created a mark in the land of cinema. Although, it is extremely necessary to look into some details before feeding information to the masses, isn’t it? This need for awareness regarding some problematic aspects of Bollywood is why our team selected it as the theme for this week’s edition. We have some brilliant contributions from our classmates Suraj, Saloni, Tanvi and Ritu who have poured their hearts out in these pages. We also have a guest article by Joanna Joseph, a third year Engineering student, who is passionate about almost anything related to Feminism. We have selected a few important aspects of Bollywood ranging from problems faced by various genders, some insight into the Bollywood music and also mentioned some significant masterpieces that ignited a spark of hope for change in the hearts of people. We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and make yourself more familiar with this other side of Bollywood as it might be a bumpy ride!
-Tanisha Mehta A few Bollywood movies act as agents for social change by getting the dominos for social change falling while leaving a lasting impact on their audience. By addressing issues close to the very heart of one’s individuality, they have inspired people to express themselves as they are by showcasing relatable content on an emotional level. Let’s take a look at how Bollywood has opened its mind to gender roles over the years and celebrate the success of their influence on how people view themselves and others
PAKEEZAH (1972) This movie follows the story of a tawai’ifan Indo-Islamic courtesan, trained in poetry, music, and dance-a glamorous “public woman” whose job was to be a companion to rich and affluent men where she is restricted from engaging in a reputable marriage or having a normal lifestyle. It portrays her struggles as being only seen as an interesting woman without any respect yet celebrates these highly educated women in the art of servitude.
Meena Kumari (Sahibjaan)
HUNTERWALI(1935) The wonder-woman of the 30s, Hunterwali broke the gender morn of females not being able to protect themselves with the right amounts of surprise and sass. This movie has generated one of the most loved feminist icon of the Hindi cinema who overthrows the patriarchal order with style This movie was a ground-breaker, paving way for such empowering movies in the future.
Mary Evans Wadia or more popularly known as Fearless Nadia (Hunterwali)
BANDIT QUEEN(1994) This autobiographical film based on the life of Phoolan Devi follows the bandit queen on her quest to serve justice against atrocities like rape and sexually exploitative advances made towards her by both men of higher castes as well as the police. This vigilante decides to take matter into her own hands and bring about change in her own badass empowering manner!
Seema Biswas as phoolan Devi “The bandit queen”
FIRE (1996) In our last issue, our Lit AF! section included a short story by Ismat Chughtai’s story, Lihaaf (The Quilt) which inspired the first mainstream Bollywood movie called Fire which explicitly showed a homosexual relationship story. The movie travels through a loveless relationship, living in a joint family and transitions into sexual experimentation and awakening. This gutsy attempt had a mountain of challenges to overcome, there being several attempts by political parties to discourage people from watching this movie. Protests incited violence as window panes of cinema halls were smashed, posters burnt and slogans shouted. Even though ‘Fire’ faced heavy backlash from the Indian audience and cited as a reason to spoil the Indian “Abla Naari”, it burnt throught criticism and left its mark in Indian cinema.
Shabana Azmi (Radha) and Nandita Das (sita)
MY BROTHER NIKHIL (2005) A film following the story of a state all round swimming champion who faces all kinds of hurdles like social stigma, isolation and non-acceptance when he finds out that he is HIV positive. He receives support and encouragement by his sister Anu and his boyfriend Nigel which leaves the movie on a very sad and positive note.
Juhi Chawla (Anamika) and Sanjay Suri (Nikhil)
ENGLISH VINGLISH(2012) A diverse cast? Check. A film directed by a woman? Check. A story on self-respect and self-empowerment? Check, check and double check! The story follows the journey of an Indian housewife who learns English to empower herself. It has powerfully addressed the issue of people looking down on Indian housewives and ignoring their potential in any possible field.
Sridavi as (Sashi Godbole)
ANGRY INDIAN GODDESS (2015) Described as “India’s first buddy female pic”, this film offers a modern insight on what it is to be a lesbian in India through the beautiful portrayal of the LGBTQ community. In this heart-warming tale of friendship, love and loss, we see these women tackle various social injustices that are still prevalent in our country.
Sarah-Jane Dias (Frieda Da Silva), Rajshri Deshpande (Lakshmi), Sandhya Mridu (‘Su’ Suranjana), Amrit Maghera (‘Jo’ Joanna), Pavleen Gujral (‘Pammy’ Pamela Jaswal), Anushka Manchanda (‘Mad’ Madhurita), Tannishtha Chatterjee (Nargis Nasreen)
ALIGARH (2016) What does a man have to go through to just live a life of dignity which everyone is entitled to? This movie follows the true story of Ramchandra Siras, a professor of Marathi and the head of the Classical Modern Indian Languages Faculty at the Aligarh Muslim University, who was suspended on grounds of morality. It follows the protagonist on his journey of coming to terms with his identity. This movie has also faced opposition in Aligarh as the Mayor said that the film would defame the city.
HIGHLY ANTICIPATED
LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA (2017)
This movie has been creating waves all over India as it has faced the wrath of the censor board on each step towards its release. We have finally received a set date to watch this woman oriented film that explores the themes of female sexuality and desires. It is set to release on 21st July 2017 and we cannot wait!
PADMAN (2017) Muruganantham who created low cost sanitary napkins to provide for poor women in rural India has created global waves with his revolutionary idea. His journey of this creation, facing various obstacles from his own village and family itself didn’t stop him at all. We support his idea of spreading awareness about sanitary hygiene and empowering the other gender! YOU GO MURUGANANTHAM!!
Editors: Saloni Punatar and Tanisha Mehta Designed by: Aastha Bairolia
Bollywood at its Best