The role of women in Indian cinema: Is retrograde or moving forward?
Hindi cinema may be portraying women in more risqué clothing, but that doesn’t signify progress. If anything, in their visual and story portrayal of women, most movies seem to be taking India backwards.
First, is the actual casting. The British may have left India long ago, but the obsession with fairness and the idolization of foreigners hasn’t lessened. There are an overwhelming number of non-Indian women in dance numbers and landing roles, as in the case of the Brazilian actress in “Love Aaj Kal.” Even most of the stars who make it are increasingly the Western ideal: fair and blue-eyed or the ramp model. No Sridevi’s or Madhuri Dixit’s to be found.
Movie stars represent idealized visions of female beauty, which does change through generations. Other countries also have certain unattainable ideals. I write for film and TV in the US, and Hollywood is notorious for thinness, but their stars are all American and not all models: J. Lo, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, etc. If a non-Indian represents the Indian ideal, it’s not just a genetic rarity as in the case of models’ bodies, but a genetic impossiblity.
Second, movie plots are riddled with the outdated “virgin” or “vamp” characters. The “vamp” is overtly sexual, as if that alone shows strength. But, if sexuality is to be empowering, it has to be owned, not just the fantasy of men in an item number. Though stories may demand certain types of characters sometimes, most of the time in Bollywood (Tollywood and all the rest), the modern, and often “bad,” woman becomes the one in less clothes and the “good” woman is the sacrificing, loyal one, even if it means being humiliated. Even in comparison to decades ago, the handling of wives and affairs is offensively regressive in movies, like “No Entry” and “Biwi No. 1.”
There were more powerful female characters 30 years ago as in “Sharda.” Movies like “Salaam Namaste” may feature strong women but the story — unmarried couple deciding to have a baby — is so far removed from average Indian society that they might as well be fantasies. Women fare better in the indie cinema scene, like “Dor” or “Fashion.”
Indian talent and beauty are written about world over. Indian women are changing the face of India across all sectors. Indians of all hues and sizes are making it abroad where they have beaten great odds. Now, in their own country, they need to be in the faces, bodies, and stories of their cinema.
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How do you get pregnantOctober 9, 2010 at 9:51 am
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