The fear among women when they walk on the streets of India has been increasing even if we bet that the women empowerment strategies are working fine. These empowerment strategies were supposed to provide a safe feeling but are they doing their work? The constant increment of crimes against women in India was providing proof of its impact.
While growing up we watched the cinema which has been shaping the mindset of the upcoming generation of India. Is cinema doing justice to portray the right message? Is Bollywood portraying women appropriately or not?
Bollywood obsession with hypersexualized item song
source: Twitter
Item songs and music videos have become an eternal part of cinema where they represent a beautiful dancer surrounded by a male gaze to objectify women. They are heavily sexualized with inappropriate lyrics by showing a glamorized view to attract the audience’s attention.
The production house also adds catchy music and lyrics which are completely appropriate to say in a public space. People sing these songs in the name of the entertainment world to eve-tease women. There is massive temptation after seeing such sort of so called songs.
The lyrics are neither empowering nor degrading to the idea of representation of women. The provocative dressing and sensualized steps stereotypically depict women just as sex objects. These lyrics in the name of sexual liberation make women uncomfortable to walk while walking in the street without feeling awkward. Sometimes these lyrics have double meanings which make it even worse.
Although the main audience of these songs’ dance and lyrics are adults, their catchy tunes and lyrics most of the time attract the young and teenage audience the most. The intent to hyper-sexualize just to cater for the male gaze makes it a vulnerable situation.
The sexualization of a lady is not only limited to just item songs but the normal romantic songs are represented with inappropriate dressing, even the cultural dressing is altered as over-sexualised pieces. We need to address this problem, especially in the movie where they include unnecessary acts of intimacy and promote cheating in relationships.
We need to understand what kind of audience is getting access to these vulgar and sexualised item songs which are generally unnecessary in a movie. They are just added as arm candy. It raises the question: do we need such unnecessary and objectified item songs which are tarnishing the image of women and courtesans?
Not only the item songs but in appropriate songs like the Hookup song in Student of the Year 2 encouraged inappropriate cultural approaches in tarnishing the concept of society and marriage in India. Do we need this representation of women where they are helpless?
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Is an Indian lady an object for pleasure?
Apart from item songs or hyper sexualization the movie and OTT platform includes the portrayal of women as either a gold digger or too sanskari who is flirtatious. If a woman is a good wife and and virtuous lady then she should not be working or wearing the clothes of her desire. Is it necessary to be on either side of the portrayal? Can we have a woman who is virtuous and ambitious at the same time?
We need to understand that a woman is a human who should be portrayed as an imperfectly perfect entity and not as an object or a toy which the entire Indian cinema’s crew displays. Our industry should make more characters who are real instead of making them too perfect or too imperfect.
A woman is someone who is trying her best to match up the ideal and perfect character. We need to stop putting so much pressure on her. Bollywood has promoted inappropriate representation over the years in India.
Since the launch of Bollywood especially after 2000 it has been degrading consistently. Movies like Tees Maar Khan in 2010 objectify women as a fool and overdramatic people in the name of cuteness and sexy portrayal. Katrina Kaif in this movie was heavily shaded by male characters and not so funny storyline.
The more shocking thing is that Tees Maar Khan were directed by a female director, Farah Khan and she still decided to go for an unjustified and inappropriate portrayal as us sex doll or arm candy. Later Madhur Bhandarkar’s heroine in 2012 was all about the unrealistic and brutal portrayal of a top heroine played by Kareena Kapoor who is just searching for a man to be seen as a success or else she is a broken mess. Why does a man define her success?
Yashraj Film’s Befikre 2016 is again the unrealistic representation of a woman even for someone living out of the country. Even a person living in a European country which is quite progressive does not do these inappropriate things. These things make us think of another country and sometimes tourists imitate the same.
If you think the scenario has changed then the latest Tu Jhooti Mai Makkar 2023 portrayed the defective love which shows the status of an independent woman like Shraddha Kapoor’s character as a little person by whom she ends up in the end. Don’t you think it’s high time we need to think about not encouraging these so visible Red flags?
The realistic portrayal of women is hidden
Source: Twitter
While some movies are talking about real women who have been playing an important role in society by just trying instead of being perfect. English Vinglish raises the topic of concern where a woman needs recognition for her hard work and love for her family. Late Sridevi’s character passes on the message that love needs to be appreciated regardless of whether they are one flaw we need to focus on the beauty of others.
Meanwhile, other movies like Tumhari Sulu of Vidya Balan actress focus on how your kin can be the leg-puller while you are climbing to success. This movie tells about the real problem that women face while they are growing their careers and not being a perfect mother or wife. It can be the topic of criticism instead of understanding that she is trying her best.
Mission Mangal which was released in 2019 showcases the real-life struggle of a woman which needs to be addressed for a long time and how she overcomes them even with the smallest support from their partner or family. It won’t be wrong to say that the film makers of Mission Mangal showed the real lady of India.
In the recent release of 2023, Akkeli has also shown how a woman is taking up the responsibility of being a man of the house and doing everything to feed them even if it takes her to a dangerous situation where she is acting on her Instinct instead of being the heroic person. Nushrat Bharucha played her role smartly which grabbed the eyeballs of the industry and critics.
Verdict
Don’t you think we need more movies that can change the mindset of women’s portrayal instead of making them arm candy or evaluating their success based on their relationship status? It’s high time to stop playing with the young and adult minds of India.
Do you think these celebrities are caring about the future and mindset of society and India while searching for ways to land themselves abroad? The double standards of Bollywood are too much to handle and we need to stop encouraging these movies.
Is time to introspect about whether the 21st century we expect is true or not because it is tarnishing our culture in the name of women’s empowerment. In this modern world, it looks unlikely that Indian cinema would change the portrayal of a lady as the item songs and intimate scenes grab the attention which is the harsh reality.
The dark fear and reality which the entire India is going through is that the young ladies, teenagers wear revealing clothes and when confronted by their family then they give the example of an actress. We are on the cusp of macabre and we should not forget that Film Industry is reel and all the actresses have got no insecurity even if they wear semi naked dresses in public places.
In all these chaos, we not only have seen a massive rise in the rape & molestation cases but the thinking and thought process of not only youngsters and rowdy have taken a bad hit but the highly educated ones are getting enticed by the portrayal of a Indian lady in the cinema and in OTT section. All in all, it’s a precarious position for India’s culture which is slowly diminishing and if such tempting content is shown again & again then the prestigious Indian culture would be buried.
Also Read: https://varadsandeepvaichal.wordpress.com/2020/08/31/the-modern-dark-india/