Summary of the movie:

‘Parched’ is an Indian movie written and directed by Leena Yadav which was released in 2015 and premiered in the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is centered on four women who live in a village in the western parts of India. The film revolves around the lives of the four women who have different issues that they face in live. They are trying to survive the enormous burdens of social practices of the society while simultaneously trying to manage a living in this world. Four women and four different lives but they are tied by one uniting thing – friendship. The movie talks about how the four women try to find solace in each other while learning new things, experiencing new feelings and getting a taste of freedom in their own different ways.

Rani (Tannishtha Chatterjee) who has been a widow almost half her life, is trying to get her son Gulab married to a young fifteen year old girl named Janaki (Leher Khan). Rani’s friend Lajjo (Radhika Apte) is a childless woman who keeps trying to conceive a baby. She also tries her best to please her husband despite receiving the bitter taunts, violence and ill-treatment by him. Bijli (Surveen Chawla) is a local exotic dancer who wears provocative clothing, dances in front of men and sometimes even indulges into spending the night with men. Rani, Lajjo and Bijli had been friends despite the backlash Bijli faces due to her profession. They accept Janaki as their own and try to give her a good life despite the harsh treatment given by her husband (Gulab, Rani’s son). All the women are technically independent as they earn by selling pieces if embroidery to a local entrepreneur. The entrepreneur Kishan (Sumeet Vyas) and his wife Naobi (Nancy Nisa Beso) who is a Manipuri and a teacher by profession, work together to provide employment to the women in the village. The couple is seen as an outcast by some villagers because of their educated and modern views. The entwined lives of these women and the turning point in their lives when they realize the purpose of their lives, bring a twist in the film which helps with the character development and story setting of the film.

Analysis:

The very fact that the film’s name is ‘parched’ suggests a variety of things that were portrayed in the movie relating to the title. Parched means ‘thirsty’ and here in the film, the four women are withered, thirsty and longing for a taste of ambrosia in their life in the form of freedom, sexual desires, newfound feelings and independence.

 Rani who has not been in an active relationship with a man for more than 10 years of her life, feels drenched with desires yet cannot find the courage to pursue them and is too busy setting a lavish life for her son. Janaki, the young bride wants to study and conquer many things in her life but is stuck in an unwanted child marriage with Gulab. Lajjo who is lively, smart and talented women and is capable of so many things gets trapped by her own demons and is in continuous pressure of pleasing her husband. Bijli, already seen as an exile, wants to leave behind the ‘impure’ profession and start a new life. She also wants to accept who she is and has been and know her worth.

The film dealt with serious issues like child marriage, marital and familial rape, domestic violence, considering sexual desires as a taboo and patriarchy. How some women are still treated in this century was revealed to the viewers. And the world hasn’t become as developed and modern as it seems to be was also exposed by this movie. Patriarchy at its finest was revealed again to portray the treatment against women in villages and rural areas.

The tone of the movie was serious with certain humorous scenes to catch the attention of the viewers. The cinematography managed to capture the essence of the scenes powerfully. The costumes also were very fitting to the movie and managed to contribute to the tone of the film. The actors very well managed to portray the soul of the characters and backed the film well. The film was creatively presented to the audience yet was able to practically and sensibly the message to the viewers.

My Opinion:

I liked this movie mainly because how well the director was able to convey the story of different women in a very raw yet captivating manner to the audience. There is absolutely nothing like sweet romance or lovey-dovey or fairy-tale like in the movie. But it manages to capture one’s attention in a bewitching manner. It makes you numb, dazed and sends you on turmoil of emotions throughout the film. 

This blog post is written by Anamika Chaudhuri. Constructive Criticisms and Feedback is always welcome.

All of us are aware of the word feminism and some of us are feminists as well. We somewhat know how the word feminism was formed and how did the feminist movement start?! We also know famous people who contributed to the feminist movement across the globe. Talking about our country India, very little is known about the history of feminism movement that took place here. Of course we know a few females who contributed to the movement here, but, a lot of heros remain unacknowledged.

I came across a blog named Feminism Through The Ages in India: An Empowering Journey by Sanchari Pal. This blog gives a complete account of feminism right from the pre Independence era to the post Independence era, how feminism flourished, how the Indian society became a women inclusive society and the current status of feminism in India.

A similarity between the Indian feminist movement and the Western feminist movement is that only the women from affluent classes could raise a voice. People who acquired wealth, knowledge and power could make efforts to change the societal norms and practices with respect to women. Also, the basis on which the feminist movement began in the West and in India was the same: the demand for equal representation in the society and the public sphere; demand for political and economic rights; universal adult suffrage; laws for problems in the domestic sphere.

The Indian culture considers men important, due to which they get privileges in the society. Since the Vedic period, women have been making efforts to change the societal system and finally in the twenty first century many changes are seen. Many feminist men and women received a heavy backlash in the past for trying to include women from all the strata of the society and treating them equally.

The blog by Sanchari Pal talks about Gargi in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad stating her profound sense of debating with Yajnavakya. A few years later, Queen Didda who ruled Kashmir was called the Cathrine of Kashmir due to her political survival skills and ability to rule. In the 17th century, Bibi Dalair Kaur formed an all woman army to fight against Mughal forces. At the age of 14, Rani Rudrama Devi fought several battles against men who were against her rule due to gender. Rani Chenamma of Kittur in Karnataka was the first woman ruler to lead an army to fight against the British East India Company; In Maharashtra, Tarabai of Kolhapur, Anubai of Ichalkaranji and Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi fought against the British. Savitribai Phule along with her husband, Jofoba Phule for for the Injustices against women. Rabindranath Tagore’s sister Swarnakumari Devi was a social worker; she started an initiative called Sakhi Samiti which worked for orphan girls, widows and poverty stricken women in Bengal. During Independence, many women’s organizations came up– these organizations demanded for greater political and economic rights for women. By 1970s, Indian feminist writings by Lalitambika Antharajanan, Toru Dutt, Ismat Chugtai and Mahesmita Devi were appreciated globally.

If you are interested to read the article by Sanchari Pal, please click on the link: https://www.thebetterindia.com/69782/feminism-through-the-ages-in-india/

This blog is by Anisha Dhomse, if you liked it please share and give your feedback ☺️

Feminism is highly perception based, and, in the recent times it is not just concerned with women but also men and the LGBTQ+ community. In the recent past. I came across Ms. Gauri Sawant’s Ted Talks video on YouTube; Ms. Gauri Sawant is a transgender woman and has been working in several NGOs dealing with the prevention of HIV-AIDS among sex-workers and the transgender community. The Indian culture is very unique; it has mythologically and religiously driven traditions. India has a patriarchal society. India also has a unique lens through which feminism is talked about. I will be reviewing Ms. Gauri Sawant’s Ted Talks video and sharing my views about the transgender community.

Ms. Gauri Sawant on the show shared her journey right from her childhood till date. Ms. Sawant during her childhood was brought up as a boy; she was dressed up as a boy, expected to hangout with boys and play cricket. However, none of these interested Ms. Sawant. Since her childhood she liked to play with girls and dressing up like them, she also behaved like girls. Throughout her childhood, she was instructed to behave like a boy. On the onset of puberty, she started to have hair all over her body including her face which made her uncomfortable. At the age of ten her mother passed away, after which her father stopped talking to her. After being made fun of and question her sexuality, she stopped socializing eventually. Her school and college time was a dreadful phase; one incident she highlighted as a person witnessing conflict about one’s sexuality was ‘what washroom to use?’–she said, “due to this dilemma I understood, having a vagina in one’s mind doesn’t make one a woman, but one has to have a vagina as a body part to be a woman.” In her college time, she started embracing her feminity and once ran away from her family due to an unacceptance of her gender identity. She went to the Mumbai railway station and stayed with the hijra community. Ms. Gauri Sawant talked of the experience as living with loved ones, she felt comfortable in wearing a sari and putting on makeup; her perception about womanhood was understood and she was included. From that day onwards she was proud to be the way she was and embraced it.

She has earlier worked with the Hamsafar Trust– an organization run by men for homosexual people and now she works with Sakhi Chaar Chowghi Trust– to help prevent HIV-AIDS among the sex workers and the Transgender community. She adopted a daughter of a woman who passed away due to HIV-AIDS and has started a shelter service for the children of sex-workers so that they have a good future and this service will be run by the Transgender community. Ms. Gauri Sawant is the first transgender to file a petition under NALSA in the Supreme Court to be recognized as a third gender.

A while ago, I used to look upon the transgender community and be scared of them because my family and the society projected them as people involved in wrong business. By being exposed to gender studies and such videos, I have been gender sensitized. The transgender community has been facing a lot criticism and contempt in the Indian society as it is thought to be deviant from the culture. As the transgenders are involved in sex work, they are victims of catcalling and sexual abuse. The society needs to be sensitive and compassionate towards people of the third gender.

The blog above is by Anisha Dhomse. If you liked the blog please do share and give your feedback 😊

” Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see; you think it’s just reality”

Alix Kates Shulman

With increase in competition between different brands to outdo each other, social marketing has increased. They can be seen in form of advertisements on different platforms. These advertisements in India have most of their focus on gender, marriages or other such indigenous things. With these advertisements come lot of gender stereotypes too. Indian advertisements have a long history of serving us with cringeworthy highly sexist ads. What is more disappointing is that even in today’s time we come across such advertisements.  Let us analyse two such advertisements:

1. Mother Dairy (Kid and mom ad)

Caution: CRINGE ALERT!!!

So, the husband in the advertisement at first is highly praising the ‘pulao’ made by his wife. But as soon as she confesses that she broke his school trophy by mistake, the husband’s anger knows no bound. He starts screaming at her and wife just listens to him and apologizes. Then comes the CLIMAX where all of this is witnessed by the couple’s son. His mother then just comes and says, “don’t play cricket in the house from now” and asks him to go and sleep. Oh wow! Are we done here? This shows the amount of patriarchy we still have even in the modern-day societies! Where ideally the son should have gone and apologized in front of his father, he is being made an unaccountable son of future. The way his father shouts at his mother will influence him and make him the same.

The advertisement was made to give a ‘tribute’ to the Indian mothers, but all I can find here is MISOGYNY, PATRIARCHY (to core) and TAKING MOTHERS FOR GRANTED.

• TANISHQ WEDDING JWELLERY AD

Now comes the second ad which will be disappointing you more than you are failing your exam!

 Disappointed much? Yes, I was the same. The ad first gives us the feeling of the woman being independent and career-oriented when her father puts up a marriage proposal in front of her (doesn’t mean that feminists are anti-marriage). Then we see her mother entering a Tanishq’s jewellery store. Within no time the daughter and father enter the store too. The Tanshiq’s employee then dresses the daughter with a duppata and the complete jwellery set (okay, first, when did jwellery store people started doing this?!!). The daughter then gets mesmerized with the jwellery and is quite sad when her mother asks her to remove it as it was bridal jwellery set(and the daughter had declined the marriage proposal) . They get back into the the car and out of no where the girl gets interested in the marriage proposal given to her by her father which surprises him. And suddenly father receives a text from mother which says, “It is been 25 years and you don’t know what a woman wants”. Woah! Seriously? You can trick a woman which will influence her life with a mere diamond jwellery???

So yes, another ridiculous advertisement which shows woman (an independent and a grown-up woman) can be made to agree with you with few scintillating jwells. Next, woman can buy jwellery only when she is getting married. She could have bought the set if she had liked it this much (yes, she got ready to marry for this!).

These  were two of those tons of misogynist advertisements, the Indian ad-makers have created. But they also have some great advertisements which are just so pleasing to watch. Two of them are discussed below.

• HAVELL’S KITCHEN APPLIANCE

  I thoroughly enjoyed this one. This advertisement has perfect blend of sarcasm, humor and the correct message. Message that woman is not a “kitchen appliance” who is made to satisfy the hunger needs of a man. The campaign started by Havells which was RespectforWomen has been clearly justified with this advertisement.

• FLIPKART #GenE AD

Another beautiful ad by Flipkart. This straight away breaks all the gender stereotypes of a society. It does away with that “boys cannot play with a doll” or “girls don’t like cars”. The ad shows a pair of siblings where one is a girl and other is a boy. A beautiful line has been said by them in the ad that “when you make rules for us please make sure they are equal for both of us” and “raise us the way we were born and not the way you were raised”. These lines put the whole advertisements in the crux. It shows how we, as a society, have gendered everything! Right from the colours to the choices of a person.

Flipkart’s attempt to do away with these gender binaries is worth appreciating.

No doubt we have regressive advertisements being made to the date, but we also have progressive ads taking their place. We can now see women in insurance ads, them being shown as boss and many more. Earlier we could find them only in oil, shampoo or jwellery ads. But now women are getting empowered and there is nothing a woman cannot do. They have achieved same position in professional world as that of a man. We thus can see that change is happening, but it will take time to just do away with regressive content advertisements.

Thank you for reading my blog post. This was a blog post by Saloni Garg. All kinds of comments are welcomed. 😊

Am I fortunate to be an Indian woman? Yes, I love my country and am willing to do anything for its prosperity but is my country willing to do anything for my safety besides making laws? The prosperity of a woman is a thought so far off from being achieved because here we start with the survival as one. We women follow all the rules set out by the society for us, “don’t go out late”, “don’t roam around with a boy”, “have a male escort with you”, “do not wear provocative clothing”, “do not engage the eve teaser”, “ignore the comments” and many more of the sort yet we are sexually assaulted, raped, molested, man handled, enslaved, beaten, looked down upon as liabilities; why?

The legal movement is done and dealt with but there is no implementation. Equal rights for women, is being practiced in the urban life but is it even a notion in the rural areas? Is it being brought to uneducated and illiterate women all across the nation? We don’t know. Yes, there are NGOs like SEWA, Snehalaya, Azad and many more such who are working to expose and strengthen women in India and also make them aware of their right’s as citizens and they have made tremendous amount of progress but most of the times it’s the oppressors who have to be educated. The oppressed are being made aware of their status and rights and roles in the society but the oppressors continue to grow in large numbers.

Women, in India are sexually and physically abused which most of the time concludes in murder by the assailant only on the basis of their biological sex. These heinous acts are a result of the long-standing gender inequalities in the country. There are various factors that contribute to the mentality that the society harbours towards women like;

• Religion:

 women are considered an inferior sex; their bodies are portrayed as the sin of lust and in many ancient stories they are termed as “the object of lust”. Women in most religions are seen as inferior, property of man, sins, weak, bringers of disease and dearth (the story of pandora’s box). They are shown to be witches and demons who sway men away from their true destinies and are the eventual cause of their demise. A good woman is shown to be bearing children and serving her husband without question.

• Caste and poverty:

Women belonging to a lower caste are more than often the usual victims of sexual assaults. In these situations, rape has been an overused tool to maintain power and discrimination which has led to an increase in the physical and sexual assaults of Dalit women.

“crimes against Dalit women are often not properly registered or investigated, conviction rates are slow and there is a large backlog of cases. Police are also known to collude with the perpetrators belonging to dominant castes in covering up crimes by not registering and investigating offences carried out against Dalit women.” Said a report by Amnesty International.

• Patriarchal system:

The patriarchal system of India has always put men in positions of power and women as subordinates. In a patriarchal system, women are considered to be liabilities and there is preference for a male child. Women do not have any property rights even though they are legally recognized and have rights when it comes to owning property. This patriarchal system gives rise to many stereotypes and prejudices not to mentions evil practices like, female infanticide, honour killings and enslavement and selling of women and young girls (mainly sexual purpose). These have also given rise to inequality in terms of pay, education and career opportunities.

Besides these factors’ traditions play a massive role in shaping these problems and evils, inclusive of child marriages. Sati is not practised anymore but the idea behind it still lives that is a widow cannot be fathomed to marry again and if she does, she is looked down upon but on the other hand some women get married just for the sake of security and not to be seen as “available” or “unprotected”. The same goes for divorcees.

Women are disrespected to such a limit that even abuses, irrespective of language, are female oriented. These are aimed to hurt the person (mostly men) by insulting their female relatives. However successful the woman might become in life but her intelligence and achievements will never be visible to the male-chauvinistic and misogynistic society; only her body will be seen.

Am I fortunate to be an Indian woman? An Indian, yes but a woman, not so much.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton