By Khushi Goswami

Anurag Kashyap’s films are bold, harsh and realistic. While his films are based on notorious gangsters, and chauvinistic men, he has never failed to represent his female characters boldly. While many Bollywood directors forget that women exist in their movies, Kashyap chooses to address this misogyny not only in the industry but also in society through his movies.

DEV D:

Dev D Kashyap’s most loved and famous film is a modern take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Dev Das. The film addresses the sexism that people failed to notice. Dev’s character is shown to be arrogant, aggressive and mannerless even as a kid. His treatment of Paro (his girlfriend) is hypocritical. While he cheats on her by having sexual relations with another female, but upon hearing rumours about Paro, he demeans her and gets aggressive, without giving her a chance to explain herself.

After facing such humiliation from someone whom she thought loved her, she goes back home upset. Once home, she takes out all her frustration on a hand pump. Yes, it may seem funny but it is one of the most powerful scenes in the film. She does not stop pumping it even after the bucket is full, taking out all her anger, humiliation and sexual frustration on it.

While Paro moves on from Dev and gets married, Dev in his sadness of losing Paro takes refuge in alcohol and drugs. It is then he stumbles upon Chanda (Chandramukhi).  Chanda aka Leni was in 12^th when her life starts falling apart. Her much older boyfriend film’s her during their sexual escapade and the tape gets leaked. From here on Leni’s life takes a disastrous turn. Her father commits suicide out of shame. She is sent to her grandmother in a rural village where she is slut-shamed.

Not wanting to give up on her studies Chanda goes back to Delhi where she gets into prostitution. Unlike what we see in most Bollywood movies, Kashyap’s portrayal of sex workers is a way to humanize them and remove the stigma around the profession. Chanda is given support by these people and because of them, she is able to complete her 12^th and her college.

Chanda is an independent woman who helps Dev but does not make him the sole purpose of her life. These two women don’t stand up to the general standard of Bollywood where if a woman loves a man she will accept him and take care of him no matter what. Paro stood up for herself against Dev’s chauvinistic and misogynistic manners and Chanda made a life for herself when everyone thought it was over. Thus, Dev D is considered to be one of Kashyap’s best films, which was way ahead of its time.

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR:

 A film that is male-dominated yet; two women stand out in it. Huma Qureshi’s Mohsina Hamid speaks her mind out without any fear of her gangster husband, who is one of the most feared men. In a scene where Faizal Khan her husband makes a move and holds her hand, she scolds him and asks, “Permission liye aap?”, leaving him dumbfounded. She is a woman who owns her sexuality and speaks her mind, without any shame or fear.

Richa Chadda’s Nigma Khatoon, is a victim of the patriarchal world. Her husband has a large sexual appetite, which he takes out on her. This leads her to get pregnant several times.  He cheats on her and also gets married a second time.  Even after so much suffering, she continues to live her life.

THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS:

Ruth played by Kalki Koechlin is a British woman who comes to India in search of her father. She faces a world where she has to bribe her way out of every situation and where several men take advantage of her. She works as a masseuse who at times provides her clients with ‘happy endings’. Her boyfriend takes advantage of her several times. The movie ends on a shocking note, where Ruth finds out that her father was one of her clients, who knew all along that she was his daughter.

Although Ruth’s character takes a backseat and is not as strong, the movie does not fail to portray the patriarchy and misogyny in the society.

QUEEN:

Queen was produced by Kashyap and is an all-time favourite. Rani is a meek, sheltered woman from Delhi who was going to get married to her boyfriend Vijay.  One day before their wedding Vijay tells her that he cannot marry her as he has changed after his time abroad. Shocked and saddened by this Rani lock’s herself in her room. After crying over her situation for hours she decides to take matters into her own hands. She decides to go on her honeymoon alone. While on her trip she makes close bonds with men and women both. She explores her newfound independence and realizes that there is more to her life than just being someone’s wife. When Vijay gets to know that she is in Paris he asks her to meet him. During their meet, he asks her to come back to him, but much to his dismay she refuses. She frees herself from the restrictions imposed on her and decides to live life on her terms.

What we can decipher from these movies is that, while Anurag’s most movies are male-centric, he does not forget that women exist for more than just to be sexualized and are not mere damsels in distress. You can count on Anurag Kashyap to portray things as it is. He does not shy away from the harsh realities of society and his films may not always be a success at the box office but they are films that relate most to today’s reality.

By : Shruti Tyagi

One Indian Girl is the seventh novel by Best Selling Author ‘Chetan Bhagat’ and first of its kind. This novel o Chetan Bhagat deals with the question, ‘what’s the need of Modern Indian Woman’. His previous works dealt with Love, Corruption, Dreams, Superstitious, Rage, etc. This time Bhagat pens down a female as his protagonist, to raise bigger issues such as equality in gender, feminism, liberalism, society verses individualism and humanism. The Character Radhika Mehta is a well Educated, well placed independent Indian girl who fights the stereotypes of the society and learning from her very own experiences. Ended the novel with a climax which is uncommon and rebellious and leaving people unaware of the final outcome, the marriage. Will she marry or not.

One Indian Girl talks about the story of 27 years old Radhika Mehta, daughter of SBI Branch Manager, Sudarshan Mehta and homemaker Aparna Mehta who is a vice president in the firm of an investment bank in which she earns in millions.

Story revolves around her exes Debu and Neel Gupta and an arrange marriage in Goa with Brijesh Gulati who himself works in Facebook to whom she met on some matrimonial site.

Her first love Debu, someone who is insecure of the fact that her girlfriend earns way more than what Debu earns and a person who can’t live by the same fact. And from a loving and caring boyrfriend to someone who went jerk. The first guy in her life who introduced her to romance and make her feel guilt of the pleasure she was unaware of and the fact that she realized that she has spent her entire teenage and early young age being unaware of such blessing.

Getting over Debu was difficult for her, considering her very first heart break ever. Which made her shift to Hong Kong to refresh her life and getting better at her professional job. That’s where she met her married 40+ old boss, Neel Gupta. Who took her to places on the note of office mettings. Where she got her interest in his fitness and personality even at that age who comes with maturity. When she got hit by a Casanova and later got intimated with him turns out she went to the guilt trip later. And made her left the job again.

With the progression of the story, reader will come to know the two versions of Radhika, the perfect daughter, sister, lover, bride to be and dedicated professional with sweet lies and on the other side her eternal critic the Mini me, her real self with bitter truths. Reader can easily bond themselves with the Mini me as everyone has a voice of an inner consciences and only few dare to live by that.

Interestingly enough, this is a novel defines feminism from different angles where protagonist’s anti-feminist mother plays a very interesting role to highlight this big issue with the help of her humorous and witty comments in every possible manner.  Reader will definitely enjoy reading her remarks and can easily match them with their own personal experiences of being the part of Indian family. Writer certainly wants to unleash all the sealed Stereotypes of ‘being Indian’ such as prejudgemental tendencies, wrong assumptions, deceptive tactics and all the emotional blackmailing done by Indians for the name of ‘customary protocols’.

In this novel, Bhagat seems to be inspired by E. L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey as his bold narration of the intercourse between Debu and Radhika is making it not only romantic but also erotic and sensuous at some extent. It looks like an anatomy class for the readers also as they will read the phrases like ‘Grabbed my breasts’, ‘kissed my nipples’, ‘pulled down my panties’, ‘entered me gently’ and ‘tongue had felt better’. And the closing lines after sex is very challenging to declare but Bhagat’s Radhika does it by saying, “I would be rather a spent and finished slut than a good but frustrated Indian girl”.

Once again, Chetan Bhagat is unable to come out from her liner creativity as reader will again experience a typical mom with her sexist remarks, an investment banker story, love traps and the two states differences and now this time it is Punjabi and Bengali community. The title, ‘One Indian Girl’ is capable to mystify the readers as it is expected from the writer to be more realistic in approach because Indian society is harsher in reality and mostly escape and denial are not that simple where burning brides, female feticides, acid attack victims and honour killing victims are in the news all the time.

By reading this novel, reader will get the clarity about the real meaning of true independence is that one is not answerable to anyone but oneself and one should not go by the society’s versions of what is moral, ethical or right. Individual has a thought process and they should not only think for themselves but also question everything. Individual should be answerable to his/her consciousness without justifying things unnecessarily to anyone. Don’t suppress your uniqueness to maintain normalcy. This is the moral of the story and massage of Chetan Bhagat to every Indian Girl so that they can feel proud on themselves.  At last, as a reader loves to find the answer of that so called cliché question by replying that ‘what women really want is the option not to choose between what they actually want because they deserve all’.

By: Kinjal Joshi

“AGAR KOI ALAG TARAH JEENA CHAHTA HAI, TOH USSE JEENE DO

HAR DIL APNI TARAH DHADAKTA HAI, HAR DIL DHADAKNE DO…”

• Overview:

     There are a lot of movies which show us the exact way of how women are treated in Indian society. One of which is Dil Dhadakne Do. The movie was directed by Zoya Akhtar and released in 2015. The movie shows the reality of Indian families. It also portrays the gender issues faced by the women of India before and after marriage. 

     Dil Dhadakne Do is one of the Indian movies which can be called as an eye opener for narrow minded people in India. The movie starred the Mehra family; Kamal Mehra, Neelam Mehra, Ayesha Mehra and Kabir Mehra. Movie also has a star character, Sunny Gill. Movie portrays a rich and stereotyped Indian family who are celebrating on a cruise with friends and family. 

• The Forceful Marriage:

     In the movie, Ayesha Mehra is daughter of the Mehra’s and is married to business tycoon Manav Sangha. Ayesha’s father married his daughter without her wish because she was in love with Sunny who was manager’s son of the company Kamal Mehra owned. So, Kamal Mehra sent Sunny abroad to study and stay away from his daughter. The issue here is about the independent choice of a female. If a female is born in Indian family, she will have to learn how to cook, study and get married to the guy her family chooses. The same happened with Ayesha. Her father didn’t want the family name to get spoiled and it would’ve been so if Ayesha married a manager’s son because she belonged to a rich class family. So, she was forced to marry a guy who was rich and successful of her father’s choosing. In India people have established faith that the family chooses the right guy and females have no right in choosing her life partner.

• Lack Of Support:

     Ayesha had sold her jewelry and started her own company after marriage because she was an ambitious woman and had goals. This shows us how hard it is for a woman in India to pursue her dreams. The focus in this matter is that no one from her own family supported her or helped her financially to start a business because it was not expected of her. As being an ideal Indian daughter-in-law she was supposed to look after the husband’s family and the household. Manav’s mother taunts Ayesha all the time about not staying at home and constantly working in the office. This is what actually happens in India. If you’re not physically tortured, you’re mentally harassed by the people around you and the family you live with for not living up to their expectations. Ayesha had the right mind for business and was capable enough but neither her family supported her nor her husband. She established her own company and made her company one of the best companies in Mumbai. The power women hold when they have goals can do wonders in the world.

• Inequality Between The Siblings:

     On the other side Kabir Mehra, son of the Mehra’s who is not so capable of handling the business was given responsibility of the whole company. This is noteworthy because the daughter who is far more capable than the son, is not given an opportunity to prove herself in her own company. But the son who is not even interested in the company, is offered the same on a silver platter because daughters are not considered as a member of the family she was brought up in after marriage. Why are daughters supposed to leave their own house after marriage? Why is she not included in the matters of her own family she grew up in? Indian rituals are cruel and separates a daughter from her parents and a sister from her brother. She has to leave all her bonds behind just to live with a complete stranger she doesn’t even know who is chosen by her own family. The answers to the above questions carry so much weight that drowns all the females who ask them.

• Authority Of The Husband:

     Another noteworthy instance is when all the adults are sitting in the bar and Sunny started a discussion that women in our country are not safe and are not treated equally. Manav opposed and said changes are done slowly. Further Manav argues that no women in his family has ever worked in office but then he allowed Ayesha to work. So Sunny explains that when you give Permission to someone, you are putting yourself in a position of authority which is not called being equal. Sunny also says that why does Ayesha need to take permission from her husband to work? She is an independent woman and if her husband didn’t take permission from her to work, she shouldn’t too. This scene has a huge impact and all the females who have seen the movie must have felt a great deal of pain. Indian women are bound to the kitchen and the household works. They don’t get time for themselves. And when females gather courage to pursue their own goals and fights for equality, society clips their wings and drags them down so they can’t fly. What a shame! 

• The Divorce Taboo:

     Last but not the least issue is about the divorce Ayesha wanted to give to her husband. She wasn’t happy in the marriage because she wasn’t in love with her husband. And when she finally gathered courage to get a divorce after a long time, her own family denied. Her own mother was against it as divorce is considered a taboo in Indian society. Her father pressured her to stay in the marriage even after knowing that she was unhappy because he thought about what society will think about her. Kamal Mehra even threatened her own daughter that if she gets a divorce she can’t come back to her father’s house because that wasn’t hers anymore. How pathetic Indian parents can be! They are ready to make their daughter suffer her whole life but they won’t support the daughter who wants to achieve something, who needs support. 

• Farah And Noorie:

     Farah is the love interest with Kabir Mehra in the movie. She is a dancer on the cruise. She wanted to be a dancer and her family was very conservative and didn’t have money for the professional training. So Farah took her bag and left her home and worked hard. She was a bartender for some time then she worked at other places and gathered money for her dancing fees. Finally she went to dance school and fulfilled her dream alone all by herself. Kabir called her FEARLESS FARAH which I think suits her perfectly. Farah’s journey shows us that it might be difficult, the journey; but it is worth all the pain.

     On the other side Noorie was daughter of a successful businessman Lalit Sood. Noorie was engaged to another guy but he left her and a lot of people talked about her family. On the cruise she fell in love with his father’s rival’s son Rana Khanna. Noorie and Rana were instructed to stay away from each other because their families didn’t like each other. So, they met secretly in a way that nobody can know. This shows the dilemma of Noorie that she has to hide her real feelings from everyone because her family didn’t like the guy’s family. Most of the time this thing happens with females in India. They are not allowed to marry the guy of their choice. But still Noorie fought the odds and didn’t leave Rana’s side. She tried to save her love.

     Thus, the point is proved that Indian women are tied up in chains. They need to ask for every single thing they want to do and have absolutely no authority in the house which is the complete opposite of treating equally. Women are powerful enough to rule a country so they are powerful enough to rule their own lives! Freedom is not enough for females in our country. Support and love is also needed. The same support and love that sons are receiving should also be given to daughters so that they can pursue their dreams and goals!

-Akshit Mayur

“Entertainment and art have the power. Our culture is molded more so by entertainment than any other influence”

The origins of entertainment have developed to varying degrees throughout history; skits have evolved into plays, plays have evolved into theatre shows, theatre shows have evolved into film, and so on. But how much has the role of gender in a story has changed?

Men are portrayed with characters that meet society’s definition of masculinity while female roles are reduced to misogynistic ideals. As a result, the lack of equality both on and off-screen has raised questions on gender stereotyping, the quality of media being viewed by the public, and the misinterpretation of a balanced society.

Several films enforce their views on the perfect woman, often through supporting characters—they play love interests or indulge in careers that seem ‘nurturing’, coming off as frail and submissive beings with very little room for thought and argument. Besides being a far cry from reality, such films create an inaccurate impression of the capabilities and interests of women and thus indirectly plant the seeds of inequality in the minds of people.

Several films use supporting actors to impose their opinions on the ideal woman—they play love interests or pursue professions that seem to be ‘nurturing,’ coming across as fragile and submissive creatures with no space for thinking or debate.

Other than being far from fact, such films provide a misleading picture of women’s skills and desire, thereby implicitly sowing the seeds of injustice in people’s heads.

The viewer’s eyes can be used to monitor the evolution of women in the Tollywood industry. The representation of women by film fans and others has helped determine limits both on-screen and behind the scenes, influenced by factors such as politics, economic structure, and history.

Given the unrealistic values depicted in many films, as well as the lack of female representation in the industry, it’s no wonder that the Indian film industry is frequently regarded as a male-dominated setting. According to a 2017 survey, only one out of every ten Tollywood directors is a woman. Other figures show that female actors got very less percent of the screen time, compared to male percent for screen time.

Female characters in Tollywood have been viewed through the lens of a predominantly male viewpoint due to the difference in the number of men as opposed to women in key off-screen processes such as script-writing, film-making, and directing, resulting in the age-old assumptions and gender disparities that exist in films.

Cinema has become the most common mode of leisure and entertainment due to its ease of accessibility. With nearly billions of people swarming the big screens, the Indian film industry enjoys a global audience. In a country where actors surpass their careers to become icons who are loved and admired and adored, it is incumbent on them to clear the film industry of such misunderstandings and misrepresentation.

Arjun Reddy

Arjun Reddy, one of the year’s highest-grossing films, was criticized for portraying an abusive relationship as a means of love, and for portraying the main character, Vijay Deverakonda, as an arrogant man-child who treats his lover like his own property.

Reddy, the ultimate example of toxic masculinity, but he is forgiven in the end, and reclaims his woman. The box office performance of such an outspoken glorification of sexism demonstrates how much we already have to go. The majority of Tollywood romances have always been purely about male lust, despite women having no entity beyond themself.

Dear Comrade

After such a long time, even though it was just a little one, we saw change in the south movies as well. Films like Dear Comrade does an excellent job of portraying women as characters. Women in the film aren’t only relegated to being the male protagonist’s love interest. But she has her personality, dreams, and sense of purpose.

In most southern films, the female character can be replaced with some other character because she is only there to serve as the protagonist’s love interest, but dear comrade does not follow the same pattern.

Kanchana

Kanchana, a comedy/horror film, is also a good example of a film that seeks to present different genders in a positive way. The film attempts to depict the social rejection of transgender people in Indian society, the atrocities they face on a daily basis, and how those around them mock them and refuse to consider them as equals.

To summarize, things are not common in the Tollywood industry in general, but improvements are occurring over time. The general public, who absorbs material, is being increasingly updated on issues such as gender discrimination, screen time representation, and so on.

As a result, shifts are occurring cautiously but steadily. So, it will take time, but as viewers, we can still respect films that support ideals of other genders in addition to the male lead, as well as films that attempt to promote gender neutrality.

Thank You.

References: –

Source 1: – https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/gender-equality

Source 2: –https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279017811_Changing_Roles_of_Women_in_Indian_Cinema

Source 3: – https://www.ukessays.com/essays/india/depiction-of-women-in-indian.php

Source 4: – https://themitpost.com/women-indian-cinema-tale-representation/

©All the Pictures were taken from DuckDuckGo and Google.

By Nilanshi Jain and Mehak Pampaniya

Posted on 16 May, 2021

Surely, we have changed our age-old conception of ‘Beti paraya dhan hoti hai’ to ‘mahari choriyan choro se kam hai ke’. If there is ‘tum to bade heavy driver nikle’, then we have a ‘hum pawri kar rahe hai’ too. The social media platforms are flooding with meme content every single day. They enjoy a soaring viewership among the youth. Scrolling memes after a tedious job is how an average teenage functions. They are light-hearted and rejuvenating. But in the face of amusement, are they justifiable in reality?

Elections are a political process and here too the personal lives of women are brought into the public forum which have nothing to do with them. Even if they are related to politics, they are treated inferior and addressed with reference to pre-existing societal beliefs about women. If we talk about memes on 2021 West Bengal elections, there were many of them on some female politicians who were gorgeous and still lost. They were pointed out by ‘Agar Ye Bhi Nahi Jeeti to Pakka Elections Me Heraa Pheree Hui Hai’. Doesbeauty gather vote bank? Is ‘beti’ still a ‘paraya dhan’, just for the purpose of trolling?

What viral content also shapes is the perception of who is eyeful. There are many memes and reels that comment on this aspect. Every year during the IPL tournament, any attractive female spectator is highlighted by the cameraman who turns out to be a social media sensation, within the span of an evening. The sport becomes secondary here. Also, there is depiction of the dependence on cosmetic products and the aftermath. This brings light to the very fact that in a world where most of our time is occupied by social media, what are the standards of beauty? Is someone only beautiful when a man compliments or desires her?

People raised candles for a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was brutally raped at Hathras. Social media made us, general public, aware of the cruelty which takes place every eighteen minutes in our country. In the pandemic, if there is an auto rickshaw driver providing people with basic amenities, there is a beastly man who demanded sex in exchange of an oxygen cylinder. We have talked about sexism in memes in a very usual sense, but there are elements of it that are very unusual. This is where our reality is heading and it is pleasant as well as disturbing. The only thing that binds us to this reality is awareness. Two sides of the same coin.

Of course, true to form, the Indian men who have hit back aren’t particularly gallant. Responses – all uniformly ungrammatical – range from obscure (“you girls haven’t met alpha males it seems”) to enigmatically biting (“most Indian women I know have uni-brows and extreme facial hair…”) to melodramatic (“Ladies, this is because men spend their whole salary on your makeup, dresses and are left with nothing for themselves.”) . Regardless of all the values, all men share a commonality — they are capable of eliciting menacing behaviors to others. If you are a woman and have been in a public place, chances are you have been the recipient of an unwanted leer or stare from a guy. Sometimes this staring may turn out to be dangerous.

More people = more creeps. More technology = more effortless stalking.

Character assassination is a technique to restrain women from having agency over their own life. There are things an Indian man wants in his wife. A woman who has “right body”, “who loves like a girlfriend and cares like a mother.” Which basically means, you can go clubbing in a miniskirt, as long as you carry along a hot case filled with khichadi. A wife is supposed to pamper the man, be honest, career-oriented, and a ‘sanskaari bahu’. Well, because “being modern is fine, but a woman who doesn’t follow tradition is strict ‘no-no’”.

No citizen with a phone and internet today has escaped the term ‘memes’- an intrinsic part of millennial culture. But in case you have been living under a rock, memes are those funny images, texts or videos and are spread rampantly over the internet. For anyone who is yet to be properly introduced to feminism, these anti-feminist memes do much harm by spreading negative stereotypes about feminism, and also actively propagate misogyny  and sexism.

This meme, for example, is a completely misguided critique of feminism. Yes, feminists argue against sexism. But no, feminism does not dismiss men’s voice on the subject, it simply asks that men take backseat and listen when women are speaking about their experiences. Isn’t that the whole point? Giving women their own voices?

Humorous feminist memes also thwart the sexist assumptions that women are somehow less funny than men. The hilarity of these feminist memes breaks the stereotype of a serious, morose and pettier than men, while simultaneously bringing a change in the mindset of people and gathering more support for the feminist movement.

These feminist meme channels don’t hesitate to highlight the uncomfortable realties of the society that are often excluded from the real-world conversations because of the stigma attached to them.

The best way to fight humor is with more humor and that’s exactly what feminist memes do! Memes are an effective way of reaching out to millennial and to drive the point home.

Ek chutki bezzati ki keemat tum kya jaano Bollywood babu, ek aurat k sharir ka manchaha bhaag hai bezzati, pyaar se di hui zillat hai bezzati, patriarchy ka tohfa hai bezzati!

Shruti Jha

If you’re a Bollywood fan, buckle up because you are going to see the ultimate misogynistic adventure. Without any expectation that this blog will change your mind, let’s get in without any sharam or lihaaz as the mother-in-laws of Bollywood say.

Bollywood has been a leader for spreading anti-feminism ideas into the so-called fragile minds of the mundanes. Yeah, I am talking about humans. The bindiya queens or the zandu balm queens, no one cares about what harm their role does to the society.

Toxicity in B-town

To be precise, the so-called B-town feminists are Feminazis. The toxicity in Bollywood has increased to the extent of actresses being hypocritical with their statements. Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Tapsee Pannu and many others were the ones who took initiative in supporting Rhea Chakraborty, who is also a Bollywood actress and was accused for abetment of suicide of his alleged boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput.

The Bollywood divas stood up for Rhea Chakraborty when she was investigated about Sushant’s death and her involvement in drug dealing.

“Roses are red, violets are blue; let’s smash patriarchy me and you”, this quote was there on Instagram story of many Bollywood actresses which is a wonderful effort but there was no patriarchy seen anywhere in the case.

Feminism in its initial stages was about empowerment of women but gradually it became a broad spread movement not just for empowering women but people from every other gender who struggle and suffer just because of their gender. It is now empowerment of men, women, transgenders, gays, lesbians, queer community, asexual, and many more. The purpose has changed with time but the Bollywood Gen-z has no idea of what feminism actually means today. They talk about patriarchy but in today’s date not just patriarchy but toxic feminism is also dangerous. The toxic mindset of these Bollywood divas has created a negative impact on feminism.

Feminism supports the innocent but Rhea Chakraborty was already found guilty in the matter of drug dealing. Calling them out is necessary is what they believe and so do I. Swara Bhaskar, Sonam Kapoor and Tapsee Pannu, these three played a huge role in this movement as they say but did, they know the truth, no right? Where was #smashthepatriarchy when Anurag Kashyap was accused of rape because, where was #smashthepatriarchy when in the movie ranjhana eve teasing was portrayed as a cute gesture ‘out of love’, where was #smashthepatriarchy when Badrinath ki Dulhania had a scene of alia Bhatt getting kidnapped by the actor ‘out of love’. There’s no #smashthepatriarchy when models get raped, when women are portrayed as fools in the film, when women are shown damsel in distress in TV serials and movies. Where were they then? 

Nope, they were busy shooting for item numbers that sexualize women. Housefull, Kabir Singh, Cocktail, Kabhi Khushi kabhi gam, Grand masti and thousands of more movies have delivered a single message to the audience that Bollywood will always remain under the dominance of patriarchy.

Non-consensual songs and scenes

It’s your boy Badshahhhh! Badshah has bad in his name and thus his songs are full of obnoxiously sexist lyrics that make no sense. His songs are not a problem unless he sexualizes women as patola, ful gulab di and what not. Objectifying them as red velvet cake, makkhan body and use of words lakkha and husn are like his all-time favourites. Bollywood was impressed by his fame so they encouraged him to make sexist songs for their movies.  A huge round of applause to the Indian cinema, woah! Bollywood has a long history of sexist movies and songs.  Let not all just the holi songs of b-town films has some visually sexist and troublesome content. Bollywood’s holi remains to be constantly colour blind to consent.

 Time to dig in the mess:

Balam Pichkari- Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani

Bunny be like: Naina let me look at your cleavage just once 😉

The song has a scene where bunny peaks into naina’s shirt to look at Naina’s cleavage and she pushes him with a smile. What the hell naina? You know he is a playboy why are you literally giving him chance to break your heart. How stupid of you? Girls like you make boys think- ladkiyon ki naa me unki haan hoti hai!

Soni Soni- Mohabbtein

“Jaa kudiye, jo kar le, gora badan tera rang diya”- Oh hello, do you have Sanskaar or not? oh that is just for women right? You continue putting colours on women who say no for it. All the sharam and lihaz is for us women. Shahrukh khan’s movies have constantly shown misogynistic views. Remember, DDLJ the iconic movie of all time! It’s better to keep 0 expectations from the King Khan.

Ang se ang se lagana- Darr

‘Bachke padosan jaane na paye, jaaye toh vaapas aane na paaye, Zulmi ne aise baazu maroda, Kajra na gajra kuch bhi na choda’

Wait, the writer is throwing up right now. Bollywood’s still not done of producing gross and misogynistic content. Who are these people who call themselves feminists? God bless you people, if he still exists after all this rubbish of India.

B-town’s sole message-

Ham nahi sudhrenge, thoda aur bigdenge!

No outro people, the writer is feeling dizzy after knowing about the Bollywood’s situation.

Shruti Jha

Men and women are treated equally under the law , but isn’t it always the men who are at the receving and regarding rights and previleges ?similar is the case in sports . how much we term ourselves as the supreme creation, as the most intelligent being , we always end up our narrow mindedness questioning a women’s ability based on her gender.

Women’s physical strength has always been considered inferior to men .although step are being taken to reduce this gender gap. There lie a lot of social barriers that being a female one has to overcome

The root cause started from our families gender discrimination being at home initiated by parent’s unwillingness to let their girl child participation in sports . there exists a line of difference in the upbringing of girl child and a boy child.

We are taught that girls are not supposed to play in the fields: in the open, girls are delicate, vulnerable , and might get hurt. Be it kabaddi< weightlifting or wrestling , it’s the boys sports . the gift boxes containing racing cars , football or cricket bat are solely for our brothers

 Overall, girls receive less encouragement from family members and teachers to be physically active and participate in sports. As a result, girls ages 8 to 12 are 19 percent less activeTrusted Source than boys, according to a  study.

Researchers also found that girls take almost 2,000 fewer steps a day on average than their male counterparts, and this disparity does have health consequences.

The study showed that girls have 18 percent lower cardio-respiratory fitness, 44 percent lower eye-hand coordination, a 9 percent lower perceived aptitude in physical activity, and 5 percent more body fat.

These findings led researchers to conclude that the physical education of girls was detrimentally impacted “by socioecological factors at the individual, family, school, and environmental levels.”

However, they also offered a ray of hope, proposing, “These factors are potentially modifiable, suggesting the gap in [physical activity] between boys and girls can be reduced.”

Also, sports news and sports channels are mainly watched by the male members of the family because that’s what we grow up listening to, “sports is a field of male activity and interest”. Even one glance at our educational institutes would give us a similar picture. In most schools, sports isn’t a part of the curriculum. Our report cards are what matters. Sports should be made an integral part of the curriculum.

Sports aren’t what we observe as a day once a year, but they should be done dedicatedly and passionately. Even the schools that have sports teams for several games mainly constitute boy’s team. A handful of schools have separate boys and girls team.

Gender isn’t to be blamed; society should be questioned. Why are we taught outdoors sports are not for girls? And when one tries to break away from these traditions, she becomes unacceptable to the society till she achieves something because she is questioned who will marry you with such a physique once you start with sports! Winning in sports for women is an achievement and a step forward to combat society’s stereotypical thoughts. Women are objectified and commented at, leading to further male dominance in the sports industry. The biggest struggle for female athletes is the inequality of pay. The Global Sports Salaries Survey 2017 identifies that the gender pay gap issue in sports is more than in any other professional fields.

Even attaining the first rank in the women’s final, they are not given equal payment, which their male counterparts receive. This is an example of peoples’ sheer disbelief that female athletes can perform with all their might and reach the audience’s expectations.

Still, no one wants to invest or sponsor a women’s team or a women’s league because they might never reach the popularity which a men’s team does. The Forbes 2018 Highest Paid Athletes report does not mention a single sportswoman within its top hundred.

The fan following for men’s sport is beyond imagination, epitomizing sports as a male’s activity. Hence money generation, including merchandising, ticket sales, advertisers etc., are inclined to the male sports category. It is considered “less manly” when the same is done for the women.

BCCI’s 2018 contracts clearly show the pay gap difference, where an A-grade women cricketer received fifty lakhs, which is half the amount received by a C-grade men cricketer, whose earning is one crore. The worst-hit sport in case of the pay gap is football, though even hockey being India’s national sport experiences a severe wage gap ratio.

Questions can arise on women’s physical capabilities, but sports as a discipline is a matter of daily exercise and practice with focus and determination. Research says women’s bodies have better flexibility and balance, thereby providing them with greater endurance. This gender ideology prevents women from getting the financial support and resources for their participation in sports.

There also exists a lack of media coverage on women’s sports. Also, women’s sports do not receive the same viewership ratings as men’s sports. Neither there is equal investment in sports brands for men and women. UNESCO reports say keeping aside the major festivals, women sports receive only 4% of all media coverage. Similar is the case with crowd turnouts.

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However, over thirty-five years of research on gender and sports, scholars believe that there have been significant changes in the sports industry in order to resist and reduce the male-female controversies. Several Olympic Movement stakeholders have also tried hard in implementing rules and regulations for the same around the world

By Harshita Panchal and Tanmay Jain

Love as we know it, is amazing. When you see someone who is subtly sweet, you may fall in love or even get weak in the knees. Unwanted approaches, on the other hand, are commonly misinterpreted as All is fair in love and war,” has no place in this context. Certain actions, gestures of affection in such instances. The common adage, ” such as stalking, eavesdropping, and refusing to accept a firm “no” in response to approaches, are completely unacceptable since they invade into people’s personal spaces, making them feel uncomfortable and violated.

There’s a classic romcom staple saying that if a boy likes a girl but the girl doesn’t like him back, he will then spend the majority of the film attempting to persuade the girl to give him a chance. Whether it’s regularly asking her out, giving her unwanted gifts, or even infiltrating her house. But no matter what our “hero” will go to tremendous measures to earn her love. And eventually the girl will fall in love with him too and here we have the short narration for the script that most of the Bollywood movies have normalized it.

Stalking is one of the most prevalent types of harassment and it has been often portrayed in a good way by Bollywood. Several films from the early 1990s and early 2000s were based on true incidents of obsessive stalking that were depicted as uplifting deeds to win over a romantic interest.

Bollywood has a tumultuous connection with the public; most people are enthralled and inspired by it, while some argue that it is a platform for sexism, racism, and other types of oppression. Popular Bollywood films have been reported to have affected the youth’s public behavior, sense of clothes and style, attitudes, personality development, and how they perceive themselves as romantic and loving in many situations. Bollywood sometime shows a terrible attitude towards women, for example, “Tu ladki ke peeche bhaagega, ladki paise ke peeche bhaagegi.” “Tu paise ke peeche bhaagega, ladki tere peeche bhaagegi,” these lines were said by a Bollywood star named Salman Khan in his movie ‘Wanted’.

Many people were inspired by such Bollywood scenes and felt that this was the proper conduct. Bollywood found it easier to harp people’s emotions and passion in order just to generate wealth. Several films were made around this time that glorified stalking and making inappropriate gestures.

With the concept of harassment so deeply embedded in our culture, its’ time to reconsider such movies and assess how much of the entertaining or even “sweet” wooing sequences truly lie in between sexual harassment and true wooing. Below are the few movies that normalized harassment by calling it LOVE:

1. DILWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE

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DESCRIPTION: This is a well-known scene from a well-known film. However, it demonstrates the casualness with which sexual harassment is treated in many films. When Raj approaches Simran despite her clear lack of interest and afterwards how uncomfortable she is, he and many audience members think it’s a humorous comedy.

CRITICISM: Actually, this is a type of harassment. No matter what Bollywood says, if someone is plainly not receptive to or interested in being approached, then the repeated approach—whether romantic or sexual—is a kind of harassment. Even today, movies depict circumstances in which a boy invades a girl’s personal space, whether it’s to offer her unwanted hugs or advise, or even to kiss her to silence her when she’s unhappy. These all constitute instances of harassment, especially if the female has not consented to such acts or given the man permission to touch her in any manner shape or form.

2. MAIN TERA HERO

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DISCRIPTION: In this film, the male follows her about with his solicitations, even to her home. She gives every indication that she is uninterested and unwilling to engage with him. When he comes up at her house late at night, uninvited, he exhibits all of the behaviors that would be considered stalking.

CRITICISM: The fact that the entire ‘wooing’ song Palat is centered on capturing her attention via making sexually colored remarks is why this specific portion comes under sexual harassment. Also forcibly invading into someone’s private space, clearly brings a wrong message.

3. TERE NAAM:

DESCRIPTION: Radhe bhaiya is the obsessive lover we wouldn’t want in our life from Tere Naam. To convey his passion, Radhe pursues Nirjara (Bhumika Chawla) through the streets, kidnaps her, and threatens her.

CRITICISM: Guess what happens when he kidnaps her to express his feelings for her? The girl recognizes his generosity and falls in love with him. Not only that, but she also expresses grief to him. What kind of world do we live in? The film neatly associates love with stalking in order to assert that males are superior and women finally cave in.

4. MAI HOON NA

DESCRIPTION: While there is nothing overtly sexual about this scene, it is still a kind of harassment when a non-consenting person is continually placed in an uncomfortable situation. Sexual harassment includes acts such as flirting and even humiliating someone because of their physical attractiveness.

CRITCISM: Consent is the essential word here. Ms. Chandini (Sushmita Sen) had not given her approval for the song, and she expressly refuses the assent when she asks Ram (SRK) to cease singing it. The song still prolonged which is essentially sexual harassment.

This is not to say that a friend teasing someone else because of their appearance is sexual harassment. To be more specific, sexual harassment is described as “unwelcome sexual approaches, demands for special gratification, and other sexually motivated verbal or physical conduct.”

CONCLUSION:

Bollywood, as one of the nation’s biggest film-making industries, is    notorious for being unconcerned with sexual assault. Call it irony, but their industry, like their films, has struggled to adhere with sexual harassment laws. It’s more normal than we realize to cast a couch on several layers. These activities are popular in real life and are hailed as manifestations of true love. Actors in Bollywood often use their popularity to demonstrate their social contribution in a variety of ways. Perhaps it is time for them to use their authority to criticize and fail to act in positions that depict love as a pathology. Since certain actors are either creators or filmmakers, this isn’t a difficult task. While Bollywood is not the root of stalking, but when movies portray stalking as love, stalking becomes flattering and, inevitably, socially acceptable in the society.

BY- Angela Fernandes and Manav Chauhan

By Aanchal Choudhary & Prithviraj Pillai

Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. In stand-up comedy the comedian usually recites a fast-paced succession of humorous stories, short jokes called “bits”, and one-liners, which constitute what is typically called a monologue, routine or act. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in comedy clubs, bars, colleges, and theaters.

Today, everyone is fascinated by stand-up comedy and spend most of their time watching it. But it is important for the youngsters and teenagers to understand it’s impact broadly. Nowadays, it has just become a form of entertainment for people.

Over the past few years, the growth of stand-up comedy in India has been phenomenal. From having a limited comedy scene in the reality shows on television that showed the same stream of jokes, India now has an evolving comedy scene that comprises an entire industry. People are now getting far more serious about it, especially now that they are realising there is money and fame in comedy. They are also getting opportunities to become YouTube stars and movie actors through it and all of this has impacted the way that this landscape has evolved. An important aspect of this trend is that people have started taking comedians very seriously. Comedy is the new wave of entertainment and everyone wants to ride on this wave.

Comedy has always existed, but in recent times it has become a more influential source of information and commentary. People like Raju Srivastava and Johnny Lever have always been involved in it. What has changed is that it has evolved more as a whole industry and also provides more platforms to access it. A major aspect of stand-up comedy has blown out over the past few years is the evolution of Facebook and YouTube platforms that allowed it to grow and expand much faster. Social media has allowed the new generation to easily access these comedians while simultaneously providing these comedians with a platform through which they can easily reach their target audience. The blowout of this genre also resulted in the industry evolving a lot in several different directions. Big cities started having open mic events and stand-up comedy clubs have popped up across the nation. All these factors combined have led stand-up comedy to become an indispensable aspect of entertainment.

With the evolution of stand-up comedy, now a large number of issues are addressed by them that are an integral part of the lives of youth. They manage to grip the attention of the audience and provide a new perspective on the issues that wouldn’t otherwise engage people easily. Besides, it is also creating discrimination between male and female and can also influence people to form wrong perspective about the other gender. 

When someone asks you to name a few stand-up comedians, your list will only consist of the names of male comedians. Hardly there will be two or three females to name. Don’t you think the industry itself is becoming male dominating? As the vast majority of stand‐up comedians are men. It is assumed by society that for females being a stand-up comedian is against the moral ethics and values of the society. Also, females are perceived to be incompatible with comedy and humor. Here is an infamous panel discussion, held by Film Companion in 2017, the panel meant to discuss sexism in the comedy industry. Unfortunately, it went disastrously wrong before it could even begin. Out of the six people present, Aditi Mittal was the only female comedian.

Everything is ‘naturally’ divided on the basis of gender, so comedy must be as well. Isn’t that quite obvious? Sex and gender must be factored into every domain of life and questions wondering ‘Why women can’t?’. This sentiment seems to be a popular ‘unpopular opinion’ among groups of both the genders who say it in a matter of fact tone. Reasons here given are that female comedians only talk about humour on vaginas, periods and bras not being relatable enough. Most of the time they focus on the conservative thinking, restrictions on them and rapes. I don’t understand where the problem arises. Why can’t you take it as a matter of fact that they are contemplating the problems and issues faced by them in society. They might be telling this humorously to want you people to understand what they go through. When the male comedians humorously tell you about their experiences, that makes you laugh, making it relatable.

Stand-up comedy has become the go-to form of entertainment for the urban youth. They are willing to shell out a decent amount of money to watch their favourite comedians on the stage. The important thing here to notice is that still the audience in a male comedians’ show is far more than a female. This eventually results in the more money paid to male comedians as compared to the females. 

It is said that women aren’t funny and humorous, but on what basis. Isn’t it the lack of opportunities, not the lack of talent. Whenever they get the chance,  they are often trolled online, left out of line ups because of their gender, unfairly generalised, sexually objectified, etc. Comedian Supriya Joshi was fat-shamed online and tagged in derogatory memes. Aditi Mittal was told that she must regulate how she looks on stage.

The dilemma of the female comedian isn’t solved by asking why they are not funny. It is solved by investigating why you feel the need to ask that question in the first place. Is it because you’ve never encountered a funny female comedian as opposed to a male comedian? It is possible that you haven’t – given that female comedians are a much smaller lot (this is fortunately getting remedied these days) as compared to the men.  

After creating so much of differences between both the genders we can’t expect them to praise each other. Where the men try to put the patriarchal thoughts in his stand-up comedy, the females try to highlight the carelessness of men. Both the genders never leave a chance to mock each other. They just focus on humiliating each other in every aspect. The portrayal of both the genders this way is influencing the youngsters in a wrong manner.

It is preposterous that society feels the need to demarcate something as inconsequential as the ability to make people laugh along gendered lines. It is routine to be funny. It is a part of life to be funny. Why is there a need to, with ignorance and without reason, rapidly place ‘funny’ on a pedestal only available to men? Why is there a need to gender even this? Really, how much divide can be forcefully formulated into existence?

Sources: feminisminindia.com

Images: Google