Summary

Piku (motion se emoton) is a 2015 Indian comedy-drama film directed by Shoojit Sircar. The film stars are Deepika Padukon as a protagonist Piku who is Bengali architect in Delhi, alongside with Amitabh Bachchan as a Bhashkor Banerjee, 70 years old father having a chronic constipation and Irfan Khan as a Rana Choudhary, an owner of travelling agency. Piku tells a story about hypochondriac father and a willed strong daughter who is forced to endure an emotional roller coaster of a road trip with her father. A father is a health conscious and critical person, who constantly criticizes everyone for the shortcomings. Also, the problem of constipation was at the center throughout the movie. He as a father figure did not wanted his daughter to get married, was justified by his honest and brutal nature. Moreover, the movie highlighted the strong father-daughter relationship throughout.

Analysis

Here the importance is given to a father-daughter relationship in the movie. Piku is a strong independent headed feminist, with a good will and responsibility towards the father. In the movie, she is shown as a strong exasperate working women who tries to balance her professional and personal life. She very well understood the needs of older parents from their children and how calmly and smartly handled things on her side. Also, Amitabh Bachchan talks about how women should not be dependent on anyone by getting into a marriage and should live an independent life with her own choices, alike Piku. Moreover, in the movie we are also exploring the Bengali culture in Kolkata as well as the fast life in Delhi.

Hence, the plot construction is also superbly organized from beginning to end, having a stable consistent speed in story. While climax at the end having a peaceful death by having the best stomach clearance the day before.

Conclusion

It is a wonderful story where Deepika Padukon came up with a great protagonist for all the girls to walk on footsteps of Piku in order to take care and look after their parents in Indian context. Also, it is good to see how nowadays in film industries, the women are coming ahead as a lead role with the liberated stories, such as movies like Piku, Queen, English Vinglish, Tanu Weds Manu Returns etc.

“He pushes me on to the bed and jumps on me as if making love to him wasn’t an option but an obligation”

Simar Singh ( The legal Rapist)

What is Rape, really? Any sexual act done without the consent of any of the two parties. The word Rape carries with it a powerful negative punch.

The question that is most often raised is ‘What is Marital rape?’, ‘How can a husband rape his wife?’, ‘How such action can be defined as Rape if the couple is married?’. To explain it in simple way, Marital rape or Spousal rape means having Sex with your partner without their consent. But Rape is Rape, within any consent, so why is marraige a license to do it? Why is “she’s my wife” a defense? The answer lies in the patriarchal roots of Indian society. It sees women as economic religious and sexual property. For society, marraige is about ownership.

Marital rape involves Violence and lack of consent. It is very important to teach the meaning and importance of consent to people and when the consent is disregarded by the members of family it leads to the crimes of domestic and social violence.

Role of Judiciary :-

There are various countries that have criminalized marital rape but there are countries where it is not even considered as a crime. India is one of the 36 countries that haven’t criminalized marital rape. According to report 66% of married women in India experience physical and sexual violence by their partners and only 10% of the married victims of the sexual violence seek help.

Indian Constitution – ‘Section 375 of IPC treats marital rape as a crime only if the wife is below 15 years of age’

When a person in India, where marital rape is not a crime, does not consider it important to seek the consent of their spouse for sex, Does it make marraige a contract of sex? Indian law gives the men to have defense for the evil practice under the name of marraige.

If marital rape is criminalized in India, it would be a great step towards empowering the women of the country. There might be people who don’t support marital rape publicly due to fear of reputation, hatred or public image but they don’t publicaly oppose it either. It is lack of knowledge which makes people ignore the concept of consent.

Conclusion :-

Yes, marraige may be an important ceremony for many people but does that mean one must silently tolerate violence within the framework of relationship?

First, we need to make the people understand that Marital rape is a problem; a serious problem which is harmful for the citizens of the country. Women deserved to be treated equally, they deserve respect, trust, love and care from her partner. Marital rape breaks the trust and confidence in the whole idea of marraige. The society has to be educated and by Criminalizing the evil practice of Marital rape, the law will ensure that married women will not be subjected to violence or sexual assault.

‘Marital rape, He wants, “He do” She doesn’t want, but “She have to do”

Written by Fatema Bhaisaheb. Do share your Reviews.

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Source- Instagram post

India got Independence in 1947 but is this a real or reel Independence. We are living in a society where a girl can not walk freely after 8p.m , she can not wear what she like to because society wants them to follow certain norms, they can not allowed to hangout with their male friends. But the question is until when? Is being a girl a crime. We always told our daughters to avoid going out after 8p.m but why can’t we tell our sons to behave and respect girls. 

When it comes to marriage girls are forced to get married after she turned 23-24 years old and if she denied everyone think there is something wrong with a girl. Girls are even asked for their virginity but the question is WHY? 

Why only Men are cool?

If a boy slept with a girl then he is cool but if girl does the same then she is slut. If a boy wear boxers then he is cool but if a girl wear shorts then she is bitch. And if a boy wants to go for Nightout then he is cool and no need to ask for permission but if a girl wants to go for Nightout then she has to answer various questions such as why you want to do Nightout? Where are you going? With whom you are going? When did you come back? And so on…

Source- Instagram post

Here is a short story of a girl, who is forced to get marry.

Today her life was about to change.

Everything was sudden,so the boy and the girl couldn’t share anything with each other. The girl had a bad past, a boy cheated on him. So, parents forced her for the marriage.

They got married and it was final that she had to leave her parents abode and settle down with this man for the entire life. She was crying partially due to emotions for her parents and partially due to a headache. Everyone was happy. She used to play all those wedding games in her childhood and very fond of marriage. She was very happy because she was going to start a new life Lemme, remind you she was forced to marry.

Everything was done. The ceremony was conducted and rituals were performed. It was time to settle down on the bed on the weeding night. The room was decorated with roses, jasmine and the smell was damn adorable.

The girl was draped in red lehenga. She was very happy because for her marriage as it was all about meeting of two pure soul. She was nervous, it was a new journey for her.

“Door knocked”

They had a sharp eye contact.

The husband came in and smiled looking at her and asked,”Are you ready”? she couldn’t speak a word. She just smiled

The boy asked,”How are you? We couldn’t talk that much before our marriage but, Now,we can share everything with each other. “Tears rolled down from her eyes”

“Why are you crying”, he asked.

“She didn’t even utter a word”

“Huh, you are my soulmate, will you please speak now?”

She,”I had a very bad past, I am forced to marry you, I loved a boy, he cheated on me and I am no longer virgin”.

“Haha, you are my soulmate, Why are you even thinking of that guy now, ughh, calm down, I know that we didn’t share our past to each other but that is okay, What will I do of your past? Virgnity, what is that. It is just a word and nothing else, you are virgin fir me. Your soul is still virgin for me. If you love me and touch only makes you feel me and not someone else then you are virgin for me, being virgin is just a state of mind, it’s purity and honesty.
The world is changing and this kind of issues give rise to the movements like #AllInForHer , #HeForShe , #GirlsCount, etc. so just stand up, raise your voice and fight for the change.

Please feel free to comment.

A blog by Tanishka Jain

On one side we talk about the development of women and stuff regarding feminism but on the other side we show the same women to fall for a man who simply smells good or has a good muscular physique.

In the 21^st century where modernization has crept to its level best, where technology is developing at a rapid state, in such a technology oriented world the media and its subsidiary elements play a vital role in shaping the minds of the people.

Today whether he/she is a 3 years old child or a 60 year old person, what is common among both is the presence of a Smartphone. During the last decade the evolution of smart phones is magnificent to look and understand upon, hence the content portrayed on it plays a major role in shaping our minds.

When we switch on our TV’s and come across some advertisements, what comes to witness is a stereotypical women cooking in a house and waiting for the family at her house or a girl falls in love with a guy who has a good deodorant. Don’t you think it is high time now? Do we really lack the content that we have to come up with such ridiculous ads and create a huge psychological mindset on the minds of the people?

It’s my guarantee you will hardly come across an advertisement where female is the protagonist and is dominant against the male. When this rarity turns out to be a normalcy then I believe some change can be seen in the society, unless then do not accept any change in the name Feminism.

The main reason is when you shatter the Patriarchal mindset by portraying something against the same. When I say media, I am not restricting it to smart phones and televisions but expanding it to various sources of communication like radio, social media, print and many more.  

Creation of content plays a major role in this. Why are we not focusing on something which actually matters rather than simply showing some lame girl running after a boy who smells good!!!!!!

The impact of these is largely seen on the youth and they try to imply it to real life which turns out to be an absolute failure. When we say that “Content is the God”, then you don’t we imply and execute something which matters in real life. Breaking the stereotypes and showing the women as a powerful character is what needed at this high time.

Also the censor board should come into picture when a dark skinned girl is shown as less empowered in front of a white skinned one and where a girl with long hairs are considered more efficient than the ones in short hair. This is how we define feminism and this is how we mold the mindset of the public by showing something of utter waste and completely stereotypical.

The concept of Feminism does not lie in restricting a woman’s capability to that of man but to overcome the man’s achievements and to outplay them in all sectors and for this to happen we need more characters like Shivagami Devi From Bahubali movie and not Yami Gautum from Fair and Lovely!!!!

I saw this video yesterday evening,( 30^th May 2019) where a lady who identifies herself as an Indian but is a real shame to the well being of our motherland. She in the worst of manner verbally accused a young girl for wearing short clothes. At one stage she even came to a point, where she told that Girls wearing short clothes should be RAPED!!!!

When we talk about Feminism, women development, uplifment of Women and all other sort of progressive development, what I believe is the real change should be brought in the ugly and rotten mindset of our fellow citizens. When we are not even able to accept the basics of what in some sense is a part of progressive development, how on earth can we come to a conclusion that India is a developing country.

If wearing revealing clothes really makes the life of women in danger, then my fellow country mates the problem does not hold in the upbringing of the girl child, the problem lies in the dirtiest of mindset of your fellow boys.

The incident happened in Delhi, where a comparatively older lady told a girl in a restaurant that she should be ashamed of herself for wearing such small clothes. To add on to this she also asked some of the men over there that they should rape such girls!!!!! Now if this happens, in what way can we expect our society to develop? We restrict Feminism by talking about women development, but what I see is the problem is in the deep rooted mindsets of ours. If a woman does not stand for a woman, then how can we expect a man to stand for them?

 The Patriarchal system is not only a generation of mans ideas but it is a cumulative and mixed amalgamation of both women and men as well. There is an equal contribution of women as well in our Indian Society to poison and nourish the ideology of how a woman should live her life.

 The bundles of expectation and the rule book of don’ts restrict the life a soul to hell. My question is, whether developing big infrastructure and huge monuments define who we are, or is it the liberty the democratic country provides us to live a life of our will?

On what thought a parent nurtures their girl child also matters a lot. Because at the end of the day it is your girl who has to live an independent and successful life. Never limit a girls life to the size of clothes she wears and the number of male friends she has or the late night parties she does, because your today’s restriction will transform her as tomorrows hindrance for the real meaning of success.

Because if you really want to taste the real understanding of your nations success, JUST LET HER BE…….

Director : Alankrita Shrivastava
Genre : Indian Black Comedy
Starring : Ratna Pathak, Konkona Sensharma, Ahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur

Women centric and bold I must not forget to mention; this film talks about suppression of women and taboos related to their sex life.
One Muslim woman forced to stay in burkha and not socialise at all finds a way to live in her dreams every now and then. Rehana Abidi sneaks out, steals and goes out to party to become part of her peers to have a place among them and get respect from them. Ends up getting more oppressed by father.
Rosy, Usha Parmar aged and alone woman exploring world of sexual pleasures through phone-sex and masturbation and erotica is constantly scared of her ‘secret’ being exposed to society and losing respect. Eventually secret gets out and her family throws her out of her house!
Leela, young woman having affair with a Muslim guy is forced to marry a guy she doesn’t want to get married to. Her mother works as a nude art object for painters. Leela dares to dream big despite her current financial state. Makes mistake of rebelling against society’s norms.
Shireen Aslam, a woman is forced to stay at home and not work even though she really wants to and is good at it too. Rahim Aslam is inhuman enough to tell his wife to stay home and not interfere in his life or go out despite having caught with a woman with whom he was having affair. Shireen suggests using condoms but is mocked by husband. When asked if she went and bought condoms herself, she has to lie as if it is a shameful sin! Husband denies using condoms and she suffers from burning in vagina and her system is getting more and more damaged by medicines she takes to avoid more children and she can’t say a word about it to her husband!!! How much more oppressive men can get?!

Women don’t know their rights; in fact sometimes end up contributing to patriarchal system of our society’s! But what happens when she dares to live her life on her own terms, dares to disobey society’s orders, makes mistake of dreaming and even worse- tries to make those dreams come true? She is punished, oppressed even more. Lipstick, red lips of hers tempts us to think she must be a slut/prostitute/whore! Bold is shameful instead of beautiful/ appreciable! Why?

Rosy’s dreams are just dreams, why? Usha has to read erotica in closed doors and keep it hidden, why? Leela can’t marry the guy she loves, why? Why is Shireen forced to let her husband control her life to this ridiculous extent? Why Rehana is forced to stay low profile and under burkha? Who is to be blamed even? – When women family members of Usha’s family asks other members to throw her out of her own house? When Leela’s mother forces own daughter to marry? When Rehana’s mother keeps calling her own daughter ‘behuda ladki’? When Shireen has no one to seek help from?

Dreams of love or lust! Dreams of now or never! Dreams of lipstick! These books lies to us, also gives courage to dream. Having lust is a sin. Dreaming is a sin. Speaking up is a sin. Exploring world of sexual pleasures is worst of all sins. But I must say such moves are first step towards change, a real big and beautiful change. There will be a day when, ‘she’ will be silly to hide, she won’t look out of barred window, she’ll step out the door and slay. She will wipe her tears, fix her hair and stop keeping her desires as a secret unknown to everyone except herself. She will realise, the key to her dreams is in her heart and all she needs is courage and more courage!

It is a beautifully written story played really well by women protagonists. Such movies are hope for better future. Personally, despite being raised in a liberal environment, I find this movie really moving and inspiring. Because many of us think they are liberal and good enough already, not realising that part of them still ends up supporting unfair stereotypes and patriarchal system in the society. This movie also started social media movement of women called ‘lipstickrebellion’ where women posted with lipstick with middle finger as symbol of ‘no more tolerance for oppression’ and ‘rebellution’! Hopefully, more movies like his one will be made and will help with revolution of women’s condition in society.

By-
Punyadhara Doshi

GENDER discrimination still exists in society. In Indian society born as a woman is not easy. It is itself a struggle for her. Women are generally confined to bound their household works and looking after children. Irrespective of her education and degrees. Education and learning opportunities gender wise literacy rates in India between men and women. As per 2011 census data effective literacy rates in age above 7 were 82.14% for men and 65.46%. His gap is because there is mentality in the typical society. They don’t want to spend money on girl studies and development. In society they categorised men superior in the society meanwhile girls to inferior. They figured as the man is leading face in the patriarchal society. Women has suppressed by the men. They had to follow the decisions of men. They do not earn for the family. Small girls also trained for house hold works. They are not allowed to go outside the house. They are not allowed to talk with men or they can’t make friends of opposite gender. The reality of the society is that after marriage the life of women got spoil. Due to the gender gap created in both the character from their childhood. In society there is a myth that the girls are weak and boys are stronger in society. In Family when girls are born usual the members do not get happy but when boys born in the family the members get happy and enjoy the moment. Usually the girls do not get freedom as compare to the men. They do not live alone in their life and at the outer space. One member always with them.in society there are some stereotypes that girls always plays with dolls and boys always play cricket . Girls usually do not play the outdoor games. If girls will study then they will not do the household work. Many times in public sphere they do not interact loudly and with men.

BY:-PAREEKSHIT RAJPUROHIT

YouTube Short film
(Video analysis, critiquing and writing about it)
Genre – Fiction, Drama
Featuring – Plabita Borthakur, Gurdeep Kohli
Details – 11:03 minutes’ duration,
Directed & Written by – Ritesh Menon,
Produced & Presented by-
Culture Machine Media Pvt. Ltd.
Chhoti Production Company Pvt. Ltd.

The film starts with a 21 year old woman starring in mirror with pregnancy test in her hands. She is more than terrified, not because she’s afraid to raise the kid, not because her boyfriend might abandon her… she is terrified of how society and her family may react. Her mother finds out and there’re moments that felt like hours in which she imagines how her mother will get angry and ask her to leave the house. But it turns out, surprisingly that her mother decides to support her.
In India even though pre-marital sex is legal, for an unmarried woman to have sex before marriage is worse a crime because she doesn’t get convicted by the court but her own family and society! Getting in physical relationship is considered to be a sacred act which can only be justified by marriage. A woman is looked as an object for reproduction. Sex as an act doesn’t have any separate meaning for woman other than tool for reproduction. Pleasure, consent, desire are the things that are not considerable factors. It’s even condemned if talked about. At the same time, if a man does it, there are no questions asked. At the wedding mother-in-law and the groom expects a virgin bride but if the groom is not virgin, it’s not an issue for anyone.
It’s a shame considering how long we’ve come! According to Ramayan, even monsters were concerned about consent before touching a woman. In Mahabharat, Kauravs were destroyed for sexually harassing a woman! Then with time, people lost morals, values and conscience. With Mughal invasion, British invasion; slowly but steadily the original Indian culture faced erosion. And today I live in a world where I’m scared to go out alone because who knows who may rape me!

Indian society instead of realising what is happening, turned into a conserved society with stereotypes in everyday trends. About a decade ago, digital spaces expanded and world became closer. Indian youth in particular got influenced by western culture and developed liberated views. We live in a society where if a daughter is in trouble, parents worry about what may society have to say about the situation and consequences rather than worrying about their own daughter!

The film has beautifully portrayed the reality and it is more than accurate. As the storyline goes the mother supports her daughter unlike a mother of typical Indian society. And that’s inspiring and a step towards change. That may inspire to mothers to realise that her daughter is adult and has right to take decision and make mistakes. Although, mother is shown upset about the decisions that her daughter made. And I believe, it will be a perfect world when woman will be given support without being questioned about her maturity and sanity, when her decision will be respected instead of accepted with cringe in mind.

The film has captured the real emotions between a mother and daughter. It has also shown how an Indian family has pressures on a daughter about being ‘a good girl’! What does being a good girl mean? What is the definition of ‘good girl’? It means living her life in a way that is approved by the society or family. It means having a good career and then settling with a good man. It means not staying out late at night. It means not talking to men or not having boyfriends. it means not engaging in any sort of physical relationship with anyone before marriage. It means marrying a man chosen or at least approved by the family. It means not drinking or smoking. It means not taking decisions of her own life by herself. And, if she does not fit in this definition, she is a bad girl. A characterless girl. A burden and headache for her parents. A disappointment to her parents.

A woman is expected to seek approval all her life, first parents then husband and his family. She lives a life of a slave and if she dares even to peep out she is criticised and called a bad girl! This film is a step towards change and considering the current situation of Indian society it is more than good enough. However, a woman like me would expect more bold and liberating storyline.
By-
Punyadhara Doshi

Even today equal respect and opportunity for Indian woman is limited till our holy books (Gita and Mahabharata) in real situation a woman has no freedom of choice in her everyday life. She gets no respect or authority as she has to follow ideal woman rules in her everyday actions. An ideal woman situation is when women has to behave according to defined norms. Recently I read many blogs on “qualities of ideal Indian woman”. Some were sarcastic while others were really talking about what an ideal woman should do.

Here are the few qualities I would like to share with you (based on my observation). –>

• Attractive
• Confident
• Semi-independent
• Feminine
• Loyal
• Virgin
• Indecisive
• Meek
• Submissive etc etc.

This instantly became a problem for me. Why should I follow this to become acceptable for people I don’t even know? It took some time for me to realize that I have always been following this set of rules to guide my everyday actions. And not only me but every woman I know is following this set of rules. You ask why we do this. Well the answer is simple because we from our childhood are taught this set of rules. So every woman follows some rules if not all.

Problems Women face every day because of Ideal woman rules–>Don’t go out to often, don’t go out at late night, don’t come home very late, don’t talk with man/boys, don’t wear clothes that will attract opposite gender, don’t show your opinion in public, don’t laugh too loud, don’t dance in public, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t shout, don’t ask for job, be family oriented, know how to talk walk and behave and so on the list never ends when it comes to what and what not an ideal woman should not do. And I am sure we all have good examples of how our actions were judged by people on the basis of ideal woman does this and that. I have a friend who is a badminton player very practical and straight forward and so for her actions are not in line with how ideal woman works so she is always judged and her character is portrayed as very wrong. Well in real she should be appreciated for being real, goal oriented and determine. So if you know any woman who is ideal for the society and she has a freedom of choice trust me she is just a fictional character.

Here the final question comes–> “How to deal with this ideal women situation? Well the answer is very simple “IGNORE” if you ever face that situation remember you don’t need to give any reaction to people because you are above the ideal women characteristics decided by the society and religion. You are someone who will set an example of a being woman who has earned her freedom of choice. Remember we are not the ones who fights or cries as what they anti-feminist say we are the ones who knows what to ignore and how to ignore, we decide what will affect us and what we choose where to focus on because ideal woman characteristics are not for the woman who has ability to think and reason.

For more updates on gender equality follow our blog and do read other blogs on this site. Here I Shridevi Bhatt say goodbye to everyone. Stay connected for more updates.

Can age difference in a marriage become the reason for subjugation of women?
According to Indian culture we are expected to respect anybody who is elder than us in age no matter who that person is . At times it happens that if we do not respect someone who is elder than us than we may end up being judged by people and our character and values could be questioned and put on stake.
In India the legal age for the marriage of a girl is 18 yrs and for a boy its 21 yrs. The difference between the age gap is of 3 yrs. The reason given behind this is that girls reach maturity well before boys could . This is scientifically proven as well.
It is also said that according to Indian Vedas the best age for a girl to get married is 18yrs and for a boy is 40yrs which is quite surprising as well.
Wives have to respect their husbands because they are elder than them and respecting merely does not only mean respecting, it also mean to obey him and do what he tells. This also becomes the reason behind the highly prevalent domestic violence in India and wives not going against it, because again, the husband is elder in age and you cant disobey him.
This could have been different if the age of both men and women were equal in a marriage, because we have a different reaction to the same action done by an elder person and a person of the same age as ours.

It is believed that a marriage is a sacred thing and it needs equal participation by both the sides and both the sides are equal which also means that both the partners should respect each other equally and should have all the rights on each other equally.
The point here is that that if the reason for the girl being younger than man in the marriage is maturity than both should have absolutely equal rights on each other and none should be compelled to respect and obey the other in return of zero respect from the other person.
This way the husband will get no power to ever raise his hand against his wife and beat her up just because he feels that he has the right to do because he is elder and therefore his wife cannot answer him back and just keep following him. The wife can answer back and take her own stance if she understands that both of them are equal and the man is elder than him only because he would not be as matured as she is at her age. The man also needs to understand that her wife is younger than him because she is able to reach a maturity level which is equal to his at a younger age.
Henceforth there are 2 possible solutions to this; first is that both understands the reason behind the age gap and the second is that the age of the male and females should be equal in a marriage.