REPRESETATION OF FEMALE IN INDIAN CINEMA
In
India movies are considered to be the most popular medium of mass communication
(Raina131-141, Gargan 11-12). Indian cinema is one of the largest industries in
India. In terms of quantity of films produced per year, India unquestionably
leads over 75 feature films producing nations in the world (Dharap 626). The
Bombay film industry, popularly known as ‘Bollywood’ (Gargan 11), on the
average produces over 700 full length films every year (India News 5-6, Abbas
and Sathe 354-371). If regional films are included, the figure exceeds 800 per
year. However the popularity of Hindi films has been increasing not only in
India but in the globe. The number of Hindi talkie films produced per year went
up from 23 in 1931 to 750 in 1983 (Abbas and Sathe, 354-371); an increase of
over three thousand percent in 70 years. All this clarifies that it is the main
medium of communication with phenomenal popularity hence it has a great impact
on the society. My paper attempts to study the representation of female in this
medium (films) of mass communication and for this I have chosen Indian Cinema.
In
this regard the beginnings of film history in India maps out from 1896 with the
first feature film being made around 1912-13. In general, the Indian film
industry is also conservative and reactionary in the ideals it upholds and the
values it projects. This is nowhere more evident than on the question of women.
Commercial Indian cinema is the single most powerful medium of communication in
Indian society. It is estimated that as many as 12 million people watch a film
in a week. Because they are full of song and dance, romance and color, it is
all too easy to dismiss them as being escapist, melodramatic, romantic or
simply spectacular. But if studied deeper, there is no denying that far from
being mere escapism or spectacle, the popular Indian film constantly projects
existing ideas and values. The social issues it takes up, its methods of
dealing with these, reinforcing certain values, undermining others, all these
go deep.
In
this context women, as a 'social issue', have been present in popular Indian
cinema almost right from the start. Barnow and Krishna swamy clarifies that as
early as 1924 Chandulal Shah, a film producer, made the first film that dealt
with the 'women's question'. The film, Gun Sundari (Why Husbands go Astray) is
considered a mile stone in the rise of the Indian' social' film (quoted in
Gargan 11). It deals with the story of a wife, who, preoccupied with her
problems during the day, attempts to discuss them with her husband at night.
The latter, tired after a day's work, is uninterested in a discussion and would
much rather have his wife fulfilling her proper 'wifely' role. Because she
fails in this 'duty' the husband turns to a dancing girl. The film presents a
definite message and moral: don't only be a dutiful wife, be a companion too.
Only that is the way of happiness.
I
addition to this the tradition of treating 'women's issues' has never been more
alive in commercial Indian cinema than at the present time. Film producers and
directors have not, for example, been slow to take up some of the issues that
currently preoccupy the contemporary women's movement in India. Among these are
marriage, widowhood, dowry, rape. In recent years there has been an increase in
the numbers of such films, as male producers and directors show a superficial
concern with 'women's issues'. As Women become more and more visible on the
screen however, it becomes important to ask what this visibility consists of.
Now the time has arrived to think over the issues like the sorts of roles women
play, how are they projected, do women film stars serve as models for Indian
women, how far do their films reflect social attitudes towards them, how far do
they shape such attitudes. Equally it is important to look beyond this, to the
many thousands of women beyond the screen who remain invisible, as stunt girls,
camerawomen, designers, make up women. It is not possible to provide answers to
all the above questions.
However a starting point may be that in spite
of increased visibility, Indian women are not in general autonomous and self
defined in the films. This is not surprising given that 90 percent of the
directors and producers are men. It is not an oversimplification to say that in
popular Indian cinema women are seen very much in bad or good roles. The good
ones are, more often than not (self sacrificing) mothers, (dutiful) daughters, (loyal)
sisters or (obedient and respectful) wives. They support, comfort and very
seldom question their men. They are self-sacrificing and above all pure. It is
these ideals that make up their 'strength'. These are traditions which they
revere and preserve. On the other side of the coin modernity often seems to be
equated with being bad. Bad women, other than being modern, are often single, sometimes
widowed. They may be westernized (synonymous with being fast and 'loose'), independent
(a male preserve) aggressive (a male quality) and they may even smoke and
drink. Often they will wear western clothes but the moment they suffer a change
and reform their ways, they will clad themselves in a sari and cover their
heads. There are, of course, exceptions to the above stereotypes, but they
remain exceptions.
Thus,
in spite of some apparent concern with 'women's issues', the commercial Indian
film constantly projects the woman as a sex object on the one hand, and as an
unequal partner on the other. There is perhaps one film in every 100 that
attempts to look at a woman as a human being in her own right. The hypocrisy
that equates independence and modernity with badness is very much a product of
the middle class morality that pervades Indian films. In a very curious way
however, film stars who have made it by a life in acting (Nargis is an obvious
example) - a profession that was taboo at one time - do not seem to come in for
much ridicule or disrespect. Somehow, they are no longer considered 'bad' women
and provided they remain happily married and are good mothers, they are even
accorded a measure of respect.
Again,
the apparent concern with women's issues is less than skin-deep. When, a few
years ago, women's organizations launched a campaign against rape, the Indian
film industry was not slow to take up the challenge of making a social film on
this particular subject. B.R. Chopra, one of the most prolific of directors, presented
viewers with a film which claimed to deal with this issue sympathetically. The
film, Insaaf Ka Tarazu (Scales of Justice) dealt with the story of Bharti, a
model who lives and works alone in Bombay and who supports her younger sister
through her work. Bharti is raped in her flat one day by a young business man
whose advances she has been rejecting. Boldly, she decides to take him to court
where the scales are heavily weighted against her and she is made to feel the
guilty one. While attempting to elicit some degree of sympathy for her
(particularly through her treatment in the court), the film insidiously manages
to project Bharti in a bad light because of her lifestyle, her way of dressing,
her profession. Had she been good in all of these things, the rape need never
have happened. And again, while claiming to deal with rape as a 'social' issue,
the film constantly treats the actual act (which occurs three times, once in
the introductory credit role, once with Bharti and once with her younger
sister) in the most titillating manner possible. This film, predictably, drew
largely male audiences whose sympathies undoubtedly lay with the rapist and who
salivated, heckled, participated and obviously felt at one with the rapist
right through the film. No doubt many of them saw themselves in a similar role.
Thus, the director and producer, while claiming to have made a 'social' film, actually
ended up producing a box office success. This makes no attempt to even begin to
challenge the social and political realities of rape.
Similarly
there is a seeming paradox in the way women are treated in Indian cinema. For
it is also true that on occasion, there is a certain amount of reverences how
towards them and they are often shown as being very powerful. For example, the
reverence shown to a mother is considered the most sacred and unquestionable of
duties, and a mother's strength and power in the household is seen as absolute.
But it is also true that her authority seldom extends beyond the confines of
her home. It is the father or son who runs the family business while the mother
runs the family home. Mother India, one of the all-time classics of Indian
cinema, is one such film. The story of a peasant woman whose husband leaves her
because he loses the use of his arms and is therefore unable to farm; it shows
how Radha, the woman, takes on the responsibility of earning a living and
bringing up her family in the face of constant hardship. The film projects
Radha as, on the one hand, an extra ordinarily powerful woman and on the other,
as the archetypal mother whose life is made up of self-denial and sacrifice for
the sake of her two sons and who, till the end, remains fiercely loyal to her
absent husband.
In
recent years, new Indian cinema has attempted, to some extent, to readdress
this balance by looking at women's issues more seriously and by attempting to
avoid some of the stereotypes. The films Bhumika and Nishant by Shayam Benegal are
good examples of such attempts. The new Indian cinema is characterized by the
more independent film directors making films with less money, and the subject
matter is more overtly serious and political. Such films have come out of the
tradition of Satyjit Ray and Mrinal Sen, but are different in that younger
directors dominate; some of whom have also come out of the commercial cinema
market in order to make more relevant and politically outspoken films
commenting on various aspects of contemporary social reality in India. But, although
new Indian cinema has made a name for itself in the international marketplace, it
has had little impact at' home, where it is most important. This is partly
because it is hampered by a lack of finances and partly because it makes the
mistake of not speaking a popular language and therefore not catering for the
popular culture. Change will be slow to come in commercial Indian cinema, and
there will be no real change until such time as women begin to make films about
themselves. Three women film directors have appeared on the Indian film scene
in recent years: Aparna Sen, Sai Paranjype and Prema Karanth A small number in
a film industry that makes as many as 700 films a year. But a beginning
nonetheless the issue of the images of women in cinema has only been treated in
a perfunctory way by the Women's Movement in India; there has been the
occasional agitation about a particular film (for example Insaaf ka Tarazu) but
not very much more than that.
However, women's groups are now attempting to
collect information about the 'hidden' women in commercial and new cinema and
about the effect of cinema on its audiences. This will hopefully lead to a more
concentrated and organized campaign around the images of women in cinema. The
problems of creating ones own media, particularly in an area as expensive and
as mystified as film, are enormous. But the women's movement in India is both
strong and resilient and there will perhaps come a day when it will be able to
counter male images of women in cinema.
Work
cited
– Abbas, K.A.,
and Sathe, V.P. “Hindi Cinema.” Ed. T.M. Ramchandra 70 Years of Indian Cinema
(1913-1983), Bombay, India: CINEMA India. International, 1985.
– Dharap,
B.V. “Facts and Figures About the Industry.” Ed. T.M. Ramchandra 70 Years of
Indian Cinema (1913-1983), Bombay, India: CINEMA India. International, 1985.
– Gargan,
Edward A. “In ‘Bollywood, ’ Women Are Wronged Or Revered.” The New York Times. Jan
17, 1993: 11-12.
– “Indian
Cinema.” India News. New York: Consulate General of India, 11Mar, 1983:5-6.
– Raina, M.L.
“I’m All Right Jack”: Packaged Pleasures of the Middle Cinema.” Journal of
– Popular
Culture 20 (1986): 131-141.
प्रतिक्रिया व्यक्त गर्नुहोस्