Womanhood and Bollywood

“I’m like tandoori chicken. Relish me with alcohol,” croons Kareena Kapoor while swaying her hips to yet another item song. Katrina Kaif begs to differ; she’s a “fish of the deep waters”. If you are thinking that it couldn’t possibly get more creative, you’re wrong. Malaika Arora claims to be Zandu balm, India’s no.1 pain relieving balm (Source: Google).

Bollywood cinemas are sweeping up viewership at theatres across the globe. According to data collected by Forbes in 2012, Bollywood churned out a whopping 1602 movies while Hollywood only released 476 movies that year. Bollywood also boasted the highest number of tickets bought that year - 2641 million tickets. In 2019, Akshay Kumar was the 4th highest paid actor in the world. The statistics all point towards a happy future for this film industry named after Mumbai’s old name, ‘Bombay’.

But like Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Bollywood has a long, troubled relationship with women. Women are often portrayed as objects to be looked at and lusted after by men. What’s more, Bollywood has devised ingenious ways to package this nonsense in a very appetizing manner. Men and women alike buy into romance stories that drip with sexual harassment, non-consensual acts and explicit objectification. And the excuse we give? “Relax yaar, it’s just a movie. Chill.”

Let’s take a minute to break down item songs. Item songs are song sequences that usually have very little relevance to the movie as a whole. It shows a scantily dressed artist (sometimes the lead actress herself) dancing to suggestive, raunchy and highly unintelligible lyrics. What in the world is making love to the “daughter of a grape?” The artist is surrounded by plenty of men who follow her with pleading eyes and blowing kisses. These catchy songs made their way into Bollywood in the late 1970s and they’ve stuck since then. Item songs have become a commercial tool that directors use to ensure numbers at the theatre. Cameras zoom in and zoom out of the artist’s bare midriff, thighs and face. As veteran actress Shabana Azmi put it, “When women are commodified in films and advertisements, they do not get empowered; they debase themselves and counter the work that the women’s movement has been doing over the decades.” Let me say this one last time: Respect is not commanded when women are reduced to tandoori chicken and a pain-relieving balm.

Another common theme in many Bollywood movies is the male lead inappropriately pursuing his love interest. Of course, the heroine falls in love with the hero after relentless cat calling, forceful kissing and stalking. When well-seasoned actors like Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor are seen getting away with this behavior on screen, plenty of men across the nation feel ‘inspired’. Let’s put this in context. The majority of the Indian population lives in rural areas where interaction with the opposite sex is limited and sex education is poor. Whatever knowledge about interacting with the opposite gender is often gained through cinema, where women are portrayed as flimsy beings waiting to fall into the arms of flawless men. This negatively affects both men and women, with men becoming desensitized and women becoming highly tolerant towards sexual harassment.

The Hindi remake ‘Kabir Singh’, grossed over $50 million, becoming the second highest grossing Bollywood film of 2019. That scares me.

Despite all of this, we are seeing shifts inside the showbiz industry. From Zoya Akhtar to Meghna Gulzar, we are witnessing more and more female directors who have a steady footing in Bollywood. There are also a handful of actresses who have turned producers. The transition towards a post-item songs future has started already. The perspective of the audience is also changing. Nobody really complains about films not having enough songs. There are growing numbers of actresses who can ensure big numbers at the box office. Female talent (not the female body) has become enough to draw people to theatres. But it still remains that the majority of mainstream actors and actresses in Bollywood are yet to speak up.

The next time you hear ‘Chikni Chameli’ or ‘Sheila ki Jawani’ play, don’t sing along. Don’t play ‘Fevicol Se’ at weddings. Educate yourself and those around you. Initiate conversation around these topics. Maybe you grew up idolizing Kareena Kapoor and Salman Khan. It will be hard for you to admit that they haven’t yet recognized their privilege or influence. But do it anyway. Next time you watch a movie, take some time to reflect on the messages that were imparted to you subliminally. Did Padmaavat glorify jauhar*? Was it a tad bit too easy for Badrinath to redeem himself? Why are villains in movies disproportionately muslims? Why did so many across the nation identify with Kabir Singh?

The damage has been done and redemption won’t be easy. Years and years of social conditioning has to be undone. It has been an arduous battle and the wounds are yet to heal.

* jauhar: act of mass self-immolation by Rajput women in parts of the Indian subcontinent, to avoid capture, enslavement and rape by foreign invaders, when facingcertain defeat during a war

- Maryam