Women in Indian Cinema

Author(s): Urvashi Butalia

Source: Feminist Review, No. 17, Many Voices, One Chant: Black Feminist Perspectives
(Autumn, 1984), pp. 108-110
Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1395025
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108 Feminist Review

Qnmin
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Q7kak 6Sema

It is anindustryof sharpcontrast,with workrangingfromthenoblestto themost

preposterous,fromthemosthedonisticto themostdevotional,fromthemost
jovialto themostdespairing(BarnowandKrishnaswamy).
CommercialIndiancinemais allof those.The beginningsof film historyin Indiadate
from 1896with the firstfeaturefilm beingmadearound1912-13.WhatBarnowand
Krishnaswamy omit to say however,is that,in general,the Indianfilmindustryis also
conservativeandreactionaryin the idealsit upholdsandthe valuesit projects.This is
nowheremoreevidentthanon thequestionof women.
CommercialIndiancinemais the single most powerfulmediumof communi-
cationin Indiansociety.It is estimatedthatasmanyas 12millionpeoplewatcha filmin
a week.Becausethey arefullof songanddance,romanceandcolour,it is alltoo easyto
dismissthemas beingescapist,melodramatic,romanticor simplyspectacular.But if
we look deeper,thereis no denyingthatfarfrombeingmereescapismor spectacle,the
popularIndianfilm constantlyprojectsexistingideasandvalues.The socialissuesit
takesup, its methodsof dealingwith these, reinforcingcertainvalues,undermining
others,allthesego deep.
Women,as a 'socialissue', have been presentin popularIndiancinemaalmost
rightfromthe start.BarnowandKrishnaswamy tell us thatas earlyas 1924Chandulal
Shah,a filmproducer,madethe firstfilmthatdealtwith the 'women'squestion'.The
film,GunSundari(WhyHusbandsgo Astray)wasconsidereda milestonein theriseof
the Indian'social'film. It dealswith the story of a wife, who, preoccupiedwith her
problemsduringthe day, attemptsto discussthem with her husbandat night. The
latter,tiredaftera day'swork, is uninterestedin a discussionandwould muchrather
have his wife fulfillingher proper'wifely' role. Becauseshe fails in this 'duty' the
husbandturnsto a dancinggirl.The filmpresentsa definitemessageandmoral:don't
only be a dutifulwife, be a companiontoo. Thatway lieshappiness.
The traditionof treating'women's issues' has never been more alive in com-
mercialIndiancinemathanat the presenttime.Filmproducersanddirectorshavenot,
for example,been slow to take up some of the issues that currentlypreoccupythe
contemporarywomen'smovementin India.Amongthesearemarriage,widowhood,
dowry,rape.In recentyearstherehasbeenanincreasein the numbersof suchfilms,as
male producersand directorsshow a superficialconcernwith 'women'sissues'.As
 Reviews 109

womenbecomemoreandmorevisibleon thescreenhowever,it becomesimportantto

askwhat this visibilityconsistsof. Whatarethe sortsof roleswomenplay?How are
they projected?Do womenfilmstarsserveas modelsfor Indianwomen?How fardo
theirfilmsreflectsocialattitudestowardsthem?How fardo they shapesuchattitudes?
Equallyit is importantto look beyondthis, to the manythousandsof womenbeyond
the screen who remaininvisible,as stuntgirls,camerawomen,designers,make up
women.
In the limitedspaceavailableto me hereit is not possibleto provideanswersto all
the above questions. However a startingpoint may be that in spite of increased
visibility,Indianwomen arenot in generalautonomousandself definedin the films.
Thisis not surprisinggiventhat90 percentof thedirectorsandproducersaremen.It is
not an oversimplification to say that in popularIndiancinemawomen areseen very
much in bad or good roles. The good ones are,moreoften thannot (self sacrificing)
mothers,(dutiful)daughters,(loyal)sistersor (obedientand respectful)wives. They
support,comfortand very seldomquestiontheirmen. They are self-sacrificingand
above all pure. It is these idealsthat make up their 'strength'.These are traditions
whichtheyrevereandpreserve.On theothersideof the coin modernityoftenseemsto
be equatedwith being bad. Badwomen, other than beingmodern,areoften single,
sometimeswidowed. They may be westernised(synonymouswith being fast and
'loose'),independent(a malepreserve),aggressive(a malequality)andthey mayeven
smokeanddrink.Often they will wearwesternclothesbut the momentthey suffera
changeandreformtheirways, they will cladthemselvesin a sariandcovertheirheads.
Thereare,of course,exceptionsto theabovestereotypes,buttheyremainexceptions.
Thus, in spite of some apparentconcernwith 'women'sissues',the commercial
Indianfilm constantlyprojectsthe womanas a sex objecton the one hand,andas an
unequalpartneron the other.Thereis perhapsone film in every 100 thatattemptsto
look at a woman as a humanbeing in her own right. The hypocrisy that equates
independenceandmodernitywith badnessis very mucha productof the middleclass
moralitythat pervadesIndianfilms. In a very curiousway however,film starswho
havemadeit by a life in acting(Nargisis anobviousexample)- a professionthatwas
tabooatone time- do not seemto comein for muchridiculeor disrespect.Somehow,
they areno longerconsidered'bad'womenandprovidedthey remainhappilymarried
andaregoodmothers,theyareevenaccordeda measureof respect.
Again,the apparentconcernwith women'sissuesis less thanskin-deep.When,a
few yearsago, women'sorganizationslauncheda campaignagainstrape,the Indian
film industrywas not slow to take up the challengeof makinga social film on this
particularsubject. B.R. Chopra, one of the most prolific of directors,presented
viewerswith a film which claimedto dealwitlkthisissue sympathetically.The film,
InsaafKa Tarazu(Scalesof Justice)dealtwith the story of Bharti,a modelwho lives
andworks alonein Bombayandwho supportsher youngersisterthroughherwork.
Bhartiis rapedin her flat one day by a young businessmanwhose advancesshe has
been rejecting.Boldly, she decidesto take him to court wherethe scalesareheavily
weightedagainsther andshe is madeto feel the guiltyone. Whileattemptingto elicit
somedegreeof sympathyfor her(particularly throughhertreatmentin the court),the
film insiduouslymanagesto projectBhartiin a bad light becauseof her lifestyle,her
way of dressing,herprofession.Had shebeengood in allof thesethings,the rapeneed
neverhavehappened.Andagain,whileclaimingto dealwith rapeas a 'social'issue,the
filmconstantlytreatsthe actualact(whichoccursthreetimes,once in the introductory
creditrole, once with Bhartiand once with her youngersister)in the most titillating
mannerpossible.This film, predictably,drew largelymaleaudienceswhose sympa-
thies undoubtedlylay with the rapistand who salivated,heckled,participatedand
obviouslyfelt at one with the rapistrightthroughthe film. No doubtmanyof them
110 Feminist Review

saw themselvesin a similarrole. Thus, the directorandproducer,while claimingto

have made a 'social'film, actuallyended up producinga box office successwhich
makesno attemptto evenbeginto challengethesocialandpoliticalrealitiesof rape.
Thereis a seemingparadoxin the way womenaretreatedin Indiancinema.Forit
is also true that on occasion,thereis a certainamountof reverenceshown towards
them and they are often shown as being very powerful.For example,the reverence
shown to a motheris consideredthe most sacredandunquestionable of duties,anda
mother'sstrengthandpowerin thehouseholdis seenasabsolute.Butit is alsotruethat
her authorityseldomextendsbeyondthe confinesof herhome.It is the fatheror son
who runsthe familybusinesswhile the motherrunsthe familyhome. MotherIndia,
one of the all-timeclassicsof Indiancinema,is one suchfilm. The story of a peasant
womanwhose husbandleavesherbecausehe losesthe useof his armsandis therefore
unableto farm;it showshow Radha,thewoman,takeson theresponsibilityof earning
a livingandbringingup herfamilyin the faceof constanthardship.The filmprojects
Radhaas,on theonehand,anextraordinarily powerfulwomanandon theother,asthe
archetypalmotherwhoselife is madeup of self-denialandsacrificefor the sakeof her
two sonsandwho, till theend,remainsfiercelyloyalto herabsenthusband.
In recentyears,new Indiancinemahasattempted,to someextent,to redressthis
balanceby lookingat women'sissuesmoreseriouslyandby attemptingto avoidsome
of the stereotypes.The films Bhumikaand Nishant by ShayamBenegalare good
examplesof such attempts.The new Indiancinemais characterizedby the more
independentfilm directorsmakingfilms with less money, and the subjectmatteris
moreovertlyseriousandpolitical.Suchfilmshavecomeout of the traditionof Satyjit
Ray and MrinalSen, but are differentin that youngerdirectorsdominate;some of
whom havealso come out of the commercialcinemamarketin orderto makemore
relevantand politicallyoutspokenfilms commentingon variousaspectsof contem-
porarysocialrealityin India.But, althoughnew Indiancinemahas madea namefor
itselfin the international
marketplace, it hashadlittleimpactat'home,whereit is most
important.Thisis partlybecauseit is hamperedby a lackof financesandpartlybecause
it makesthe mistakeof not speakinga popularlanguageandthereforenot cateringfor
thepopularculture.
Changewill be slow to come in commercialIndiancinema,andtherewill be no
real changeuntil such time as women begin to makefilms aboutthemselves.Three
womenfilm directorshaveappearedon the Indianfilm scenein recentyears:Apama
Sen,SaiParanjypeandPremaKaranth.A smallnumberin a filmindustrythatmakesas
many as 700 films a year. But a beginningnonetheless.The issue of the imagesof
women in cinema has only been treatedin a perfunctoryway by the Women's
Movementin India;therehasbeenthe occasionalagitationabouta particularfilm(for
exampleInsaaf ka.Tarazu)but not very much more than that. However,women's
groups are now attemptingto collect informationabout the 'hidden'women in
commercialandnew cinema,andaboutthe effectof cinemaon its audiences.Thiswill
hopefullyleadto a moreconcentratedandorganizedcampaignaroundthe imagesof
womenin cinema.Theproblemsof creatingone'sown media,particularly in anareaas
expensive and as mystifiedas film,areenormous. But the women'smovement in India
is both strongandresilientandtherewill perhapscome a day when it will be ableto
countermaleimagesof womenin cinema.

Urvashi Butalia