For the last couple of weeks there have been numerous stories of Bollywood stars, have-been stars and wannabe stars talking about increased incidence of rape in India. 
Some have written poetry. Some have blogged. Some tweeted. Some have given press statements. All of them have condemned the increased incidence of rape. I fully appreciate the sentiments of these stars. They are using their celebrity status to reach out to people on an important issue. Jolly good I say.
However, a thought comes to mind : What does Bollywood subtly promote in most films? What is the image women have in films? The top three I can think of are
- ‘Helpless damsel in distress’ - for a long time I used to think that the only raison d’etre for the hero’s sister (and beloved too) was to get into trouble so that he could show his machismo.
- ‘Objects’ - think ‘item numbers’ which most stars are now performing.
- ‘Eve teasing‘ as means of ‘wooing’: Think of songs like “Khambe Jaisi Khadi Hai” (from Dil) or the nauseating “Padosan apni murgi ko rakhna sambhal” (from Jadugaar) performed by two of the biggest stars Amir Khan and Amitabh Bacchan. What was depicted was purely sexual harassment of the worst kind but in the end the heroine falls for the hero. There are hundred other such songs. In fact for every one tastefully done teasing (think “Ude jab jab zulfe teri”) there are a million of these.
I could go on but I don’t think it is needed. What is the message being passed here?
We all know that Bollywood (and the other regional film industry) is enormously influential. It has tremendous reach across societal classes. It influences advertising industry, television, politics, news and in fact almost everything related to infotainment in India. It is often referred to as India’s soft power in the area of international diplomacy.
May be it is time that Bollywood starts getting ahead of the curve on social issues and not appeal to the purely baser instincts? In the recent past there have been very good films with strong women protagonists, a welcome change but they are far and few in between. I am aware that this is not a solution to what ails India on women’s issues but it will contribute.
What do you think? Am I being too naive?
Makarand
PS: I wrote this first on December 20th on Quora.
PS2 : this is not intended to move the blame away from the rapists; just saying that there are other influencing factors.
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great article. But could it be that Bollywood just represents the mindset of the people?
They must change that’s for sure and they have a huge effect too. It would be great if biggest stars start behaving in a responsible manner and make sensible films.
It does but even as it does, it also influences minds. The relation is very dynamic and feeds on itself.
Great article! I also like the responses!
I live in America, and there was a soap opera, whereby one of the main characters was raped, and the writers actually changed the storyline so that the rape victim fell in love with her rapist, and eventually married him. It was one of the biggest soap opera weddings in the history of television soaps. Frankly, I was appalled!
I’m sure you can guess which soap!
Sounds like the storyline of a number of Bollywood movies
and no I do not know which soap since I do not really follow any 
I second the view that films in India contribute towards the objectification of women. I wish some of our top stars were more responsible in choosing their work.
Apart from ‘heros’ giving out the message that harassing girls is OK, what about our top heroines eager to beat each other at item numbers, each with lyrics crassier than the last one? We have a topline heroine (and not a cabaret dancer, who, we could argue, are not role models anyway) mouthing words that tells men to use their hands on her, instead of their eyes. And another tells them that they should treat her as a piece of meat, to be had with alcohol. Are we so desensitised that these words don’t hurt our sensibilities? If this is not objectification, what is?
Sadly objectification of women is not necessarily restricted to persons of one sex. ‘Sex Sells’ I keep hearing. I feel though that it is a vicious cycle; because it is portrayed; it reaches more people and more people want it and more is created. One way to deal with it is at the box office – money talks very forcefully.
The first thing that came to my mind when I heard about the protest by B-World was ‘how shallow’. I have had many discussions with my friends and colleagues. I have a firm belief that the whole thing of how acceptable rape has become in our society is primarily because of hindi cinema. Remember the movies of the 80s where almost all movies had a rape scene? If you wanted to punish or take revenge, you raped! And people in the movie halls actually enjoyed the scene. It all started from there…..what the current movies have done is add fuel to the fire.
I would not call the protest ‘shallow’. I am sure a large number of the Bollywood protesters were genuinely appalled at what is happening. My point is merely that someone needs to look at the type of message Bollywood sends through its ‘work’ and whether it actually increases violence.
Mak – your conclusion is simplistic. Of the three things you have mentioned, I think #3 does send the wrong message, I don’t have a big problem with the other two. In fact, Hollywood is equally guilty of showing women as objects (think Bond).
Item numbers are in general providing comic relief as they have nonsensical lyrics and advertise consumer products like Fevicol and Zandu Balm. You are also ascribing too much power to films by assuming that everyone will try to copy the heroes. If you look at movies from the 70s and 80s, many of them had a rape scene – courtesy Prem Chopra, Ranjit and Gulshan Grover – but the incidence of rape in society was less than today. I think the issue nowadays is that our patriarchal society is unable to handle the confident, economically independent woman. Rape is more of a gender crime today than a sexual crime.
I am not really drawing any conclusions
Just making a point that being engaged in sending out a message in your mainstream work and saying something else later jars. “Be the change you want to see” is not just a pithy saying you know. Plus I am not saying that “people who play villains are bad people – that would be reductionist and silly. However, I do not think I am ascribing too much power to films. There have been studies showing impact of films and soaps on society- positive and negative.
Rape is almost never a sexual crime but that related to power. I do not think that the incidence of rape in the 1970s and 1980s was any less than today – probably more get reported today as women get more empowered and multiplicity of media opens out new avenues of reaching out.
You will agree with me when I say that just because it (objectification) is done in Hollywood (think Bond) it does not make it right for Bollywood.
Fair points esp the Hollywood vs Bollywood. The “message in mainstream work” vs “saying something later” is not completely fair. They are only acting not broadcasting their personal views. One can apply the same logic to people who work in tobacco companies and say that they have no right to comment on health issues.
I think we run the risk of overreacting and making our films highly sanitised. There needs a to be a good middle ground.
Agree on the sanitization part. Not a big fan of censorship in any way… And in any case tobacco workers should not really be talking about health issues, not public health issues in any case
Nana Patekar in one of his interview said that he stopped performing in ‘Purush’ (Marathi drama- on rape, where he plays the rapist) because people clapped and whistled on his entry and at his (abusive) dialogues. Similar response of public was noted at the showings of Bandit Queen. Both these work or art actually has potential to chill the spine of sensitive minds.
The question I would like to ask these actors is that what action they would like to take against the ‘casting couch’ system that prevails in the film industry and whether they would stop working in films where songs like ‘Munni, Sheela, etc. are added to run their films.