Initiated in first week of March 2003, ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) is an organization that believes in working. It is known across the country for its work towards the up liftment of Human Rights and Minority Rights. Shabnam Hashmi, sister of the slain activist Safdar Hashmi, an activist herself is the founding and managing trustee of the organization. ANHAD has started up a discussion session, ‘Baat-Cheet– An Interactive Wednesday with ANHAD’ wherein intellectual people from different sects of life come and talk about various social centric issues. The session began in June and has discussed few topics already like- Faiz ek Zinda Shayar with Gauhar Raza, Sufi aur Bhakti Shayari ki Khushbu with Dhruv Sangari and Dilli ki Galiyan with Sohail Hashmi.
On the last interactive Wednesday, the topic of discussion was ‘Depiction of Women in Hindi Cinema’. Anusha Rizvi who forayed into Indian cinema as a screenplay writer and later co-directed the critically acclaimed ‘Peepli-live’ was the speaker this time round. The discussion had participation of different age-groups and backgrounds, they questioned and discussed about the various loop holes they find in movies and on other hand also appreciated people who have tried to bring in a change in the types of films being made. A.Kameshwari and Harsh Agarwal from One World News bring to you, excerpts from the interaction.
Anusha Rizvi opened the session talking about cinema she grew up watching which included the likes of Shyam Benegal’s Junoon (1978), Mirch Masala (1985) and Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali. The women in these movies have been depicted as self-reliant and strong, the way they ‘actually are’. She highlighted that there is no rural presence in the movies being made these days, a vast difference in characterization is there, like in case Queen, Dirty Picture etc. where we begin to watch a woman in a city but then the detailing of the character is very limited. So, when we talk about this ‘New Way’, we should refer to yesteryears’ movies and see where we lack.
How have you justified the role of a woman in your movie, Peepli-live?
In my movie, I have taken care of showing what the actual reality of women is. In any shot, the focus might remain on the main characters but in the background you would find women doing all sort of works, from feeding the family to holding heavy weights on their head which is quite the reality but does not get depicted.
From where did you get the inspiration of Amma’s character in the movie?
I have grown up with old women all around me, be it my grandmothers or aunts. The care and love you get from them is beyond words, also my favorite character from ‘Pather Panchali’ is the old lady ‘Indir Thakrun’. So, yes the reel and real old lady have inspired in the development of Amma’s character in the movie.
Do you think the exposure to internet has led to women being marginalized?
I don’t think so. Internet is something new. Whereas, degradation of women characters in movies has been a part of main-stream since, 70’s. An Amitabh Bachchan film poster would never show the female character and even if they were in the poster they occupied a very small portion. There was romance in those days too but there was no bullying, roadside teasing etc. which again was not quite the reality.
What do you have to say about the character of Richa Chaddha(Nagma) in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’?
It has been spoken a lot about it in media. Somehow, I didn’t find the role that interesting because there is this woman who when she makes these choices, is pregnant and already has three children. She is with a husband who is anyways inclined towards other women and no matter how much she tries will leave her. So, how are we investing power in her character imagining that she has a choice, whereas she practically doesn’t have any as if her husband chucks her out, then she is nowhere. It’s not an equation of choice that she is making but doing what is suitable according to her condition.
What do you think is the reason behind objectification of movies in past 10 years?
The women are objectified because the audience watches it. There is no other reason to it.
It is argued that movies are the representation of society, how much do you agree with this statement?
See, they are extremely important cultural vehicle. It is through movies one propagates one’s culture. Films are important in that sense. But talking about the statement that movies are the mirror of the society, we would get back to the discussion of who came first into the world, chicken or the egg. I think it works both ways, movies are influenced by society and society is influenced by movies.
What do you think about the scripts being written these days?
There is no reason why people don’t write a good script. Yes, the producer would grill you but then there is no way that someone would take away the story from you. The writing practice is going into drain. The movies are losing the crux of showing hope and motivation. In reality, women are doing all work, but in movies they are not yet out of their kitchens or are mostly out there to be just an eye candy.
What would you say about the unnecessary item-songs?
With exposure to internet, having an argument for the need of item songs in movies would not be justified. Hindi movies have become semi-porn movies, mostly because of the songs which have derogatory words that are being accepted even by females. Plus, if you would talk about actresses who are taking up such songs, I would say they are just playing a role, they aren’t promoting anything.
Till now, we haven’t come to a situation where a woman expresses her own story. Bollywood is a place which depends on a man-show, till you don’t have Khan’s and Kapoor’s flexing their muscles on screen, it is hard to get a state. But as more and more woman would start directing, we can hope to see more of strong women-oriented scripts.
Photo Courtesy : Harsh Agarwal, One World News
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