Feministaah

Had just watched  Manmarziyaan , in which the leading lady is a spitfire. One scene, however, was particularly galling; she has just gotten married—of her own free will—she storms into the hotel room after the wedding, orders food from room service only for herself, turn on the TV and gives the husband the cold shoulder, which he has done nothing to deserve. She may have been angry because her boyfriend did not want to get married, but that’s no reason for such churlish behavior.   So, posted on social media walls, without mentioning the film or the scene, the comment, “ When our filmmakers want to portray a woman as bold, why is she also ill mannered and inconsiderate? ” This brought forth some very interesting comments, mostly from exasperated women, who resented the mostly negative portrayal of independent women, and the twisting of the word bold into something nasty.  Quoting some of them to get an idea- from a very tiny sample size—of what the percepti...

The synopsis of the Marathi film  Bodga  (Tunnel) promises a fun road trip taken by a mother and daughter. It was such a novel idea for an Indian film, that one was tempted to see it … and had hopes dashed. It just raised question about why the character of the Merry Widow or Happy Divorcee is seen so rarely, in our films. Besides, motherhood is always seen as a tough chore, that invariably demands anguish and sacrifice; that after a woman becomes a mother, she ceases to be a person. (There is mother-child statue at a traffic junction in suburban Mumbai, that states ponderously: A child gives birth to a mother; one can’t pass by without wishing it would topple over.) So, in this film   Bogda   (directed by Nisheeta Keni), the mother (Suhas Joshi), only called Mai-- no name-- seems like a fearless, sharp-tongued woman. When men in her neighbourood protest against her for corrupting their wives with afternoon card games, she challenges them to beat her at cards… ...

So as another Raksha Bandhan goes by, in all its materialistic glory, with celebs posing and preening with their siblings in the their festive finery, a tiny change in what is essentially a patriarchal ritual is seen in how women no longer see brothers as protectors, and tie rakhis on the wrists of their sisters and gal pals too—women who will have their backs when they need them. Quite a few social media posts have suggested that just like husbands should fast for the wellbeing of their wives on Karva Chauth (when married women fast), so also brothers should tie rakhis on the wrists of their sisters too. Let the rules of modern life promise love and support (protection is iffy, in any case) to and from both sides. There are so many fasts women observe for brothers, husbands, sons, but not one day for men to starve for the women in their lives. While there are truly loving brothers, most of the time, when property is involved, men have no compunctions about depriving sisters of t...