As Anurag Basu’s Life in a Metro became a part of Motion Picture Margaret Herrick prestigious  library, yet again mediocrity had been celebrated. The projection of Indian cinema in the US continues to be dominated by the Bollywood band wagon, as films like Life in A Metro promote the most stereotypical depiction of women, sex, conjugality and blaming all negativity on the stressful city life of Bombay. Women are wronged because of this horrendous city. Under no circumstances can Bombay bear the label of the accused. All big cities have blues, yet they also have moments of ecstasy. 

The screen evades with a car that is driven by a man Michel (Jean Paul Belmondo) and he expresses his distaste for Paris as a city from where he wants to escape to his possible girlfriend (Jean Seberg). So does the female character, though she never vividly says it but accepts the plan Michel hatches.

Eventually they are back in Paris, but all through the film Patricia takes her own stand to the extent that she identifies Michel to the police. An example of woman in celluloid coming to terms with her own identity. 
Leaving aside the mainstream films of Bollywood, the films of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Hritwik Ghatak in Bengal should be mentioned specifically in regard to the psychological exploration of the female protagonist. Ray, in Charulata in the 60’s, introduced us to the magnificent Charu with all her subtlety and quest for a life of creativity. In her relationship with Amal, which begins with Charu exploring her literary and creative pursuits, the much-needed intellectual companionship and attention forms the crux of this extra-marital liaison that changes her inner being forever.

Again, Ray in Ghare Bairey and Mahanagar, depicts the female ever grappling with uncertainty and extra-terrestrial reality, with exploring the emergence of the modern woman in the upper-class of colonial India.
One can not help drawing parallels with Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, as these two films, like this play, marks the female’s quest for her identity, an introspection of her soul, and a gradual self-realisation, defying all set patterns of a male-dominated society.

On the other hand, Mrinal Sen, in Ekdin Pratidin, explores the turbulent life of a working woman and focuses on her inner turmoil questioning the so-called “righteousness” of the external world. The film depicts the trauma induced in a lower-middle class Bengali home when the young daughter fails to return home on time. As the family is engulfed in anxiety, many facades crack and unresolved tensions surface, exposing the hypocrisies and pretensions of so-called “respectability”.

Again, in Durotto, Sen speaks of ‘distance’ between a married couple and the pain of their alienation. Mamata Shankar here plays the wife ravaged by the bitterness of divorce and later gleaming with the hope of reconciliation.

Shyam Benegal as one of the most pro-woman filmmaker of Indian cinema explores the sexuality and identity of the female protagonist in his film Bhumika (1977) where the female lead breaks away from her husband on account of his tyranny.

For the distracters of these arguments and champions of the Anurag Basu school of thought, one definitely has some brilliant examples of depicting women in urban space within “sing and dance around trees” kind of films.
The inimitable Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan’s character in Zanjeer as a ‘churichakuwali’ hawker woman sharpening blades and knives, Parveen Babi as the lost seductive hooker in Yash Chopra’s Deewar, Vidya Sinha as the intelligent working girl in Basu Chatterjee’s ever memorable Choti Si Baat are all perfect analysis of urbane women in backdrop of the big black city taking command of their lives. Thirty two years later, the director of Metro has managed to push back the women of his film to most vulnerable, clichéd, predictable, confused, battered identies.

I wonder whether Shipa Shetty’s, Kangana Ranaut’s and Konkana SenSharma’s film characters could be related to most women who squeeze themselves in an 8 O’ clock Virar local… yet manage to take strategic decisions within the limited frames of the overpowering “family” structure.