It's time to choose our battles wisely...

ambivalent struggle

Last year, a reigning Bollywood actress created a ruckus when a leading newspaper carried a ‘top-angle shot’ of her. Her very famous rejoinder fetched her lot of brownie points. Yet, she did not mind gyrating to a typical masala number and was even termed the ‘hottest fire cracker,’ towards the end of the year.

Moreover, at a recent award function, the same actress didn’t seem to mind when her gown was caught between the teeth of not one, but four male celebrities. She, in fact, swayed to the music, showing much more skin! So, this leads one to think if her chagrin at the media was a mere gimmick.

At another award function, a legend of our industry was promoting a song from a recently released movie to the accompaniment of skimpily-dressed nubile girls. Not that they were offering any value addition to the performance, but they must have definitely raked in lots of moolah for the promoters of the show!

Unfortunately, the young feminist brand, who scream and rant at the atrocities committed on women, don’t seem to have an issue when popular films and advertisements objectify women. We are living in a hypocritical world, with most celebrities leading the clan of hypocrites. What is even more sad and upsetting is the fact that these people have the wherewithal and the authority as well as the influence to say a big ‘NO’ when it comes to showing women in poor light. Yet they all choose to stay mere mute spectators.

Clearing the air

As Martin Luther King Jr. rightly said, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” In our country where a majority of people are star-struck, this unpardonable silence and willingness to do anything and everything for personal aggrandisement is inexcusable, to say the least. We do raise a ruckus, when an unfortunate tribal woman is stripped and made to parade naked. But we watch agog, when girls are made to do almost the same thing in the name of entertainment.

What kind of women’s liberation are we speaking about when our own celebrities don’t mind playing second-fiddle to the males in our film industry? What are we fighting against?

I am surprised at the incongruity of the critics, who in the name of women’s liberation, go ‘all guns blazing’ at an advertisement like the Airtel one, where the woman boss comes home and cooks a meal for her husband who is still at office, yet they make a mere squeak at such a vulgar display of female anatomy. When we women fight for equality and our right to go on roads without fear or discomfort, we should also fight for our right to be portrayed right.

We cannot have actors being used as mere sex symbols and playing arm candies to the macho heroes in our movies. We continue to have male actors chase their female counterpart, despite her ‘no’, only to have her simpering in his arms after a song. No wonder a majority of Indian men do not know how to take ‘no’ for an answer. They are unable to separate the reel world from the real one.

Girls, let’s accept that we are dealing with a majority of men who would not read this article and those who read this – hopefully – will be the ones treat women with equality and respect. Let us learn to choose our battles wisely and not be swayed by the so-called warrior cry of women’s liberation. Let’s analyse if we are really liberated. Liberation comes from our ability to think like and be thought of as an intelligent, emotionally secure and independent person who has the right to make choices.

I wish celebrities would set themselves as role models and showcase some social responsibility. There have been movies that had a good run at the box office, only by the virtue of powerful characterisation backed by a solid story. For instance, a couple of years back a pregnant Vidya Balan in the movie Kahaani drew in the crowds and belied the fact that we don’t always need women to be pretty and pouting to set the box office registers ringing.

I am sure there would be more creativity in our film-making if the female and male actors showed more gumption and refused to bow down and raise their own bar for acceptable behaviour. Unfortunately, we cannot just wish away the malaise of our society, namely – belittling, demeaning, degrading and undermining women power. So, let’s stop barking at the wrong tree and choose our battles wisely.