Behind the smokescreen

Women empowerment

They seem to lead a charmed life but the sheen of the screen may not be that bright after all. Celebrities, the heart throbs of millions of masses, are at the receiving end of both bouquets and brickbats.

Standing in the limelight and being the subject of scrutiny of millions of people is a daunting prospect and the entry of the social media trolls has not made life any easier — for both men and women. Yet, the females in the industry face a significantly higher number of challenges, one of them being the decision to continue working after marriage or not.

An example is the announcement of Amala Paul’s divorce plans with husband AL Vijay, a filmmaker. Amala is an actor with a flourishing career in the South Indian industry. The allegation is that the reason for the separation is that her in-laws not liking  her signing so many projects. “Here are two men (husband and father-in-law) from the same industry and yet they do not want the lady of the house to work after marriage,”
says Kritika Dhawan, a professional.

 “What should we infer from this? That the entertainment industry is unsuitable for a married woman but is it perfectly acceptable to let your daughters work there? Or that work itself is unsuitable for a married woman?,” she asks.

“I don’t see Virat Kohli asked about when he plans to have a family. And has any male actor ever given up acting after he got married?,” says Gunjan Mangla, a lawyer.
      “But people feel a women’s career graph should end where their married life starts. And this is a problem across states and across industries. There are so many talented
female actors, both in the North and South Indian film industry, who have quit their profession at the peak of their careers so as to stay at home. Then one can
imagine the plight of regular women.”

“I think we are more vicious towards famous women because we can’t handle the
fact that some women have become so successful. One sees how some women leaders are teased about their personal appearances. Just imagine the things we can
say about some of the male politicians then. But we don’t do it,” says Shweta Sharma,
a professional.

At a time when women are scaling the zeniths in terms of education and career, at a time when no job remains off limits for them and at a time when a lady is in the running for the US presidential post, it is indeed unfortunate that some women are still dragged back by norms and traditions.

“The comments that people put under photographs or posts by female actors are lewd and downright abusive. It seems as if they have committed a crime by
opting for this field,” says Kritika.

Injecting a bit of humour into the debate, Shweta laughs and says, “maybe the film fraternity is too influenced by the concept of the ‘sanskari bahu’ from the mega serials — with their glittering saris, matching jewellery and ‘I-will-stay-at-home-and-cry’ attitude.”