Behind the wheel

Leisure, liberty, livelihood, and life lessons. Pragyan Mohanty explores what driving has meant for women in Hindi cinema

Debutant director Tarun Dudeja’s ‘Dhak Dhak’, out on Netflix, tells an uplifting albeit slightly predictable story of self-discovery and sisterhood of four women bikers. Varying in their ages and lifestyles, the quartet embarks on a biking trip to Ladakh’s Khardung La pass. For the most part of Hindi cinema, women’s association with vehicles and driving has been cursory and done with a sexist, gleeful sense of wonder or amusement. To have a film entirely focused on a group of proficient riders that’s not patronising is almost refreshing.

In ‘Bluff Master’ (1963), the heroine slaps a harasser who comments inappropriately about her riding a two-wheeler. Through sexist dialogues and gags, Hindi films have contributed to the tired cliché that women are clumsy, temperamental drivers. The bratty heroine driving carelessly, causing public damage, and getting schooled about civic sense by the hero was a heavily-used trope. Men driving and women on the pillion is a common sight in our films mirroring conventional gender roles. Also consider the number of songs we have of the hero serenading the heroine on car or bike. But gender stereotypes are breaking. More women are independent and in the workforce. Cinema reflects this change, too.

Contemporary movies routinely feature women in the driver’s seat. The protagonists of ‘Jazbaa’, ‘Piku’, ‘NH10’ (2015) — all successful professionals — are competent drivers. In ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ (2022) and ‘Sultan’ (2016) respectively, Mona Singh and Anushka Sharma’s characters handle the tractor for farming. Most current generation actresses have rode a bike on screen. Women aviators have entered the scene with films like Gunjan Saxena (2020), Tejas (2023) and Deepika Padukone’s upcoming aerial actioner, Fighter (2024). Kareena Kapoor’s runaway bride riding a yellow scooter to meet the love of her life in ‘3 Idiots’ (2009) is an enduring image of our times.

Looking back, the humble bicycle has been a constant companion of the celluloid ladies. The heroine and her friends out on a ride (Padosan’s (’68) “Main chali”), the hero trying to woo his ladylove (Paying Guest’s (’57) “Mana janaab”), couples singing breezy duets (Bewaqoof’s (’60) “Michael hai toh cycle”) — a cycle song was a regular fixture of Bollywood movies.

Affluent ladies would generally be shown travelling in chauffeur-driven cars. On occasions they were on the steering wheel, it’d be as a hobby or on outings. Rich college girls entered the campus in cool convertibles. ‘Waqt’’s (1965) Renu, a thoughtful, posh car-driving heiress, falls for her poor classmate and teaches him to drive which later comes handy for him. ‘Haseena Maan Jayegi’ (1968), ‘Jawani Diwani’, and ‘Samadhi’ (’72) each has its leading lady driving an open-top. Vamps and molls in swanky cars would be engaged in smuggling or other shady businesses with cops on their heels. Early action superstar Fearless Nadia’s movies always had incredible stunts involving horses, trains, and cars. Interestingly, a Rolls Royce and an Austin Nadia regularly drove in many of her films received star billing in posters and title credits as “Rolls Royce Ki Beti” and “Austin Ki Bachchi.”

Scooters became popular among Indians the moment they arrived in the early ‘50s. For films of that era and later, nothing symbolised a modern woman better than one riding a two-wheeler. In ‘Dil Aur Mohabbat’ (1968), Sharmila Tagore rides a Lambretta while Sadhana has a Vespa in ‘Aap Aye Bahaar Ayee’ (’71). The ubiquitous Kinetic Honda pops up as trusted transport for young women of the ’80s and the ’90s — ‘Majaal’ (1987), ‘Yalgaar’ (’92), and ‘Yes Boss’ (’97) to name a few. Leading ladies riding motorbikes and performing stunts was a major draw of the ’80s potboilers. There’s also the free-spirited female prototype. From Naseeb’s (1981) independent-minded Asha to ‘Ijaazat’’s (1987) whimsical Maya to ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’’s (2011) live-in-the-moment Laila, our filmmakers’ idea of a bold, feisty woman — one on a motorcycle — hasn’t changed.

Leisure, livelihood, life lessons, and liberty — driving has meant various things for women in Hindi cinema. For ‘Queen’’s (2013) Rani, the experience of driving unassisted in a foreign country is both liberating and reassuring as she’s reminded of her chauvinistic fiancé’s dismissiveness. Bollywood’s most famous woman driver Basanti – ‘Sholay’’s (1975) chatterbox tonga driver — is an empowering figure. In a physically demanding profession dominated by men, she carries on with a no-nonsense, self-sufficient attitude and with great care towards her work partner, Dhanno — the carriage-drawing mare. Sometimes driving channels violence. ‘Karz’’s (1980) Kamini brutally murders her newlywed husband by repeatedly running him over with a jeep to inherit his fortune. The coldness with which she commits the crime makes her one of the most ruthless antagonists of Hindi cinema. In NH10, the heroine’s climactic drive in her perpetrators’ SUV becomes an expression of her grief, anxiety, and rage as she sets out to eliminate them after surviving a night of relentless horror and abuse.

The best take on the subject comes from an unlikely film. In the classic comedy ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ (1958), Madhubala’s Renu and Kishore Kumar’s Mannu get introduced on a rainy night. Renu’s car has broken down and she approaches Mannu, a car mechanic for help. A brief squabble later, Mannu asks her, “Driver kahaan hai?” “Main khud drive karti hoon,” Renu responds. It’s a delightful meet-cute. What makes the scene cooler is how naturally it establishes the heroine — a modern, confident woman doing her own driving — without being indulgent or patronising. Cars and their mechanisms and operation are significant to the film’s narrative, and ‘Chalti Ka…’ gives its female characters an equal footing on this. The other female lead, Sheela (Sahira) also drives cars, understands their mechanics, and can do basic repair and maintenance. The message: the women are aware and in control — of their cars and lives — is effortless and effective. And not many Hindi films, to date, have been able to achieve that.