Women in Indian Movies

chillibreeze writer — Moumita Bhattacharjee

The Indian film industry is considered the biggest and largest entertainment industry in the world. Indian cinema has seen many memorable performances by various actresses. However, often their presence in films is reduced to nothing more than the hero’s love interest.

The three act structure

Most film’s storyline follows a three-act structure:

An introduction of characters,
A plot point
And a climax

Similarly, women’s presence in a film starts with her character’s introduction as hero’s love interest, then as an emotional accomplice midway into the film and just for a hug at the end of the film. Women had nothing much to contribute to the film. This phenomenon found prominence in the late 80s to early 90s.

The Past

Earlier, films were of historic or mythological kind. Thus, the gods were generally males sprinkled with a few female goddesses here and there. And in the case of an historic film, there were the kings and their kingdoms, with women folk just as the King’s queens.

However, in the 1920s-30s, there were women who made their mark in the Hindi film industry assertively. Devika Rani is considered the first lady of Indian Cinema. She, along with her producer-cum-actor husband, Himashu Rai, churned memorable films like Karm and Savitri. Her pairing with Ashok Kumar was immortalized by films like Jeevan Naiya, Janma Bhoomi, Achut Kanya, Izzat, Savitr, etc. Nassema Bano, mother of actress Saira Bano, was a great actress of her time. She was immensely beautiful and Sohrab Modi’s hit film Pukar (1939) made her a successful actress. Others in the league were, Shobna Samarth, Noorjehan, Khursheed and Suraiya. All of them are legends in their own rights and helped in shaping the Indian Cinema.

In the 1950s and 60s, Indian Cinema experienced one of the most illustrious times. Films were made to please the masses. During those times, many females showed their prowess as stars and actresses of immense talent. Madhubala, known for her touch-me-not beauty, starred in many films that made her a household name. Her career started with Kidar Sharma’s Neel Kamal. Though she featured in many hit movies, all these films were more male-centric. In Chalti Ka Naam Gaddi, though she matched equally well with the three Kumar brothers, the film was hugely dominated by the male league. There were other actresses who made their debuts in hit films. Nargis, another starlet, made a great pairing with Raj Kapoor but was just a point of pity in all the films as the whole story revolved around Raj and his turmoil to make a better living. She was widely respected as a great actress but her role in all these films were nothing more then Raj Kapoor’s ladylove, until she immortalized herself with a power-packed performance in Mother India. There are exceptions in the form of Meena Kumari, who was known as the tragedy queen of those times. She was one actress who had specific films written just for her giving her the king-size role. Even then, actresses like Nutan, Vyajantimala, Waheeda Rehman who proudly displayed their talents were not mere showpieces either.

The 1990s was the era which saw heroes beating up goons in the majority of the films that were released. Heroines were just centerpieces and had common dialogues like, ‘Bachao, Bachao’, ‘Kaminey, Chod De Muj’e, etc. In movies like, Balwan, Mohra, Tezaab, Parinda, Beta, Phool Aur Kaante, Parampara, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Bazzigar, etc. the actress used to be the point of attraction for the heroes.

The violence in society marked the story of most of the films and thereby, required actors like, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Sunny Deol, to take care of the bashing up of the villains. But obviously, there were respites in the form of Damini, Swati, Khamoshi-the musical, Mrityudand, Maachis, Rudaali, Bandit Queen, Roja, Sangharsh, etc. However, these movies were restricted to critical acclaim and their box-office performance never matched that of other commercial films.

Many bright actresses like Meenakshi Sheshadri (Ghayal), Madhuri Dixit (Raja), Raveena Tandon (Mohra), succumbed to this fate and worked in movies where their roles were meager to nothing. With such movies in circulation, the female audiences always felt left out or cheated to see the state of girls being so weak and demoralizing in films. The wardrobe exhibition which the heroines took to towards the end of the 20th century made them more prone to being just a glamour doll.

The present
It won’t be true to say that the state of women has changed in films. But they do get more than just a sing and dance kind of role. Nevertheless, they are still signed on to create the oomph factor in the story, clad in skimpy clothes. However, trends are changing and nowadays, the present female breed in the industry are in a position to showcase maximum of their acting talents with movies like, Parineeta, Jab We Met, Black, Naina, Bhoot, etc. Even then, the box-office is ruled by the male brigade who seem to have gained more importance than earlier. Actresses like Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Sameera Reddy, etc. are seen more as item girls than actors. However, Rani Mukerj is an exception, thanks to her alliance with Yash Rajs. She is getting innumerable opportunity to showcase her potential in films like, Laga Chunri Mei Daag, HumTum etc. But then, it’s always Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan who wins the race.

Though the Indian film industry has by grown leaps and bounds in terms of story and technology, the women’s league seems to be in the same place it previously was. With films like Drona, wherein a woman plays the role of a bodyguard, the future is a bit bright but at the end of the day, it depends on the story of the film to justify it.

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Moumita says, "As a writer, I would like to write on every issue under the sun. But since I mostly write on Bollywood and health care, I am confident in
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