Bollywood knows it rather too well. A woman seeking a man/partner must be a nymph. Sex-starved, and desperate. Ready to throw herself at anyone. And a woman seeking justice from government machinery must be the fallen one. A vengeful one. A loud one. A shrill one.
Native language films knew these mistaken vamps till recently too. One wonders whether it was a Covid-induced sanity among people, or directors’ luck — two women spoke succinctly and assertively on the big screen in Kannada. What a relief it was to watch them say what they ‘want’. In a thriller film Act 1978, a film by young director Mansore the pregnant Geetha lays siege over a government office that has employees refusing to disburse relief money sanctioned to her by the government, because the lady has refused to grease their hands. She straps tiny bombs around her pregnant midriff and reaches the office. The cops are stunned to learn that the person who has taken over a government office is a WOMAN! A woman? Like really? First time a cop calls her on the wireless, he is rather dismissive of her. His rather callous ‘En beku ninge? (what do you want) is met with her cold, unemotional, unwavering tone. ‘First of all, inspector, I want respect’. RESPECT. How many years did it take women to say this word like they meant it?
Dressed in a hand-me-down saree, essaying a non-glamorous role, Yajna Shetty is probably what normal middle-class, non-IT, semi-urban women are. They are feminists in their own space. Hopeless, yet trudging on. Because losing hope is not a choice anymore.
Another film with a very refreshing portrayal of a woman is in Arishadvarga, directed by Arvind Kamath. In her late thirties, married second time, keen on having a baby with her older husband is film editor Kruti Bhat, portrayed by Anju Alva Naik. The husband isn’t able to meet any prerequisites to be a father. The moment of dawn happens when she tells him she has ‘NEEDS’. No cleavage showing. No butt crack enticement. No item song, trying to get his nonchalant or insecure attention. Just a plain statement. ‘Needs’. Simple and clean.
These two movies were what the Kannada audiences were served when the theatres opened their doors after a long lockdown. Hopefully, some male minds may have known catcalls aren’t as classy as treating a woman with dignity.
Women too may well claim their space in movie theatres against crass objectification and double entendre jokes for want of better masculinity.
Both movies have had a very long and promising run so far, even during times of distress. If anything, this is an indicator of how we need to work on picking ourselves up and start claiming spaces.
The year 2020 wrapping up is just not about closure of a year. We are stepping into the freshly minted third decade of the millennium. The earth has probably gone through a lot of reset mode by now. Mentally, physically and socially we have had a rough time.
Science is working furiously to find a firewall to it, in the form of a vaccine. But the smart virus has now mutated, creating more cousins that may be a bit tough to tame yet. Religion has shown itself out of this mess for a little while and soon as the vaccine is out for mass administration.
However, politics has been running as usual. That all-season-game has peaked itself soon after the initial phase of fear vanished. Except for leaders visiting each other’s country as a routine, everything is back to being as murky and devoid of any human considerations. Ah! Isn’t that how it has always been?
Let’s be warned. We are on the threshold of a mental health crisis looming large. Experts have said post-Covid, the world will grapple with a plethora of severe imbalances in mental health issues across the globe. The gender angle in this is too stark to ignore.
According to the results of a survey published in Forbes, over 27% women (against 10% men) had reported an increase in challenges with regard to mental health.
Unpaid labour had increased exponentially during this phase of staying indoors. 55% women lost jobs faster than 34% men.
A study is waiting to be done in India and other third world countries to understand the complex situation we are in.
The numbers and disparity, I am sure, will be more alarming than this, though not surprising.
(The author is a journalist deeply seeped into the theatre of (&) politics.)