Women Still Stereotyped in Hindi Cinema

"Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya, Pyar Kiya Koi Chori Nahi Ki, Chup Chup Aahen Bharna Kya.." - Mughal-E-Azam

From "Mother India" to "Mother '98," it has been a rather long and challenging journey for woman in the Indian cinema, which has essentially been chauvinistically male-centered. The portrayal of women, her desires and feeling, more so her sexuality, has immensely changed.

From the passive wife of Raja Harishchandra in Dada Saheb Phalke's film by the same name in 1913 and Nargis in "Mother India," she has become a totally different woman, as portrayed by film star Rekha in "Mother '98" and by Shabana Azmi in "Fire" and "Godmother." The shift, though considerable, however, seems to have been from one stereotype to another.

Earlier, the portrayal of women's sexuality was clearly demarcated into the two stereotypes of the overt and the covert. While the latter was depicted in the first stereotype of the "pure and shy" heroine with many a moral compunctions, overt sexuality was represented by the "bad girl" vamp, who had the liberty to be anything from a permanent Mona at the side of a leering villain, to a shrewd seducer of "heroic men."

So, we had Helen seducing men with "Mehbooba, oh Mehbooba" ith her "sexy attire and movements" in "Sholey," in sharp constrast to Hema Malini's graceful, "womanly" dance for the life of her lover in the same film.

Overt expression of sexuality was "bad," and women characters with these attributes, mainly played by Nadira, Helen, Bindu, Kalpana Iyer, Sasikala, Leena Das, were associated with voyeurism and titillation, mere "sex objects" doing wriggly sensual dance numbers. And characters invariable used to die at the end of the film, showing how they had to pay for their life for having expressed too much sexuality!

The demarcations, however, seemed to have been erased in modern films. As K. Naresh Kumar, a film critic put it in his book, The Indian Cinema, Ebbs and Tides, "sex-sirens" were increasingly replaced by the "bare-n-dare" heroines of modern films, like Shilpa Shirodkar, Raveena Tandon and Mamta Kulkarni.

The water-tight divisions of the "silent-suffering" woman from that of the "seducing slut" were overthrown and a new stereotype emerged. Sexuality became associated with "bump-n-grind" song and dance sequences, rain dancing, bed-room duets, cabarets. As Kumar put it, "the disrobing process of her on-screen image, which has been hesitant and gradual a couple of decades ago is frenetic and more repeated now." The woman characters in the films were increasingly taking on the roles of "emoting and revealing." But it is not as if sexuality was not portrayed in films in the early days of Indian cinema. Noted director V. Shantaram's films were full of it. "Do Annkhen Barah Haat?" In one of his movies, a kissing scene was shown for full five minutes..? Devika Rani? Or Nadia ? In Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje?

As early as 1940s, S.S. Vasan's "Chandralekha," starring Meena Kumari, treated the theme of woman's sexuality in a major way. The depiction of Meena Kumari as the much-sought after courtesan, and her involvement with the prince engaged to a princess, is remembered to this day.

Then came Raj Kapoor's films in the 1950s. His films depicted women in a totally different light. The "Shri420" scene in which Nargis and Raj Kappor sing "Payr hua Ikraar Hua, Payr se Phir Kyon Darta Hai Dil.." continues to inspire many a song to this day. His

women were the "liberated kinds, independent and mature." "Barsaat," and "Aag?" "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" starring Zeenat Aman set a precedent for a lot of films thereafter and was appreciated by all kinds of audience for its depiction of woman's sexuality?

So did "Sangam" and Jeene Do(?) with Nargis in a swimming costume.

In the 1960s came the most famous of all, the Mughal-e-Azam. Madhubala's "Pyar kiya to darna kya," was the depiction of a really bold woman's expression of her love and desire for her man, for which she taken on even the king of the land.

The same decade saw films like Gur Dutt's Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam?, And Dev Anand's evergreen "Guide," which is about Rosy, played by Waheda Rehman, a woman's desire for the tourist guide she meets ?? and the trials and tribulations she decides to encounter to achieve her love?

Bimal Roy's Bandini, starring Nutan, came around the same time. So did Shakti Samanta's "Aradhana" and "Anamika," starring Jaya Bachchan.

The 70s saw the emergence of a key star who became a sex symbol - Rekha. Who can forget her brilliant performance in Utsav, starring against? In which she sings the midnight song.." Or Umrao Jaan, a celebration of a courtesan's love, or even greater, "Aastha." Rekhe came to symbolize the sexual nature of woman.

Though Rekha, still continues to be a crowd-puller just for this reason, she did face competition from Dimple Kapadia, who represented a totally different kind of woman in "Booby." The "hum tum ek kamre mein bandh ho, aur chabi kho jaye.." is still a major hit.

The modern films, more escapist in nature, now largely depict sexuality in a totally vulgar and obscene fashion. With a new wave of permissiveness, the role of a woman was diluted to an "insertion" in the male-dominated patriarchal scheme of things, accompanied by a shrinking of clothes. Raveena Tandon in "Mohra," Kajol in "Karan Arjun," Mamta Kulkarni in most of her films, and the most famous of all, Madhuri Dixit in all her films, including the Dhak Dhak song in "Beta," and Choli ke Peechey in "Khalnayak," all seemed to enforce the idea that a man is seduced by either dancing in rain or in the stables, and by gyrating hip movements and pelvic thrusts.

But the late 90s have brought in some relief from the stereotype. "Fire," which generate a lot of controversy by its depiction of a

woman's sexuality toward another, saw a different angle and style of depiction.

Even Rekha challenged the stereotype in "Mother '98," where she portrays the single mother of a girl, whose father she's unsure of, coz of her many flings. She questions the accepted norm, and raises the question of the freedom of woman in the matters of love and desires.

But the film has run into trouble with the censor board for precisely this reason, as sex is still very much bound by and linked to the institution of marriage, and as in society, the films are expected to show the link.

Popular cinema shows a more aggressive woman, who's not shy about her sexual feelings and is rather expressive about them, but sexuality of a woman is always linked to the ultimate aim of marriage.

As Brinda Karat, a woman activist says, "Sexuality of woman is always linked to marriage and morals, and works within the specific

moral framework. It is in keeping with the global image of a woman wherein besides being independent and expressive about her feelings, she is also bound by the "family values" framework, an idea now rapidly emerging in the West."

And there seems to be no significant shift in the portrayal of sexuality of a woman. In the 50s-60s also we had powerful love scenes. Only the aggression is new. Women's sexuality still means playing to the question of male's sexual fantasy.

Karat does not agree with the view held by the media that this expressiveness and more openness about woman's sexuality is a positive shift. "I don't even see why sexuality is portrayed the way it is now. Is vulgarity and obscenity the only way sex is expressed? It is portrayed only as titillating to male sexual fantasy," she says.

And as if to prove it right, a woman in marriage is hardly depicted as having any sexual desires. "Has there been any film showing a married woman saying I don't want to have sex for the sake of a child but for the sake of pleasure? Hasn't a married woman always supposed to be a mother or become a mother in films?" Karat asks.