Bollywood and Gender Equality

sunlight
I agree with your statements on our films and Hollywood trash..

But DDLJ is not a movie that I would use to portray a strong women.
That is really stretching things. I could read terrific meaning into Hum dil de chuke sanam etc if necessary. Even the excerable and ham-handed ``Black`` was a wee bit better in the portrayal of women.

There are better movies out there.

Re: # 17
And that should read as ``the execrable and ham-handed Black.``

mr author,

1. bollywood is NOT south asian..its indian
1.a. pakis dont get any commentry rights unless they pay roayaltees

so buzzz-off.. or fuckoff..whichever you prefer..hope you get the point.

sincerely, jang

no one takes it seriously but bollywood does leave some impression on ur mind.......bollywood has improves.........many movies r made with women as leading roles......and many portray women positively like.....Dhoom.......the girl is a cop afterall.......and Hum dIl Dey CHukey Sanam!
I wont say DDlJ is a good portrayal of women.......somehow Bollywood find its hard to come out of ishq.......u will say they got many movies like Iqbal which has no ishq.....but still.....a huge majority does have em......why?

Indian movies if have any they`ve one quality -- you seen one -- you seen them all --

the immature superficial garish tearjerkers -- in fact mirror an emotionally immature Indian society that never gets tired of repeating itself -- not only in the past 75 years -- in the past 2275 years.......in a style that has not advanced one iota -- from the Indian drum beating Nautanki days......

Re: # 21
Nasah,
You have your viewpoint, I have mine, While I will agree with your statement as it applies to most of the Indian film industry, I would say that all Indian films cannot be tarred with the same brush.
Especially regional cinema which has definitely been more ground breaking than Bollywood and its ilk. There is far more to offer than tears, songs and the eternal love story.
And how can we comment on the past 2275 years when we are not even able to understand the variety that exists in our lifetimes? -)

Did you by any chance see a movie called ``Godhuli``?

Re: # 22

haven`t seen Ghoduli -- what`s it all about?

It`s been a long time so I don`t remember much about it. It`s a film by Girish Karnad and B V Karanth. It deals with a young man who comes back to India with a foreign wife and his relationship with the village, his mother, the people there.

Godhuli is actually literally translated as Cow dust. It is the dust that rises in the evening as the cowherds bring their cows back home. When I saw it I thought it was one of the best films made in the late 70`s. It just came to me as I was writing to you.

But there are so many good films even in Hindi. You know, Bhuvan Shome, Nishant , Aakrosh, Manthan, Ardh Satya, Shatranj ke Khilari, Chakra, Garm Hawa. Even commercial ones like, Rajnigandha, Katha, Aavishkar, Anubhav .... .

#17 by swarrier
But DDLJ is not a movie that I would use to portray a strong women.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sorry I didn`t make myself clear. I didn`t say that DDLJ portrays strong women.

What I said is that Hindi movies protest the patriarchal system by other ways than ``portraying strong women``. In DDLJ, for example, because Simran and her mother submit to the will of Amrish Puri, and Amrish Puri later accepts that he was wrong.

Western ``social reform`` movies typically show a struggle between an dominant party and a struggling party, glorify the violence committed by the struggling party in its own defence and generally end with the violent destruction of one of the parties.

Indian movies typically show the struggling party (temporarily) submitting to the dominant party, which awakens the dominant party`s conscience, which ends with a reconciliation between the dominant and struggling parties.

Re: # 25

Yes that is another way of looking at it and it is valid. But since most of us people are used to Western ideas we tend to subscribe to their solutions. I must admit I like the blood and thunder variety myself. Though you will notice that compromise does exist in European movies.

This is also why most Indian movies never make it into the western purview. The current spate of Iranian movies earning plaudits, is because they take well known themes like Ibsen`s plays and put it in an Iranian setting.

Hollywood is the worst offender in this respect because they always like to give awards to feel good flicks that they are a trifle familiar with.

Not to say that all our Bollywood trash is worth watching.

I think Bollywood has made a lot of good movies. Any movie making making industry has to have a mix of movies. The industry has to make money and parallel cinema or art movies are not money making movies. But it doesn`t mean that these movies are not good. As far as the role of women in the entertainment industry is concerned, a lot needs to be done. But the responsibility does not lie only with directors and producers it also lies with the actor. The woman who is dancing half naked on the cinema screen is doing so out of choice.

I used to watch a lot of indian cinema but now most of the films are not my cup of tea. I only watch movies which people recommend. I do miss the time when you could differenciate between the vamp and the leading lady.

I have recently seen WATER and it was amazing.