Actresses reflect on Womens Day

The status of women in society & cinema

Actresses reflect on Women's Day

Subhash K Jha

To be Indian and to be a woman is not easy. It's is this trait that is celebrated in our cinema. While on one end R Balki makes a progressive film like Ki & Ka where the husband happilyy swaps the traditional housewife's role with his working wife, a film like Hamari Adhuri Kahani blissfully extols the Bharatiya nari's doormat status. Caught between an archaic era and a progressive India, After Hrs asked some important female voices of Bollywood what it means to be a woman and an actress in this country. Read on...

I'd caution our talented female stars to pause and think and then make an informed choice...

"Shabana Azmi

"India lives in several centuries simultaneously. Her people encapsulate all the contradictions that arise from being a multi-cultural multi-religious multi-lingual society and is reflected in the position of Indian women. On one hand, women hold top positions in politics, corporate world, banking sector, etc., on the other hand, it's a sad reality that female foeticide is also practised. The patriarchal mindset is so deeply entrenched that it is internalised by both men and women so that a boy is privileged over a girl from the time of his birth just for being a boy! Heroines in Hindi cinema have come a long way from the Main Chup Rahoongi model of virtue. Earlier a heroines career was over at 30. Today you have a Sonam Kapoor whose career has just taken wings at 30. The traditional divide between the Madonna/ wh**e has blurred.The vamp has all but disappeared. All this is reason to celebrate but I continue to be troubled by the item number' Under the guise of celebrating her sensuality which is welcome the item number reduces the woman to becoming an object of the male gaze and commodifies her. Lyrics like "Main tandoori murg hoon mujhe gatka lo alcohol se" is being gyrated to by six-year olds and leads to the sexualisation of children. In all humility I'd caution our talented female stars to pause and think and then make an informed choice. Also filmakers must see the difference between stalking and courtship. No means No, not yes or maybe! Eve-teasing is unacceptable. However we have much to celebrate. Empowerment of women is no longer a buzz word it is central to the development paradigm.

All in all let's celebrate and pay homage to all those wonderful women who struggled for equality and created the path for us to traverse on. Happy Women's day!"

I wonder if we are truly modern and developed

"Juhi Chawla

"The status of women in India was always high. Why else would we have temples dedicated to Devis? In many parts of India, it was a matriarchal society. Though a woman's place was considered to be at home, she was respected for her place in the family. And her views were sought. Today, though we call ourselves modern and developed, I wonder if we truly are... or are we regressing? Today, we respect women not because they are women, but because they are taking on the roles of men! I was struck by someone who said , Feminism is being misunderstood. The strength of a woman lies not in the fact that she can do what men can do, It lies in the fact that she can do what men can't do'

I feel women embody love and beauty. Great strength in a delicate form. Womanhood is akin to water which flows, adjusts, adapts, gives life, yet when challenged can break the might of mountains. In cinema time and again there have been films where women have played central characters.That's why you can jog your memory and come up with names of strong women actors. Be it Nargis , Nutan,Smita Patil , Shabana Azmi or Tabu and Vidya Balan . And for all the other lovely ladies of the screen , I'd say... No love story was ever complete without a beautiful woman . It's like yin and yang... The sun and the moon... You need both to make the world go round. Amen to that."

My message to women would be do what you feel is right for you.

"Sunny Leone

"Being a woman and a professional in India ten years ago must be different from what it is today. I wasn't here 10 years ago so I don't know what it was like then. But speaking for myself in today entertainment industry women and men are definitely treated differently. Everyday we can hope that things change for the better. As far as the issue of pay parity in the entertainment industry is concerned, I don't ask others what they make, so I have no idea. All I know is that I am happy with all my arrangements and pay. And I am happy to be living in Mumbai. I am a lot more comfortable now and have been here over four years. This is my home. My message to women would be do what you feel is right for you. Your happiness is the key to your success. When you follow your dreams and are good at your craft you will find the money will follow. And the most important thing in life is to find the right person to share your life with. My husband Daniel and I are best friends and we talk through everything good and bad. We make the time for each other and make sure when needed to separate ourselves from work to be together. Marriage is about compromises do respect and if the person you are with is worth the compromises then everything gets worked."

We too have to negotiate through the deep-rooted conditioning of patriarchy.

"Nandita Das

"In an ideal world, there is no need for a Women's Day. But when the opportunities, rights and spaces are constricted for half the population, a reminder of that is necessary. Sadly the day' phenomena gets reduced to tokenism, and everybody, including the media focuses largely on the particular issue only around that day'. But we can't afford to be cynical as it undermines even the little that is happening. I am an eternal optimist and so I think it is good that at least around the 8th of March every year people are forced to focus on much neglected issues of women. At least once a year, the media does bring out interesting stories of the trials and tribulations of women and also opens up public space for debate and churning of ideas. Often urban upper class men say to women like me that we are not only equal to men but are often even more privileged than them, so why are we talking about women's rights! Firstly when we talk about rights of women, we are not talking about less than 2% women who enjoy that space and are treated less differently. While I am part of that privileged minority, we too have to negotiate through the deep-rooted conditioning of patriarchy. In fact it is this subtle onslaught that I tried to bring out in the play, Between the Lines, that I wrote, directed and acted in. In a land of paradoxes, there will always be stories of strength and empowerment but also the struggles of millions. The startling sex ratio where even the right to life of a girl child is threatened, is also a reality. And till such times that we stop being inhuman to girls and women, the Women's Day will continue to be relevant."