A study of virtuous female murderers in Hindi films

Murderous women in Hindi films are beautiful. A beauty with a razor-sharp intent that wants to draw blood.Some of them kill people for selfish reasons: Simi Garewal’s character Cults (1980) kills her husband for colluding with the enemy.Kajol’s character Gupt: The hidden truth (1997) eliminates anyone who gets in the way of her love life. There is a woman whose instinct for murder is so gruesome. Consider Urmila Matondkar as a haphazard serial killer. Coun? (1999) — She lures unsuspecting men to her home and murders them.Lady Macbeth style character from Taboo Andadun (2018), she murders her husband and does whatever it takes to eliminate witnesses. But there is another category of female killers in Bollywood, perhaps the most prominent. It’s a “noble murderer.”

When a woman commits murder on screen, it not only subverts traditional feminine notions of kindness and delicacy, it also places her center stage in the story, something that rarely happens when she is a passive paragon of virtue. I will stand. When such acts of violence are carried out to protect her loved ones or take revenge, this is especially true when it concerns children, she can even evoke intense sympathy from the audience. The dichotomy between a vulnerable, family-oriented woman and a cold-blooded murderer is delicious and compelling. It is further reinforced in cultures that worship vengeful goddesses like Durga and Kali, who embody feminine anger, power, and destruction.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

1988s Khun Bali Maan, Aarti (Rekha) is a recently widowed mother of two. Aarti literally goes through her ordeal as a new woman when her new girlfriend husband Sanjay (Kabir Bedi) chases her property and pushes her into a crocodile-infested sea. She undergoes plastic surgery to repair her mutilated face and she dons a glamorous and seductive avatar. It is very different from her earlier unassuming look where she wore a simple salwar kameez and had a noticeable birthmark on her face. She wants to take revenge for what Sanjay did to her, but her motive in her aarti is mainly to take revenge on the children and pets who are tormented by Sanjay and her accomplices in Aarti’s absence. It’s all about love.

At the climax of the film, Aarti approaches the villains on horseback, wearing black leather and brandishing a rifle. It would have been easy for her to report them to the police and take revenge, but she confesses that her attraction to taking their punishment into her own hands was irresistible. In the ensuing fight scene, Aarti whips Sanjay and begins her quick gallop while dragging him backwards with her lasso. Eventually, Sanjay dangles from the edge of a cliff, begging for mercy as a crocodile lurks in the waters below. Aarti hits him on the head with an iron rod and he falls to a tragic death. She gasped in relief as the water turned red and Sanjay’s screams rent the air. In the final scene of the film, Aarti tearfully hugs her children.

The climax is the day of Durga Puja. Kahaani (2012), the story unfolds as Vidya (Vidya Balan) orchestrates a final showdown with one of the men responsible for the death of her husband (and unborn child). For most of her film, she appears to be helpless, but that perception of her is reinforced by her apparent pregnancy, and she seeks help from the men around her. Vidya, who is neither child-bearing nor sickly, tries to carry out her carefully laid plans without arousing her suspicions, while being aware of her own helplessness. She stabbed her enemy with a hairpin and then shot him with her own gun. She made a smooth escape before police arrived at the crime scene and faced no legal repercussions for her actions. As an audience member, it will be difficult to contain your joy at this development.

Lynn Gardner writes of the depiction of murderous women on stage: “In theater, it sometimes seems like the only way for women to escape the terrible burden of gender roles and femininity is to shove a knife into a man’s chest or take aim with a gun.” And they don’t miss out. I am careful to do so. ” By committing acts of violence, these female characters are stepping into roles that are primarily reserved for men, roles that confer power and agency, even if they are ultimately found guilty. Aarti and Vidya are both women who are undermined by other characters in the film (and by the audience), but are ultimately forced to take justice into their own hands and reveal their true intentions. will be done. Additionally, the noble motives of good murderers help them get away with their crimes. Instead, an open indictment is saved for the men they murdered. Both Aarti and Vidya achieve their goals, resulting in a sense of catharsis and restoration of justice. We also see two women moving forward with satisfaction in their own stories.

mother knows best

in mother (2017), Sridevi plays Devki, a woman who longs for affection from her teenage stepdaughter. When a girl is brutally raped and left for dead at a party and her assailant is released from Scotland, Devki decides to take her revenge as her vigilante. With an arsenal filled with everything from castration to cyanide, she takes down her attackers one by one. The last and most violent of them is shot dead by her, and the film ends on a heartwarming note. Finally, Devki’s stepdaughter recognized her as “mother”.

A bright new addition to the ranks of Bollywood’s virtuous female killers Merry ChristmasKatrina Kaif plays Maria in the movie. (Spoilers for Sriram Raghavan Merry Christmas ) Her husband Jerome is constantly cruel to Maria, is violent towards her under the influence of drugs, and regularly cheats on her. Maria is willing to tolerate this abuse up to a point, but when Jerome begins to take out her anger on her young daughter Annie, she becomes red-hot. Although his actions are not explicitly depicted, it is implied that he abused Annie to the point of rendering her speechless. Although Maria outwardly pretends to be calm, she is secretly working out her plan to get rid of Jerome and live happily ever after with her daughter. Maria is calculating but not ruthless. She’s evil, but not nefarious. She’s a murderer with a strong sense of morality, and someone you can’t help but root for. The setting of this elaborate murder case during Christmas, a time of mercy and merrymaking, exemplifies this dichotomy.

the good guys in these movies

The ultimate success and happy endings of these murderous women often come at the expense of the well-meaning men in their lives.in Kahaani, Rana (Parambrata Chatterjee) works closely with Vidya under the impression that Vidya is helping her get to the bottom of her husband’s disappearance. He even develops a slight crush on her. In the end, he ends up being upset by her deception.Nawazuddin Siddique character mother He is a detective who supports Devki in every way. He ends up being killed by one of the criminals as collateral damage.in Jaan Jaan (2023), Kareena Kapoor plays Maya, a single mother who kills her mean ex-husband to protect her daughter. She enlists the help of her shady neighbor Naren (Jadeep Ahlawat), who is obsessed with her girlfriend, to cover her tracks. At the end of the film, Naren chooses to spend several years in prison to atone for Maya’s crimes and exonerate his girlfriend Maya.bittersweet ending Merry Christmas The film depicts Maria walking away with a surprise marriage proposal and a free life with her daughter, even as things look very bleak for Albert, played by Vijay Sethupati.

The idea of ​​a heroine being punished for her actions, after we’ve come to empathize with her over the course of the film, is unpleasant to even think about. So the “good guy” who sacrifices himself for her almost feels like a surrogate for the man who hurt her in the first place, and in these movies (all directed by men), it’s kind of There is a perverse balancing act going on. This allows the woman to preserve her innocence in the eyes of the law, but otherwise the nuances behind her murder motive may not be considered. Courts of opinion, on the other hand, have long condoned women’s actions as stemming from honorable intentions.

This benevolent killer is driven by pain, anger, and love, a combination that becomes even more powerful when she is a woman or mother forced into violence by circumstances. The outrage is justified and the ending resonates, even if the impact of her murder is softened by some gruff ’80s crocodile or Sriram Raghavan’s pure direction. No matter what she does or who she kills, her actions are justified by the grammar of the film.

There’s something captivating about a woman fighting back against men who wronged her. She is portrayed in parallel with her caring nature and her lethality. When Aarti confronts Sanjay at the climax, Khun Bali Man, Sanjay ruthlessly dismisses her as a “weak woman” and a “stupid woman”. She puts him squarely in her place. “Demon, you have not yet seen what women are capable of. You have been treating women as playthings for years and you have yet to face the wrath of a woman.”