Can you compare the women of Bollywood with the women of Hollywood? – DW – 2024/02/06

India’s Hindi film industry, Bollywood, is based in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai. The name Bollywood is a combination of Bombay, the old name of the city of Mumbai, and Hollywood, the glamorous American blockbuster film industry.

The name Bollywood was coined in the 1970s to make one of the world’s most successful industries more approachable to Western audiences.

But is it possible to compare Bollywood and Hollywood, especially when it comes to women working in films?

The simple answer is no, says Priyanka Singh, a lecturer in film studies at the University of Leeds who specializes in female authorship and representation in Indian cinema. She said, “In India, movies are like a religion.”

Early days of India’s nation-building

In the early days, Bollywood and Hollywood films had very different goals, objectives, and audiences. Therefore, the portrayal of women on screen was also different.

Bollywood was just a few decades removed from India’s independence from British colonial rule in 1947, and cinema was under heavy strain.

The first Indian International Film Festival was held under the leadership of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who emphasized the role of cinema in nation-building.

“Movies have come to have a huge impact on people’s lives,” he says. “It can educate them right or it can educate them wrong.”

Films of the time reflected the government’s strong socialist policies and the glorification of women as indefatigable peasants and the embodiment of Indian ideals.

“Mother India” (1957) is the story of a woman who rises from extreme poverty, the temptation of “immorality,” and unspeakable hardship to find a prosperous life in a developed land. A land that she refuses to leave until she is revived.

This portrayal was burdened with the challenge of setting an example by portraying the qualities of the so-called perfect woman.

“Post-independence women had to sacrifice, persevere and be the perfect embodiment of femininity,” Singh told DW.

Early Hollywood: Subversive Maidens

Far from showcasing a nation’s values ​​in an alternate world, Hollywood’s darlings were disrupting America’s traditional Christian values.

Hollywood blossomed as America’s favorite escapist art form. Throughout the 1920s and her 30s, female protagonists caused scandals for men and women alike.

In these stories, like “Babyface” (1933), women used sex to become wealthy and happy.

Not long after, during the “Golden Age of Hollywood,” their successors thrilled audiences, hooked them, or both.

Nowadays, there are ground rules on Bollywood film sets that create a safe space for consent in intimate scenes, but in the 1980s and 1990s, the dark ages of Hindi cinema, women became wives, mothers. , were depicted as either prostitutes or pathological. He is fat to get cheap laughs from the audience.

Reflecting on the lack of checks and balances in the depiction, Singh told DW: “We need to define ethics when it comes to Indian cinema.”

Woman: “I don’t necessarily mean feminine.”

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, female protagonists save space missions in films such as Alien (1971), quietly defeat psychopaths in Silence of the Lambs (1991), or, as seen in the movies, literally do their best. was. “Thelma and Louise” (1991).

in his paper“The ’80s were a decade of great change that gave the Hollywood industry and American cinema its modern shape and form,” writes MJ Bakhtiari in “The Evolution of Women’s Roles in the United States.”

But in Bollywood, feminism was in a different place.

Low-budget films like Manthan (1976), Mirchi Masala (1986) and Arsu (1982) are still produced by a small number of filmmakers and film schools forming what is called parallel cinema. It was the domain of a clique of graduates. It has little resonance with the public.

“Indian independent films are ahead of their time, and authorship has become very important,” Singh told DW.

The concept that “female doesn’t necessarily mean feminine” pervaded both industries, but they were projected in different directions.

The poignant social commentary about wives and mothers, the invisible heroes of the Indian family, was almost entirely made by men.

For example, “Astitva” (2000) and “Lajja” (2001) were conceived, directed and produced by men.

Recent Bollywood films like Queen (2013), Piku (2015) and Thappad (2022) are all stories of uncompromising young women who bring about lasting change. Ta.

Along with Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022), which won one of the commercial awards that year, these films turned out to be dark horses in the stable of successful and prominent male mainstream makers.

The Hollywood wave is being caused and led by women

Mainstream Hollywood lovebirds came together and swapped roles as producers, directors, and screenwriters.

Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s collaboration for the historic Barbie (2023) is the latest example.

Hollywood’s top studios, which are still overwhelmingly male-dominated, are churning out multi-million dollar superhero movies featuring female protagonists in skintight silicone suits that don’t seem realistic. ing.

“Wonder Woman” (2017), “Catwoman” (2004) and “Black Widow” (2021) continue to be pin-up favorites.

Bollywood’s record success in recent years has been built on the backs of commercially successful heroines who literally fell on their knees.

The male protagonists of “Kabir Singh” (2019) and now “Animal” (2023) establish their power and relevance based on their brutality and misogyny.

As much as we would like to tout the objectification of women in Bollywood as a thing of the past, it remains a hot topic.

Editor: Keith Walker