5 Movies That Portray The Pain And Agony Of Being Indian Women

   

Written by , MA (Journalism & Mass Communication) Chaitra Krishnan MA (Journalism & Mass Communication) Experience: 5 years
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5 Movies That Portray The Pain And Agony Of Being Indian Women

Being a woman is difficult in all senses. Bleeding every month, pregnancy, and the pain of childbirth? Well, procreation is a beautiful thing, but nobody can deny that it’s painful to the core. Even after being able to do something as amazing as this, women are often labeled as the “weaker gender” and objectified as someone who is meant to take care of men’s needs. Patriarchy and misogyny have been ruling the world since time immemorial. Except for a very few communities women are always looked down on. This being the scenario in almost every place in the world, things become much worse for you if you’re an Indian woman.

An Indian girl child may or may not get a chance to be even born because female foeticide is believed to happen even today (though it’s illegal). And once she’s born, there’s still a chance that she is either killed, abandoned, or left to die only because she is a girl and the family considers her to be a burden. It’s 2020 and cases of violence against women are on the rise including rapes, domestic violence, and acid attacks. And we see only the tip of the iceberg since sometimes women themselves feel that they can’t get justice or this is what’s normal. Well, it’s not and the following Bollywood movies are proof to that. These movies are never to be missed if you are an ardent movie lover.

1. Lipstick Under My Burkha

Lipstick Under My Burkha
Image: Twitter

Lipstick Under My Burkha is a story of four women from different walks of life who share the same fate. A middle-aged widow who tries to explore her intimate desires, a teenager from a conservative Muslim family who dares to dream of being free, a young wife who seeks financial independence, and a struggling lover who is stuck between two men. These women play the protagonists in the movie and are definitely leave you feeling disturbed. Women’s desires, dreams, aspirations, and choices are very often muffled under the loudness of patriarchy. Gender roles are so strong in our society be it in a lower-income class, middle class, or even among rich families, that women hardly ever get to win in their own life. A woman’s life is controlled by everyone but her and that’s everything that Lipstick Under My Burkha is about. With an amazing storyline and a very talented cast, this movie is a must-watch to understand how often a woman is pushed into a locked room and that we all have known or experienced such situations in real life.

2. Queen

Queen
Image: Facebook @Queen The Film

Queen has a much subtle storyline and it narrates the journey of a young woman realizing her self worth and taking control of her life. Vijay breaks up with Rani just a day before their wedding because he had gone abroad and “changed” while she remained a small-town girl. Even if they were dating since years and their families were friends, it did not take Vijay a lot to break off the relationship as well as Rani’s heart. Kangana Ranaut portrayed Rani’s vulnerable and innocent character brilliantly and bagged the National award for best actress. Despite the broken heart, Rani decides to go on her Honeymoon to Paris on her own and her parents support her. The journey changes her life for the good and it’s a true eye-opener for those who let others influence their life too much.

3. Chandni Bar

Chandni Bar
Image: Twitter

Released in 2001, Chandni Bar narrates the story of a young girl, Mumtaz, whose parents get killed in a communal riot. She is forced to run away from her village overnight and reaches Mumbai along with her uncle. A character oozing perversion, her uncle gets Mumtaz to work in a night club as a dancer. Her journey from there to being a wife and a mother is quite inspiring. It shows us how a woman despite being strong-headed in front of ever obstacle that life poses in front of her is treated with nothing but pain by circumstances brought in by misogyny.

4. Pink

Minal reacts strongly when an acquaintance of hers forces himself on her. The guy and his friends take revenge on Minal by molesting her in a car after which Minal and her friends take things to the court. Pink shows us how cases like Minal’s are very difficult to win because of the inbuilt set of invisible rules and notions that our society has imposed on our minds. Thankfully, Deepak, a retired lawyer comes to their rescue and challenges these notions. When a girl says “No” it’s no regardless of who she is, what time it is, what she’s wearing, and if she’s drunk or not. This is one of the most important facts that is reinstated in this film. Well, we say it was much-needed because half of the society today seems to have forgotten it.

5. Thappad

Thappad
Image: Twitter

The recently released movie Thappad is about a wife who files for a divorce because her husband slaps her. Now we know Sandeep Reddy Vanga (director of Kabir Singh) would find the slapping very usual and a part of loving relationships but Thappad as well as we disagree. Physical punishments and aggression are never healthy behavior be it from your parents, partner, children, teacher, or anyone else in this world. Thappad is a thappad on those who believe that it’s okay to slap their wives in order to “raste pe lana” them.

While these movies are just movies, there are worse things happening around us in real life. If we can learn at least something from the women who play the lead characters in these films, it’s courage. We hope that these films inspire you to stand up against the injustice that you come across in your life. Have you watched any of these? If yes, tell us which one is you favorite and why, the comments below.

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