The Ladies Got Their 'Self' Covered!

'Me Above Anything Else'

Since long ago, women have been considered as the beings who are a source of generating babies. But as any other person, women are much more potential than just being looked upon in terms of objectification. There are many films where women characters are shown to be devoted. If there is greatness in women, then her sacrifice is portrayed as its backstory but, some filmmakers are an exception to portraying women stereotypically. Even if the women are devoted or objectified in films like Queen (Vikas Bahl), Parched (Leena Yadav), English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde), Lipstick Under My Burkha (Alankrita Srivastava), etc, they revolt back sooner or later. One of such filmmakers is Anurag Kashyap. He portrays women extraordinarily on screen. The women in his films are aware of their own existence, they have an active self consciousness, and they love themselves.

Paro (Mahie Gill) Dev D

Paro (Mahie Gill) is a young, middle-class girl living in Punjab. She loves Dev since childhood. Dev (Abhay Deol) is a son of a rich businessman who studies in London. Paro and Dev are in a long-distance relationship. Their distance fades when Dev returns to India. Paro loves Dev with all her heart but, when Paro realizes that Dev is suspicious of her character, she neither begs around Dev, nor justifies her side rigorously. Her no is not ego but self-respect. She chooses her self-respect, agrees and decides to marry Bhuvan with whom her marriage is arranged. Her love is passionate but also independent. Her love does not oblige her to obey. Paro embraces her 'self', and chooses her way of life mindfully.

Chanda/Leni (Kalki Koechlin) Dev D

Chanda/Leni (Kalki Koechlin) is a school going girl living in Delhi who is half European. A MMS scandal of Leni is leaked by her boyfriend which leads to miserable turn of events in her life. It seems like she is responsible for the destruction of their house and her father's suicide. After her father's death, she is sent to a small rural town by her family. There she gets threatened of honor killing and due to this she elopes from there. She returns to Delhi and starts working as a prostitute at night and studies during the day. This is where she adopts the name Chanda. Her profession is not linked to her character; whereas it comes to a point, that the sexual desire or curiosity which broke her brutally eventually becomes her profession. However, when looked closely, it appears that Chanda is trying to overcome the guilt of her past and is living for herself. She learns to love and accept herself in the first place, and then seen to be loving Dev unconditionally. Hence, Paro and Chanda from Dev D are self-aware women who are cognizant of their inadequacy and are attempting to live their lives by subverting patriarchy at their level.

Nagma Khatoon (Richa Chaddha) Gangs of Wasseypur

 

Durga (Reema Sen) Gangs of Wasseypur

Nagma (Richa Chaddha) and Durga (Reema Sen) from Gangs of Wasseypur are less powerful against patriarchy than Paro and Chanda. I think they are bound by the time and the social environment in which they live. Wasseypur in the film is a land of local mafias and their revenge passing on from the 40s to 2004. Three generations are the canvas here with a common motive of seeking revenge of the past. In terms of Nagma and Durga, it is seen that their behaviour is not too subordinate to men. Durga in Indian mythology refers to a brave goddess. Durga turns upon planning for her own husband’s murder to let his son be his heir. This act of Durga reaching this extent is also because of her being jealous of Nagma as she is Sardar Khan’s (Manoj Bajpayee) wife in actual sense; whereas Durga is a keep. After he returns to continue living with Nagma, she chooses her intuition of acquiring Sardar Khan’s position by killing him for her son to carry forward his ‘legacy’.  Nagma does not let her life fall apart, even when her husband was living with another woman. She builds her existence on her own strength and avoids the help of others. Nagma is comparatively weaker than Durga in terms of acquisition, but they both do possess self-respect. One refuses to take help from others against her husband and one avoids sharing her husband in any way, instead she prefers to kill him. 

Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) and Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui)
Gangs of Wasseypur

Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) is a millennial. She is aware of her 'self' and sexuality too. Mohsina is seen to be voicing the fact that there is not a problem when her lover wants to hold her hand, but before doing so, “Permission lena chahiye”. She does not silently cry over it. She speaks up and ironically Faizal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) seems to start crying as he feels guilty for offending her by trying to hold her hands without her permission. Furthermore, she then subtly makes him calm down and lets him hold her hand. Her speaking up does not let him dominate her denial.

Ruth Edscer (Kalki Koechlin) That Girl in Yellow Boots

Ruth (Kalki Koechlin), which means feeling of pity, distress and grief, is all that which is felt as an audience while witnessing her journey. In this film, Ruth is a 20-year-old British girl, who sets out to find her father. Her sister committed suicide couple of years ago. Later on, Ruth receives a letter from her father to search for him. Ruth works in a massage parlour and offers ‘happy endings’. In That Girl in Yellow Boots, it is seen that Ruth is fully aware that whoever she meets around in Mumbai, they all look at her only in the context of sexuality and hardly consider her feelings. With that force, she successfully pulls off her own tasks. She does all that it takes to fulfil her purpose of searching for her father. Even when she faces the lows and demotivation during her journey, she chooses her will and curiosity to keep searching, irrespective of the outcome.

Rumi Bagga (Taapsee Pannu) Manmarziyaan

Rumi (Taapsee Pannu), a young woman in her mid 20s, is a very brave and effective character in comparison to the above-mentioned characters. Rumi is a hockey player. She is an orphan, but lives with her uncle, aunt, cousin and other family members in Amritsar. She is having an affair with Vicky, (Vicky Kaushal) a part-time DJ who is aspiring to be Yo Yo Honey Singh. Vicky is a guy who fears commitment. Rumi says, "Tu banda na bada sahi hai, lekin zimmedari ke naam pe hag deta hai". There is no opposition for this marriage from any of their families; however Vicky resists from getting married with Rumi. Rumi wants to take this relationship further with responsibility and Vicky wants to have fun without any responsibilities. They both even elope one fine day. Vicky forgets to carry his wallet and it shows his casual attitude towards their relationship. Frustrated by this behaviour of Vicky, Rumi agrees for an arranged marriage with Robbie, (Abhishek Bachchan) a banker working in London. Robbie is aware of Rumi's relationship with Vicky and yet he agrees to marry her. After a series of events, Rumi marries Robbie and the story unfolds further. Everything that Rumi does begin with prioritizing her wants and needs. Rumi knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. Even though she is confused, she somehow manages to clear it out, even if it takes time to do so. Rumi makes mistakes, feels guilty and makes up for it too.

Paro, Chanda, Nagma, Durga, Mohsina, Ruth and Rumi- all these women challenge the dominance of men within their strength in their respective time and place, according to their developed understanding. They face the same problems which usually women go through, but they do not give in to the situation. They stand firm in the situations, overcome them and fight for their own rights. These characters loving themselves stands primary, the rest falls secondary, as it seems easy for them to conquer the secondary. They are potential enough to get what they want.

(Images are sourced from Google.)