Kajol Says “We’re Regressing. People In The 50s And 60s Were Not Judged So Much.” She’s So Right!
In the past five-six years, I’ve been getting into a lot of political debates with people. Many of them show me receipts for the technological advancement that we’re making or the ease of business that we have now that we didn’t before. These, they claim, are masterstrokes from our government and herald a new, powerful India. But then I look around, at the society that we’re creating all these advancements for, and I wonder, “What is the point of scientific, technological and economical progress, if our society is regressing?” Our women are in more danger than ever; religious, racial and caste biases are being fanned; and we’re curbing freedom of speech like never before (read: Munawar Faruqui and Tandav). So maybe what Kajol said during a recent Tribhanga interview is right: We are regressing like crazy.
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The actress, along with her Tribhanga director Renuka Shahane and costars Tanvi Azmi and Mithila Palkar were being interviewed for Bollywood Hungama. The conversation was about debutante director Shahane’s vision for the women in Tribhanga. Shahane talked about how feminism on-screen is often restricted to sexual freedom for women. And many times, the idea of a feminist woman is that she smokes, drinks and is promiscuous in her sex life. The whole concept of feminism has become a rigid perception in people’s minds, which is the reason why it is getting a bad name.
In her movie, however, Renuka Shahane wanted to break free from these false definitions of feminism and give these women more rounded characters. So she built a world of creative women who were writers, dancers, actors, and successful at that. They were independent but not without their vulnerabilities, because strong women don’t have to be just either-or. She also wanted to steer away from the image that if a woman drinks or smokes, it doesn’t have any hold over her character.
Also Read: Tribhanga Review: A Story Of Mothers And Daughters To Watch For Its Themes And Not Execution
It was at this juncture, when Tanvi Azmi pointed out how we judge women a lot more than men when they have these ‘vices’ that Kajol spoke about how we, as a society, are a lot more regressive now than we were a few decades ago.
“In a weird way, we have regressed as a society. I feel people in the 50s and 60s were not judged so much. Women still had that persona about them that… you know… they could probably do a lot more without being looked at with such a binocular lens. Now, it has literally become like everything that you’re doing is looked at with such minuteness, and such baareeki, and such critical way. Everything is seen with such a fine lens, and pondered, discussed, and appreciated that I feel it is one of the biggest steps against feminism.”
In many ways, Kajol is bang on in her assessment.
Also Read: Taapsee Pannu Calls Out Superiority Complex Of Bollywood Heroes When It Comes To Women-Centric Films
Back in the 50s and 60s, people weren’t judged as much as they are right now. Of course, there not being a social media to give a platforms for that judgement is an entirely relevant cog missing in that wheel of regression. But let’s not transfer all the blame on social media; a huge chunk of it also falls on the people up top responsible for creating an environment that fosters such narrow-mindedness. Humans do have a crab mentality. There are always those pulling down the momentum of movements like feminism and progressive thought in art because they’re afraid an open-minded society wouldn’t be easy to fool or oppress and take advantage of.
Sigh. It sucks that we thought 2020 would have flying cars. Instead, we’re still curbing our thoughts and mentalities from soaring high.
https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/a-group-of-men-in-karnataka-hosted-a-puja-to-end-feminism-and-metoo-we-cant-even-we-cant/
