We can celebrate Women’s Day in various different ways. Google did it by creating a nice little Google doodle featuring sisterhood and diversity. Some of us contribute to organisations that work to uplift marginalised women or educate girl children. An employer may resolve to employ more women. Some men may acknowledge gender inequity, resolve to stop mansplaining. We may all think about the many ways in which society conditions us into gendered thinking and behaviour. Or maybe you just want to kick back and relax and watch a few movies this Women’s Day (some of these are available free to watch on YouTube):
This movie is generally framed as a patriotic film but it is also a feminist film. While in some ways the movie is regressive, in others it is way ahead of its time. Mother India told us a story about intersectional feminism way before its time. In the movie's climax, Nargis is the woman with the courage of her conviction. This is the woman looking out for another woman, which trumps even her essential maternal instinct. Doing the right thing becomes more important than what the heart dictates.
At the time, this was a movie meant to tell the tale (loosely) of Indira Gandhi. However, it also tells a story about a woman with personal drive and political ambition that refused to concede to societal or even spousal expectation. It is also a love story with some exquisitely beautiful songs and a heart-wrenchingly vulnerable Suchitra Sen.
On the face of it, this movie featuring the ravishing Smita Patil, Deepti Naval, Supriya Pathak and others is a story about class and exploitation. However, this beautifully layered narrative weaves in various feminist threads about the various ways in which women are invisibilized and robbed of agency. Though there are some men standing up for the woman in the story, in the end, it is a movie about sisterhood and about women looking out for each other even with all their personal differences.
This is probably the first Indian film that dared to deal with female sexuality and not treat it like something shameful and wicked. This is a movie about a strange village with very few men because most of them live and work in cities. Vinod Khanna and Hema Malini star in a movie ahead of its time; which speaks about desire, complex relationships, and the problems women face because they are women. It basically says, and I paraphrase here, that what is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. The end of the film where the husband stands up against the villagers on behalf of this erring wife and then uses her saree to wipe his forehead is everything.
This is a movie about the many, many ways – big and small – in which women are disregarded, silenced, overlooked and made to feel irrelevant. It is about a woman who gradually gains a sense of self; who learns to live for herself a little. In one of her best-ever performances, Sridevi plays the quintessential Indian woman who thinks the purpose of life is to serve others. This is the story of the woman who realises late in life that it is OK – even for a woman – to reach out and grab some happiness.
This deliciously heartwarming film about a woman who decides to study further while she holds down a job as domestic help has been Swara Bhaskar’s career-defining role. This is that inspiring woman who dares to hope; who decides not to let her circumstances limit her. It is also a story about a woman’s rocky but ultimately joyous and deeply loving relationship with her daughter.
There are others such as Pink and Thappad and Lipstick Under My Burkha as well as Saand ki Aankh and most recently Sir (available on Netflix) to check out. Happy viewing and a Happy Women’s Day all!
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