Smita Patil’s Old Video about Objectification – Still Makes Sense

I remember Smita Patil as one of the most stunningly beautiful women of the silver screen ever. She is best remembered for her roles in films such as Mirch Masala, Chakra, Bazaar, Arth, Mandi, Jait re Jait (Marathi). Her brooding sensuality truly elevated a film such as Bhumika – an unconventional film for its time with some hauntingly beautiful music. An old video featuring the actor has surfaced online. What Smita Patil says in the video is valid today as well:

Here Smita Patil speaks about the film poster of her film Chakra which depicted her bathing near a tap, wearing just a flimsy sarong-like covering. The movie was a story about slum-dwellers who are caught in a cycle (chakra) of poverty, crime and helplessness. Whereas no one would look twice at someone having a bath at a community tap in a slum usually, the film poster tries to exoticise this and exploits a woman’s body; objectifying it, says Patil in the interview.

Smita Patil is widely remembered for her exceptional talent as well as her matchless beauty. She defied the ‘fair & lovely’ ideal of beauty that Indians have always seemed to cherish. People also recalled how she died in 1986; tragically young. She was just 31 when she died following childbirth complications.

Films such as Mirch Masala, Arth, Madhi and Bhumika were actually women-centric films well before there was a conscious effort to create movies with central women characters. Patil’s powerful performances are remembered even 35 years after her passing.

In the video, Smita Patil is asked a tough question by interviewer Nalini Singh. She however answers with poise and great clarity of thought. In the video, she speaks about the objectification of women which was true then and is still true today. The female form is used to promote films and in ads. She comes across as a feminist of conviction a woman ahead of her time.

This is the exploitation of the female form, as the photo of a 2015 Samsung ad accompanying this tweet demonstrates. Maybe it’s aesthetically done, maybe the woman did it in full awareness and consent. However, the fact stands that ads are most frequently created for consumption by the male gaze and they use the female form to do so – in this case, to sell a laptop.

There are many who believe that there is beauty in hiding rather than revealing. They are entitled to that view, but that isn't the point that Patil makes in her interview.

The Chakra poster could have featured any aspect of slum life but they chose to go with the half-nude bathing scene. The image is taken out of context and therefore is exploitative. The filmmakers or publicity people used the image without asking Patil about it. That is a matter of (the absence of) consent.

The fact is that women continue to be objectified even today. The female form is used to sell everything from cars to soap --- to laptops apparently. Because even today, a majority of buying decisions are made by men in families and is at men that the ads are directed. Women identify with Smita Patil’s words – because it is never about the body, it is always about the gaze; about who is looking.