Women in Malayalam Movies

I have been hearing about the role of women in Malayalam cinema for sometime and I decided to write on what I think about it... (even though nobody cares..)...

Where shall I begin...Ok ...here goes....

It is a fact that media has a great part in influencing the way people think, behave and feel…. After years of movie watching experience I honestly feel that it has helped in de-grading the position of women in our society through the characters portrayed in them…

Even once in a while.. (in a decade or so...) there comes a movie where the female is the protagonist… (it's like throwing a bone at them).. even then they are shown as this weak, desperate , pathetic creatures who just act strong on the outside.. but is the exact opposite on the inside….

Does the portrayal of female characters in our movies have actually influenced our society to think that women are like this in real life too???

Here’s what I think…

Female characters have always been an inevitable part in our movies...face it.. we can’t have a movie without them…. they are always someone related to the male protagonist (99.9% of the time, the male is the protagonist)...the hero‘s mother, sister, love interest, friend of the love interest, colleague, neighbour, the wife, the seductress, the mistress, the daughter, whose responsibility lies on the strong, muscular shoulders of the hero... he is their saviour, warrior, their HERO….

Lately, or for more than lately .... the role of women in our movies are being deteriorated.... they are always the side kick... a side track...not necessarily involved in the main part of the story.... even the movie is made for family audience (which 'most' malayalam movies are).... the women‘s role is not always as important as the men in the family.... they are there to support the men... not to run the show….

The following points are some of my personal thoughts on the role of female characters (a.k.a heroines) in Malayalam cinema… this is based on the movies I used to watch when I was growing up…may be things have changed now… or have they??


1) REEL LIFE

It is always the guys who fall in ‘love’ first, and they chase the woman they ‘love’ wherever they go, tortures them, disturbs them, walks behind them singing… and guess what… after a song or two…. the girl will start loving him… if she doesn’t then he will threaten to commit suicide (or simply ignore her.. that always seems to work)… by drinking poison (which is always ready to consume)… or jump from the top of some building… and the girl’s conscience suddenly starts to work… a second before he consumes the poison or jumps… she will profess her love for him… (if not ..there is no movie to be watched) there.. the beginning of a love story…

In a love story.. you can always see the female is helpless... solely depending on the male to do everything... especially to save her from the bad guy... in most cases her own parents who stands in her way to be with her lover and live a life filled with eternal bliss.... she has to be saved from her own house (because she was in house arrest), or from the marriage that was going to take place without her consent… and she depends solely on the man to do all this for her… after so many chases and fights… the lovers get married and live happily ever after… and what about the parents?? Oh.. they will forgive and forget after a baby comes into the picture… they always do….

REAL LIFE

Can someone actually fall in love with someone just because they chase you, disturb you, jump from a hidden bush singing or threaten you to commit suicide?? Do women really depend on guys to come up with a plan and execute it inorder to be together for the ‘rest of their lives’ ? Do parents always forget and forgive their daughters for doing what she did, when a baby comes into the picture?? And why do the parents always select the wrong guy for their daughter, when the man she ‘loves’ is perfect in every which way?? And if he is perfect, as he is shown, then why do parents refuse to accept him?? In a real life love story, is there a villain?? If so, who or what is it??

2) REEL LIFE

I don‘t know if you have noticed.. but..when a girl is being raped in a movie (that is, if she is the heroine)... even if it is in her own house...or at a cottage on top of the hill.... the hero will always appear on the exact right moment (may be seconds before the rape occurs)..by kicking down a door...or jumping through a glass window.... defeating more than 10 bad guys, gives her his own shirt or jacket to wear (because her dress is all torned up), helps her to get home safely...after that..she doesn‘t ..even for a moment think about the horrible experience she has been through (the attempt to be raped and all)... but never fails to fall in love with the guy who saved her from happening it... (she will still have the shirt or jacket he has loaned to her).... again.. the start of the love story….

On the other hand, if it wasn’t the heroine who undergoes this sort of a thing… the hero still saves the girl…no matter who she is… then she will consider him as the elder brother she never had… but always wanted… she would even help him to get the girl he wants… by talking him up to her..

The heroine never gets raped.. if she does..then.. she is not the heroine anymore… she becomes this thing who is just physically living and mentally dead… even if the hero agrees to marry her..( because he loved her, not her body)… she will always refuse.. because he deserves to have a nice life with a ‘nice’ girl… which she isn’t anymore… again..the hero is considered to be this so-called ‘perfect’ man..who was ready to marry a rape victim… What happens to the girl/ former heroine who gets raped…. She will either commit suicide, dedicates her life to those women who had been through what she has been through or join some sort of an ashram…. (which all sounds really ‘good’)…

What happens to the hero who loved this woman?? Someone younger, prettier, richer, loving and caring virgin will always be there for them to spend the rest of their life with… hey… after all… the movie wasn’t about the girl who got raped.. its all about the guy who was still ready to marry her and continues to live even after being in such a horrible mental state…

REAL LIFE

When a girl gets raped, teased or harassed (lets not pretend its not happening… we all know it is happening somewhere in this world, even as you read this)… does a guy or somebody (like a GODSEND) magically appears there on the exact right time and saves her from what is happening… (lets wish so!!!)… if not… does a woman after years of watching all these movies…actually believes even for a spilt second…that somebody is actually going to rescue her or do they fight back fiercely… no compromise whatsoever… Does being raped by some moron/s actually takes away a woman’s right to live?? Why is it after being raped (we all know its not her fault)… society sees the rape victim only as that… and not as an individual anymore.. Does a rape victim has to abscond themselves from the society, family and friends and disappear to some place where nobody knows them, or commit suicide … does she actually have to forget the life she had or wanted to have… and live with this label for ever…’RAPE VICTIM’… here is a little secret.. even if the woman after going through all that mental and physical trauma wants to lead a normal life like before… people around her…(a.k.a the society)…wouldn’t let her… how could they possibly let a rape victim pretend nothing has happened to her and live normal like them !!! its just not right !!!! Right???


3) REEL LIFE

In a Malayalam movie, it doesn ‘t matter if the female is well read, successful and has her own feministic viewpoints about both sexes... there will always be a man to teach her otherwise... all he has to do is to make her surrender using a little physical strength.... and then ignore her for a period of time.. there...after that…. she can't live without him anymore.... in how many movies we have actually heard this dialogue ... " അവളെ അങ്ങനെ വിട്ടാ പറ്റില്ല ... ഒരു പാഠം പഠിപ്പിക്കണം .... പെന്പില്ലെര്‍ക്ക് ഇത്ര അഹങ്കാരം പാടില്ലല്ലോ..."... during the process of this so-called ‘ പാഠം പഠിപ്പിക്കല്‍'... a man can use the following tactics... either in public or in private... kiss her (on the mouth), slap her (real hard), or try to rape her (in private, ofcourse) and withdraw at a point when she can ‘ t put up a fight anymore , just to let her know that... "ഞാന്‍ വിചാരിച്ചാല്‍ നിന്നെ ഇപ്പോള്‍ നശിപ്പിക്കാം, പക്ഷെ ഞാന്‍ അത് ചെയ്യുന്നില്ല ".... and then...just ignore her (on purpose)... that ‘incident’ changes everything about her.. the way she think, talk, act, what she wants from life… eventually she will come in search of him..why?? because she has fallen in love with him....point blank....

REAL LIFE

Does a woman actually changes her 'self' after being kissed, slapped or attempted to be physically molested by some random guy just because he doesn’t like the way she is?? If a man wants a woman to notice him all he has to do is to get physical with her?? Did any guys actually tried this trick and won anything??

If you are a woman, would you fall in love with a guy and go in search for him just because he has had the ‘courage’ to insult you in public or in private??

I mean…really…what sort of a message does these movies give out… “if you don’t agree with the way some girl is or if you want them to notice you or want to make someone fall in love with you.. all a guy have to do is, use some muscle power, that will definitely teach her and if you are lucky.. she is all yours"... just curious…what lesson would that be??

Do women really wait around for a guy to come into their life, use a little muscle , so that they can change themselves and dedicate their whole self to him… may be there is… who the hell am I to say..no…

4) REEL LIFE

Years ago... make that more than 12 years ago.. I saw this malayalam movie... where a woman is getting ready for her wedding… she is all alone in her room… then a guy comes in and rapes her… actually this guy was paid to do so by some other woman who was jealous of this girl… so if the guy rapes her… minutes before her marriage.. her marriage wouldn’t take place …her family will get insulted… and thus… her life will be ruined forever….

So as planned, this guy rapes her…. Her marriage didn’t take place.. because she won’t marry the other guy… as she is not ‘pure’ anymore… but something interesting did happen… she goes to live with this other guy… u know.. the one who raped her… lives in a slum… the guy had to agree to it eventually… (you have to see the movie to understand why)… helps him turn his life around… he marries her.. they have a baby ..(conceived as the result of the rape)…. They live happily until she is killed in a bomb blast…

REAL LIFE

What sort of a woman would actually go live with the guy who raped her (even if it was her first time having physical contact)?? And what do someone mean by not being ‘pure anymore’?? Why is it so assumed that if a woman doesn’t get married or if her marriage ceremony gets hindered or cancelled due to some reason…that is, for any reason at all… that it is her fault and her entire life is ruined?? Is getting married so inevitably important in a woman’s life, that if it didn’t occur she has to actually live a life full of darkness?? Are we that narrow minded?? If someone really wants to ruin your life ..all they have to do is … either physically molest you or ruin your marriage or married life or even both, because apparently these two can be done at one instant… would that ‘teach you a lesson’???

Just curious…if this woman in the movie…gets raped minutes after her wedding…what would she had done?? Would she live with her husband or the guy who raped her or with both, or by herself or would she have committed suicide ?? Guess… no one will ever know….

5) REEL LIFE

Remember in that movie ചിത്രം , Renjini has been hurt in love and lost all trust in men… she even said “ I HATE MEN”, and then Mohanlal comes into her life… they tease each other, quarrel with each other… giving us so many scenes over the years to laugh about… then suddenly… out of a moment’s thought.. inorder to protect their cover up as husband and wife… he ties something on her neck… and that’s it… she become this changed woman… she even hits her head into a huge bell repeatedly and lose consciousness and lots of blood, as her way for asking forgiveness for all the cruelties she has done to him… at the end of the movie… she even decides to stay as his wife and take care of his child when he goes off to get executed…

There is a similar scene like this in the movie THOMMANNUM MAKKALLUM… instead of Mohanlal its Mammootty who ties the knot without even a moment’s notice (doesn’t seem like women need one though)… but after that… the girl do find herself impossible to get him out of her head and most importantly her heart and wants to live with him as his wife…

REAL LIFE

What is with these women and wedlocks in our movies? Would women actually stop everything they were doing and follow the guy who ties something onto their neck area?? If some random guy jumps out of no where and ties something on to some girl/woman, would they let it stay there for the rest of their life??

“It doesn’t matter, who you are and what you do… just tie some wire around my neck…and I will be your female orderly for as long as I breathe”…

Is this logical?? Does in real life women actually behave like this?? It is one thing getting married because of parental pressure… but isn’t it totally unacceptable to let men take advantage of women like this… even if its in a movie… Does women actually fall in love or consider someone important in their life just because that particular person tied something around her neck?? Are women that weak?? ahem.. don't think so......

6) REEL LIFE

Over these years, I have watched immense number of movies… (my mother used to tell me, "നീ സ്കൂളില്‍ ഒന്നും പോക്കണ്ടാടി …ഇങ്ങനെ ടീവീടെ മൂട്ടില്‍ ഇരുന്നോ ...വെറുതെ കാശ് കളയാനായിട്ട് "... she was teasing me…ofcourse). And when I became a certain age, I started to realise one very common thing in our movies.

The heroine is always a virgin. (I meant in the movie). That’s right? The heroine is this untouched protected thing just waiting for the hero to come along..

I don’t know if you have noticed in some of the movies like Sarvakalasaala, Chandrolsavam… the heroine or the hero’s love interest did get married.. but they still remained a virgin… their husband either died or got paralysed the very day of their wedding… so how can she not be a virgin??

The hero can be a play boy… juggling from women to women, single at 40, travelling the world, if not atleast around India… but the heroine has to be between 19-21, homely, possibly studying in college and a virgin… and she should only succumb herself to the hero…


REAL LIFE

I wonder.. why is it so important for a woman to be a virgin when the man can loiter around … How did this happen??

Why does men get away these things and yet have their head held high, whereas a woman has to be a virgin until she gets married no matter what?? പെനുങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ചെളി കഴുകി കളയാന്‍ എന്താ ഇത്ര പാടു ??

Does the men of this era actually expect their prospective wife / lover / girl friend to be a virgin?? If so, GET REAL !!!!

Is this because of this attitude that heroines who get married don’t come back to the field as their image of a ‘pure’ girl has now been destroyed and they can only do roles of the unimportant wife or the fat mother?? I don't know if you have noticed.. but it's always the heroines who quit the field after marriage...or as the media put it.. retire... not the supporting female actors... actors such as K.P.A.C. Lalitha, Kalpana, Bindu Panicker... they didn't quit after marriage... they have proved that married life is not an hindrance for a career in the film field... then why is it different for heroines??

Is virginity that important?? If it is, then why is the street still a one way?? ( I mean, why is the rule different for men??)…

The strangest thing is that we do watch foreign movies ( and by foreign I meant.. English ofcourse)… and we do enjoy them.. The above said factor is never an issue with the movies they produce there ..

ഓ ... പറഞ്ഞതു പോലെ ഇതു അമേരിക്ക അല്ലല്ലോ .... അല്ലെ ??

For once, I would like to see a (Malayalam) movie where the female protagonist is not a virgin, not married, committed, raped ..and she should not be a sex worker either… For a man to be with a woman, he doesn’t have to be married to her or committed, and neither should he be a gigolo… right??

If you are thinking about our ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’.. and all those other ‘moral values’ that your parents and society injected in you… don’t you think, that ship has been sailed long ago !!!

7) REEL LIFE

The heroine always have to fall under the age range of 18-21.. because after that ..I guess life just ends..

It doesn’t matter what age the hero is … he can still be single and happy…

But the heroine has to be below 22.. other wise she is not fit to play the single, happy, cheerful ‘pure’ next door gal…

If the heroine is a 25 year old or a 30 yr old woman..then she has to be a woman who is looking to get married, but can’t do so, because of so many reasons (horoscope, love ‘failure’, not being able to find a suitable man, family problems).. or who is desperate and frustrated because she is not married and the people around her is so much concerned about her future life.. because as it seems a woman can’t have a life unless she is married…

If she is married… then it is all about her family life… as if she is not supposed to have a life outside her family…

We do get some movies with the female as the protagonist… it is like throwing a bone at them.. women seems to get satisfied with anything thrown at them…

Even then, they are shown as strong and fierce outside but just as weak inside…

They work, they carry all the burden of their family and themselves on the shoulders… still they are someone who is waiting for a man to share their burden or if possible , take out the entire load and set them free…

In the movie കന്മദം … (or in any movie)… Manju Variyar is shown as this strong energetic woman who looks after her family and everybody is scared of her.. but there is a Mohanlal (there is always a Mohanlal)… to kiss her and make her exhibit her weaker side…

So in every ‘chick flick’ movie… the woman is yearning for a male companionship.. even when she is fighting the world … she has to submit herself to the man… any man….

REAL LIFE

Can you believe that our above 40 year old heroes suggest for new comers to play opposite to them instead of the ones they paired up in the early time of their careers.. because all those women has gotten married and have kids and look so different… They want somebody young and good looking…

(I would love to see Mammooty pairing up with Seema again… they were the hit pair of the 80’s..remember??)

Does in real life all women belong to the age range of under 22.. if they are older than that.. which obviously they are…does that mean they are pathetic and desperate and frustrated and they will continue to be living like that.. regardless of their relationship status…

Is the only way to be happy is to get married??? I know from personal experience that it is not…
Does women really yearn for a male companionship?? Are they ready to do anything to be the love interest of some guy they don’t even know??

We do clap vigourously at the theatre when the hero beats up 50 well built men, shot by 7 or 8 bullets and still walk away with all pride- in slow motion..

We do watch movies like ‘Charlies Angles’ and enjoy it (well I do)..

Then why don’t we have female actors here who fights and break the bad people’s body parts… If the men can fight 50 , won’t the women be able to fight atleast 5 of them…

Why can’t we accept a single independent woman as she is.. why is that woman always being associated with a man… why is it if a woman is not chained to a man, society types her as an outcaste… Why is it shown that a woman’s life is the wait for a man, or else there is no life to live at all??

Can’t women survive on their own…. Is the ultimate aim of a woman’s birth is to be a man’s woman??

“No matter how strong, intelligent, independent and fierce she is.. she can’t go on like this… there has to be someone to whom she is answerable to…” Please… gimme a break…

Men can get away with murder.. women can’t even be on their own !!!

P.S. You don’t really believe that the heroes in our movies or any movies can beat up all these men and can stand on their own two feet ..do you?

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Well…this is what I think about our movies… it’s high time that we stopped all these non-senses… and create something real, so that people can relate to the new and changing world and see what is really happening instead of living in some fantasy world where the man can do anything and nothing happens to him and the woman has to depend on man and can’t even decide on her own life… It’s so barbaric…

If cinema is a medium where we can project the unthinkable, can’t we atleast try to show the real life instead of living in the 6th century B.C.

All I am saying is time has changed.. new things are happening everywhere… but we still cling on to the old age thoughts, which may be good in a way.. but shouldn’t we also consider thinking outside the box… and may be possibly thinking about the present and the future….

It is a sad thing that highly talented actors like Shobhana, Revathi , and such like are not being able to be associated with Malayalam cinema like before, as they have crossed a certain age and they are not getting any good scripts to satisfy their talent… The heroes who started with them are still on the roll, dancing with the 20 year olds…

Don’t you think Malayalam cinema deserves a renaissance era??

You might be thinking now… isn’t this the case with Indian cinema in total… or may be with World Cinema…

I am only concerned with Malayalam cinema.. if we are not interested in mending our own house… what right do we have to criticise our neighbours??