Reality...is it?

          I somehow feel that Hindi films are going to the dogs day by day, if not all of them, but definitely a few of them. My recent endeavour was to spend nearly 1000 bucks and tolerate Kareena Kapoor's 'Heroine', not that I was forced to, but just for sheer entertainment so that I can let myself go lo and pause my thinking machine. When I say this, I mean, that I left my entire brain back home, but still, you do end up carrying it, even if you think you won't be needing it at all. And that's where I went wrong. Whatever Madhur Bhandarkare has shown is his business and whether it is reality or not, I am no one to judge, but my point lies in the fact that in most of his films why the fuck does a woman have to smoke and drink when she is either falling down or climbing up the ladder ? Why does a woman's vulnerability - every single time - have to be shown by way of addiction, where she is going haywire drinking, smoking or doping? Why is her high profile, big shot, savvy personality always projected through the white stick that she puts between her lips to blow out smoke? Why does a women have to show her frustration only by smoking or drinking, whereas with guys, it's not the same? Today, it would be extremely judgmental of us to judge a personality on the basis of whether he or she has inculcated any bad habit or not. And let my judgement not be taken as support or as a green signal to such habits, but it is just a thought that why do most Indian film directors show the vulnerability of a woman by showing these? It is said that Mr. Bhandarkar does extensive research before he makes a movie, and I most definitely give him credit for that. I feel Chandni Bar, Page 3 and to some extent, Traffic Signal were films to be looked out for. I can't comment much on Corporate as, frankly speaking, I do not remember that film (at all), only that there was a smoking scene with a woman dressed in formal, signifying some stupid corporate culture or her power and Satta, where Raveena Tandon needed to learn dialogue delivery. She gave some 200 pauses in every sentence, unnecessary and uneventful. It's like the way the mighty Bigg Boss speaks...'Bigg Boss chahte hai (pause...pause...pause...) ki sab log (pause...pause...pause) kitchen mein (pause...pause..pause..) a jaaye (you are relief that finally the sentence ended).'

          Be that as it may, I am not a film critic, but a Hindi film enthusiast. I love munching my popcorn while watching a masala movie or crying my lungs out when Shah Rukh Khan is sad or feeling ecstatic when the good, however minuscule it might be, wins over the bad. But Madhu Bhandarkar is disappointing me with every passing day. I somehow do not agree with his projection of women, of them not being able to handle power. It's not my feminism that is speaking, but is it too wrong from my side to expect that every time there is a story of a woman, she need not go up the ladder, sustain it for few days, get herself hooked to booze and fag, and then suddenly plunge down and finally, realise her principles and then again, return to the top seat, at which point the booze and fag are inexplicably absent. I mean why can't it be a simple yet a bad habit, which is the way it is shown in the case of men? Cigarettes and liquor, in today's age, can be taken just a part of life as much for women as for men. I remember this particular scene from The Namesake where the girl who gets married to Gogol was first shown wearing a seductive dress and, of course, smoking. I dunno what exactly was the point that was being conveyed in that particular scene, but I felt it was unnecessary. Today, a woman, if she is extremely seductive, will smoke; if she has a super cool job, that will make her smoke; someone who is a wild child will most definitely smoke, if not dope. To prove herself an intellectual of the world, she will smoke or to show off her pain and agony will probably just live her life in smoke and in some cases, she will just smoke to prove that she is different. Why can't it be like that she just casually lights a cigarette when she is having fun or working or may be casually catching up with her friends or may be when she is just relaxing? Why does there have to be a certain kind of image that is always associated with women smoking in Hindi cinema? Remember Helen. She too many a times was given that sort of an image with the cigarette stick between her fingers and that typical vampish look. I mean, is it really necessary?
          Coming back to Madhur Bhandarkar. Do you remember Priyanka Chopra or Kangna Ranauat in Fashion? It's quite a stress for me as a viewer to see all of them, being super models, continuously smoking, as if that's all you do when you are a part of the fashion world. So there was this particular scene in the toilet where Priyanka meets Kangna, after the former of course has conquered her dreams (oops! She was not smoking or drinking yet...which she later inculcates however), Kangna gave her a whole speech, while smoking, that how she soon shall be on the same pedestal as she, which obviously Priyanka does, by creating a lot of hue and cry as well as acquiring a taste for cigarettes. And then the 'gatha' continues, where she is seen losing herself to drinks, living in smoke...but bang! She comes back with her all high and mighty principles and this time with a clean image, clean lungs and clean persona. No cigarettes this time. What is with these principles that people project with smoking and drinking? I mean, why is it that a woman smoker is devoid of 'principles in her life', and that she can be taken for granted? I think the only other film that I watched recently was No One Killed Jessica, where there was this particular scene of Rani Mukherjee, in which she was coolly standing in the balcony and living in smoke. But as the film progressed, it was just one of the million projections to show that she was 'different.' Another point, a woman who smokes is different and is always the 'mufat' one. Yes sure...! If that were the case, India wouldn't have all the evil mothers-in-law of the world. But somehow that scene sort of makes up the way for showing a woman enjoying a puff.

          I think if I have to recall any other movie in this context, it would be Memories in March, Raima Sen's character, Kittu Gidwani in Fashion, and Anne Hathway in Rachel Getting Married. Somehow the percentage of women smoking onscreen is more in Bengali films, compared to any other regional ones. Recently, while randomly searching in YouTube, I came across this particular video of Rekha and Honey Irani, where the latter was casually puffing a cigarette, and it says, 'Indian Women smoking', which eventually has like 28,000 viewers. Great going! If anyone has seen Paroma, the 1984 Bengali movie directed by Aparna Sen, then if you somehow surpass Rakhee's character and very carefully observe Aparna Sen in there, you would just fall in love with her. She played the role of a divorcee, working for spastic children, wears authentic Bengali saree with the much essential jhola, and smokes on every occasion. I simply loved it. She was so simple, so uncomplicated but the little dialogues and the attitude that she portrayed was so amazing.
          I am not issuing any judgement nor am I supporting any thing. I simply have issues in the way people use certain elements as projection of ones inner self. If a woman smokes, it does not always mean that she is in pain or a loser, even not for the sake of calling herself cool. I understand that there are certain people in the world who do so, but then let's not judge the world by only looking at the other side of the coin. One's insecurities do not always come out in this way. Yes, it is true that you do feel relaxed in some way and sometimes your agitations are controlled, but may be that's all that it does. May be, we should look deeper into it when we portray urban women in movies. Coz what you show, gets enacted!