Saturday, June 19, 2010

I hate Luv Storys

Didn't think I'd find myself saying it but there you have it, I hate love stories!

Me the eternal rom com lover, thunder strike, lightening please! ;)


Anyhow, I have my reasons for this. It is the portrayal of the gal in these movies that I hate, from the bottom of my heart. Was watching DDLJ the other day, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge for those not clued in.

Pretty much all Kajol does is just romp about pining for her 'unknown' lover. Same goes for Madhuri Dixit in Dil to Pagal Hai. Only difference between the two is that one dances about in London whilst the other is gallivanting around in Mumbai.


Never seen Hindi movie leading ladies follow any profession whatsoever. Ok, I concede that the yesteryear ladies atleast worked for a living (atleast some of them). Cases in point: Neetu Singh in Amar Akbar Anthony- doctor, Vidya Sinha in Chhoti Si Baat-works in an office, and of course, Suchitra Sen as the politician in Aandhi. Atleast the moms had the some sort of vocation. Who can forget Nirupa Roy as a labourer, tailor etc (also always sick, this woman was seriously immunodeficient).



But among the current movies, mostly the gals are just bimbos and do nothing except roam around in beautiful clothes, sing songs, fall in love and of course, get into trouble for the hero to save. There are of course notable exceptions (Deepika Padukone in most of her movies) but for the most part they are doing nothing more by way of a profession. Even the proverbial de-glam movies like Kaminey showed no specific profession for its leading lady Priyanka.

The maximum career choices that a girl can make according to Hindi movies is showbiz (model/actress/singer), social worker (or a police officer), healthcare (doctor/nurse) or in the rarest of rare cases, journalism (you have to be the daring, loose moraled gal if you want this!).

Only rare mentions can be found of the girl being an executive, never of a woman engineer, or a woman scientist. Heaven forbid if she chooses to become a banker or worse, a pilot!

It is always a woman who is hardly seen at work and must spend most of her time in the confines of home and hearth. Quite contrary to real life in urban areas where most woman work in some way or the other. This does not even hold true for the rural society where women often supplement the household income by working in small cottage industries.

The common Indian psyche is influenced in a big way by movies. According to the film makers, the films are reflective of society. Never believed that lie! The Hindi movies still manage to cast a shadow of doubt on any woman who works hard and has capabilities beyond those of the kitchen.