Bollywood's Queen

We are just three months into 2014, and have already had three mainstream movies from Bollywood that had broken the mould through its unconventional women characters. The women in Dedh Ishqiya, Queen and Highway are in no way the standard heroines that Bollywood usually demands us to be contented with.  But of the three, the movie that I personally feel has taken a step forward is Queen. While Dedh Ishqiya and Highway are important voices, the former stops short of playing with audience intellect and the latter, in many ways, is a problematized and reductionist account of class politics. Nope. This, in no way, means these are bad movies and dismissed. These are important films that have expanded the boundaries of content, characterization and, particularly, the roles of women in them. It is just that for me, personally, Queen scores a little better than the other two at certain levels. 

Dedh Ishqiya, is definitely a leap forward. Released immediately after one of the country’s retrograde judgment on IPC 377, the movie is a celebration indeed. But what the movie cleverly does is, at a certain level it discreetly takes the Bollywood’s long celebrated route of escapism to make it appealing to the masses. And with the response that the movie has received, it is quite evident that movie has managed to succeed in that. The same-sex relationship between the two women is cleverly hidden in the narrative, that it only winks at the audience. Thereby, it has become an art form that is appealing only to the well-read intellectuals of elitist circle. Of course, people who are familiar with Ismat Chugtai’s short story Quilt alone can make the connection and enjoy its context. By this, the movie is already eliminating a large chunk of audience in its reach. Well, this is still acceptable if the movie is only aimed at the niche circle of the audience. But, no, the intention of the movie clearly is to have a mass appeal that it is happy to present to the rest of the audience the same-sex love story as a platonic intense friendship between the women. And this is problematic! And the same-sex portrayal by itself is problematic is a different perspective that should definitely be discussed among the debates centering around queer relationships. 

Highway is a rare mainstream movie, that understands the power of visuals to convey the emotions and subtleties. But, it shies away being an incisive critique on the class division of our country. It takes quite a convenient path. But Alia Bhatt is quite an unconventional character that we definitely do not see often in Bollywood movies. 

Finally, coming to Queen, this movie has enjoyed more mass appeal than any of the other two. Definitely, this alone does not make it a better movie than the rest. But what makes it better than others is despite its clear intention of reaching out to the wider audience, the story is bold enough to take a stand. The stand that Queen takes maybe very basic. But given the context of the Bollywood movies that we consume, we have never had even this simple feminist statement made in our mainstream movies before. A clear statement that woman does not need a man to celebrate her own life and find happiness. The movies with such statements have either been those content with film festival tours or those that are very emotionally intense with no scope for joy and celebration.  We may have had a refreshing English Vinglish two years back. But the movie was very much stuck within the framework of family-based role for the woman. Even in Shashi’s final monologue, she advises the bride and groom to have a small family for themselves to keep their lives anchored. And she understands how to love herself only through a French man who quite predictable falls madly in love with her. Queen, on the other hand, goes a step ahead to tell its lead woman that she can anchor her life and celebrate it just being single. And she doesn’t have to have any romantic encounters with a man to discover or love herself. In the process, it trashes all the fairy tales that our women have been told time and again growing up. In a country, where most of the girl children grow up readying themselves in every little possible way to have good marital prospects,  this is a step forward. It may not seem revolutionary for feminists (including myself) and next generation intellectuals. For many men and women, who lack the privilege of spaces available to them in engaging with multi layered and deep intellectual thinking and discussions, it is definitely empowering. And that exactly why it is an important film that needs to be welcomed and not dismissed as a story addressing very basic issues with a lack of understanding of broader politics. 

Queen, definitely has many issues. And problematic too! To begin with, it is very simple. Too simple with a linear narration that lacks different shades of the characters including the lead woman. She is naïve. She is innocent. That seems to be highlighted more than few times in the movie. But, this at some level makes it relatable for many. But  again, don’t we have many women conditioned into embracing naivette and innocence as virtues of womanhood? Like the movie points out, we still live in a world, where a burping woman is considered to be ungraceful. In fact, we live in a country where women are told it is unwomanly to eat “large quantities” of food. Especially for a country that has strong track record of having more malnourished women. And, I consider this cinematic liberty that the movie has taken only to make an impact on the woman’s journey is pardonable in this context. Also, the movie never attempts to change the basic fabric of Rani’s character. In the end, she does not become a strong willed woman devoid of her innocence. She still makes a fool of herself by believing that she is funny. She is still the same with her naiveté intact. Just that, her perspectives and understanding about happiness and life are altered. 

And another glaring problem with the movie is its simplistic view on progressive outlook. The movie fails to understand that clothes hardly have any relation to one’s attitude and outlook. Rani is forced to wear ultra modern low-neck clothes. It is seen as though by slipping into such western outfit, one’s  outlook on life and issues can get an automatic make-over. What if she is just comfortable with the kurtas and churidhars that she has brought along from home? Does it, by any measure, make her journey less impactful? It reinforces the India’s middle and upper middle class’ mentality to assess a person’s character, outlook, attitude, strength, respect, worth, sexual orientation, gender and what not, based on one’s clothing. But surprisingly, the movie tries to take a dig at this mentality too in quite a contradicting way. When Vijay comes back to Rani just by seeing the photograph of her in a modern outfit, it highlights the mentality of our middle class and upper class men. Vijay sees her change as something that suits the tastes of the class he belongs to. But again, he wants this change be made only for him, thereby commoditizing and owning the woman and her life. Through this sequence, the movie highlights and addresses the level of patriarchy that is well prevalent in our society. 

Queen also has another disappointing dimension to it. Its mild contempt towards working class people! In the drunken moments that Rani tries to reason with herself regarding the unsuitable match with Vijay, she refers him to as someone who looks like a bus conductor or a street vendor. This is condemnable and one can imagine that such a reference makes it clear that the movie targets only the middle and upper middle class of the society. By this, we come to the larger problem of the movie. Its mass appeal only to the middle and upper middle class! In its outlook, it conveniently misses out on the problems and challenges faced by the marginalized sections of the society. What if Rani had been a working class woman? What if she did not possess the luxury of travelling across the oceans to a faraway land to discover herself?  What if Rani had belonged to a conservative household that is bound by the rules of patriarchy with a father who may have made a decision that her daughter travelling alone to the other side of the world is a taint on the family’s reputation? These are very likely and realistic situations that women find themselves more often than not. In fact, these are the same reasons why most of the women get trapped into the institutions of marriage irrespective of their choices. By setting the story in an affluent family, the movie ignores to address these important dimensions. But, one can hope, that by showing Rani’s story, despite her privileges, it can influence the mindsets of the society in at least a very small way. What is change after all? Attitudinal change is never radical that happens overnight. It is a cumulative outcome of many baby steps that we take as a society. And I would like to believe that Rani and her story is one such baby step towards a desirable larger outcome.

And there are many other issues that we may have with the movie. Such as the debatable racist attitude in a scene or two and the necessity of Rani’s brief and unimportant romantic encounter with the handsome Italian man. But the movie works despite these pitfalls, because of its larger theme.

Most important of all the specifics that makes this movie stand apart from rest of the Bollywood’s offering is its characterization of Viajayalakshmi. Well, she is half Indian and maybe the movie has, thereby, taken a safe bet here. But even then, when was the last time did we see a woman, that too a single mother, being unapologetic about her active sexual life? All we have had so far is a Deepika Padkone in Cocktail who realizes her unsuitability of being a wife, because she has been too promiscuous and regrets for the same. And Vijayalakshmi is never judged for who she is. Rani, who has not even had kissing as the slightest sexual encounter with a man before, is non judgmental and tries to understand life through her. Even when she meets a commercial sex worker, her questions to her as to why did not she choose any other profession is not judgmental but only seems curious to understand the story. Such portrayals definitely challenge the middle class (the class that movie largely addresses) understanding of virtues, culture and life. And another scoring point of the movie here is that someone who helps her in overcoming Rani’s heartbreak is not another man, but a woman friend. This is a significant change for Bollywood, because even in reality, men and women deal with their heartbreaks by only getting into another relationship. Through this story, the movie has reiterated the necessity of having an emotional space for oneself before getting into another torturous relationship. Love and relationship have been so far been too overrated in movies that this comes as a breath of fresh air. 

I am also trying hard to name another movie that had portrayed so beautifully the friendship between two women. The two women have their own time of drinking and fun. They do not discuss men in their lives. They party hard. They have dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower. For stressing the importance of such non-romantic  and non-sexual relationship for women, just for this alone, the movie can be termed as an accomplishment.

And most importantly, the message of the movie to women is quite clear. Celebrate yourself! It tells women that the tales they have been told about marriage and life so far are pure lies. A woman’s life is too precious to be wasted brooding over any man, deserving or not. By making this very simple and basic statement (I would like to believe it as feministic), this movie has a great potential to touch the lives of many men and women who are chained in the name of traditions and culture. And this has been achieved through a fun ride! Not through a regular fare about maligned women with bouts of sorrow and emotional tangles that we often see associated with feministic tales on screen. Feminism can be celebrative in nature too. It can be just pure joy, because of the very reason that it is empowering. And that is the power of this movie. It celebrates. The journey that Rani takes maybe simple and too idealistic as it is devoid of any encounter with real dangers of life. And at many times may be coming from a very privileged outlook. It definitely does not address many of the other issues of class, caste and race. But, it is definitely something that is joyful and celebratory. Not being radical, does not make it less important because a change has to begin somewhere. Though very late, it is a change that has to be welcomed. This maybe a sign of hope that a radical change is around the corner. Maybe, we can now expect more layered shades to the simple Rani in our next outing.