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Is Veere Di Wedding really about empowered women or just a very narrow slice of what single women in this country supposedly, want?
I was forwarded the trailer of Veere Di Wedding over the weekend, and just now, a journalist called asking what I felt about this film and whether it was empowering for single women. Firstly, I don’t understand why every film on female bonhomie has to be a rip-off of the Sex And The City films, and why there has to be an over the top destination wedding by a bunch of upper class, privileged women in expensive designer clothes, quite like the erstwhile Sonam Kapoor starrer Aisha, which was the quintessential South Delhi, rich girl roundup, replete with couture clothing, plush homes, swanky sedans and a weak story line, that in the name of a woman oriented film, peddled a dumbed down version of a rich, immature spoilt brat who uses her girlfriends, bullies a poor, simpleton cousin and can’t make up her mind about her hot bod suitors.
Also, what’s with empowerment as projected in Bollywood under the guise of entertainment and the use of derogatory words like ‘behenchod/chuth’? I mean, isn’t the word itself a slur towards the very sex it aspires to set free free?
What’s funny about talking about the Hindi word for orgasm? This in a country where we don’t have any formal sex education, parents are rarely intimate with each other, where most women don’t even know where there G spot is, cannot say no when they are sexually uncomfortable, fake orgasms most of the times and are barely receiving any foreplay, being largely mute pleasure providers and procreators. Where marital rape is a sordid reality, and the Courts decree that it can’t be criminalized since sex for a wife is her legal and moral duty.
Balaji Productions which produced Dirty Picture and with a strong penchant for bold (that labelling itself means sleazy), I fear, makes the same mistake again, by making female strength flimsy and showing women’s independence only through the narrow prism of a woman turning down a wedding proposal. Or her friend on the verge of divorce and not wanting to cook rajma chawal. This in a country where divorce rates are staggering, and where women just to settle down by a certain age and thanks to the rampant pressure and premium of ‘virginity’ still, are opting for vaginal aesthetic surgeries like hymen reconstruction that have escalated 30% in the past five years.
Sadly, Veere Di Wedding did not impress me. It’s fake, fuzzy in its messaging of freedom and a woman’s life choices, has the most slapstick, sexist lines ever, and sticks to the transcript that what women in this country want is casual sex, smoking, parties, fancy clothes and holidays, no domestic responsibilities.
Having interviewed 3000 single women for Status Single, I think 74 million single women have much more interesting lives and journeys.
So, my answer to the scribe. ‘I’m going to skip this story! And this movie.’
Image via movie promos
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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