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With constant portrayal of cancer as the ultimate death sentence, movies like Karwaan are causing unnecessary fear among people.
I saw the movie Karwaan a few days back and loved the quirkiness and the subtle comedy. I am an ardent fan of Irrfan Khan. All the main performances were impeccable and the premise new. But there is one other thing that stood out for me – death due of cancer!
Invariably, when the movie plot has to show someone dying to arouse sadness and pity, the character is diagnosed with cancer and of course always in the last stages to make sure that he or she would not survive.
(A few spoilers in this piece if you haven’t seen Karwaan yet).
The moment I see a scene in any movie where the doctor says, ‘inke paas zyada time nahin hai’, bang, I know it’s cancer! The reason why I am writing about this so passionately is because I am a breast cancer winner and I know so many people who have survived this disease and are even enjoying their lives more than before their diagnosis. This is not to say that the treatment is not tough, or that mortality rate from cancer is not high, but a lot of lives can be saved if it is diagnosed in an early stage and that’s a very important message towards awareness.
So, why create such fear in people’s minds, that cancer means a death sentence? I have met many women who don’t want to get self-breast exam done due to the fear of being diagnosed with cancer. While self-breast exam is only a screening to know your anatomy better, how is living in denial and fear better than not being diagnosed and treated for the same?! But, such is the fear of the ‘C’ word and in my opinion, movies also play a prevalent part in it.
When Shahrukh Khan said ‘pyaar dosti hai’, didn’t you feel like finding your partner in your friend? When in Sholay, Gabbar Singh said ‘kitne aadmi the’, didn’t you feel like actually counting?! That’s the level of impact movies have on us. And in the movie Kaarvaan, when Mithila Palkar’s dad dies of cancer when she was just 8 years old, that got stuck in my head too.
But, to the director’s credit, there were two other deaths shown in the movie, around which the premise of the movie was based and both the deaths happened because of accidents. Well, actually it would have been quite strange to show two people from different parts of the country meet, where both have cancer, then they die together and their bodies get mixed up. Since they could not show these people dying of cancer, they thought, why not kill one of the characters’ father because of cancer!
Dear directors, cancer doesn’t kill every single time, there are survivors. Also it’s not the only disease that kills people. So, please think of another reasons as well.
I am a management faculty by profession and left my full time job in June 2012 when I got diagnosed with breast cancer. I am perfectly healthy and fit now and run my own NGO ` read more...
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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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