Gender Discrimination In Mollywood

Discrimination on the basis of gender has been prevalent since the birth of societal norms. Women as well as men have experienced this discrimination on various levels throughout their respective lives. There are certain times when we cannot stand up for our own rights because of the oppressive sexism of the society. So knowing the concept of Feminism and Gender Equality are extremely important for us, as each of us make up the so called “society”.
In simpler words Feminism means, that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities, thus “Feminism” accounts to Gender Equality. But now-a-days the word “Feminism” or “Feminist” is consider as something that is too fiddly or seriously “threatening” for the society. But being a feminist is necessary in today’s world; owing to the fact that most of the time, patriarchal ideologies and misogynistic views tend to win over the way people perceive. 
A similar ‘Misogynistic’ and ‘Sexist’ portrayal of the society can be seen in the Media and Entertainment Industry. All the movies, songs and even the jokes we enjoy and laugh at could be hiding a double meaning of Gender inequality and Male chauvinism in its very core. Most of the time, us as an audience, are ignorant to these references.
Here, we look at some movie scenes and songs that depict the idea of Sexism and Gender Discrimination by the media.

The Male Chauvinistic Government Officer

Malayalam Movie industry has been recently under fire for reinforcing gender stereotypes, typically through various scenes in which; the hero subjugates or puts the woman in her own “place”. Male Chauvinism is is the refusal or inability to see women as total, separate human beings. It is one of the key elements with regard to Gender Inequality and Stereotyping that still thrives in the Mollywood Entertainment Industry. As an audience we usually get pulled in by the stardom of these so called legendary actors and forget to look into the deep misogynistic dialogues that they put forth for showing their machismo. We applaud their so called “mass dialogues” and cheer for them. But once we try to listen to these dialogues in a more educated and open minded perspective, we can understand the misogynistic remarks that they inflict with regard to woman in general.

‘The King’ is a classic movie of Mammooty where he portrays the role of Joseph Alex Thevallyparambil, an IAS Officer. Actress Vani Viswanath is the female lead, who plays the role of Anura Mukharji, the Sub Collector. In one hit scene of the movie we can see Joseph Alex reprimanding his junior Anura for attending the IAS Women’s Club function and not giving ear to a man who visited her to give a  complaint. At the height of the argument, Mammooty, that is Joseph Alex, makes a lot of sexist remarks against Anura and sideline women in general; by commenting on their physique and body parts. When Anura says that she hates his prejudice to which his reply is absolutely horrendous. He tells her that he is a prejudiced person and she should stop being so smug, but in the coming dialogues we can actually see who the real pompous one is. 

 He calls her a snob and goes on saying the famous monologue about India and finishes his speech with his 'mass dialogue'; “Sense venam, sensibility venam, sensitivity venam”. Anura still fights back by yelling “stop!” to which he retorts by saying "shut up, you bloody bitch" and as a reflex she was about to slap him. But Joseph Alex stops her by grabbing her hand mid way. He then delivers a despicable dialogue... “You will never ever try to slap a guy next time and I know how to make sure of that, but I don’t want to ,because you are a woman... just a woman”. This scene is purely showcasing the mistreatment of women in the working place, as well as oppression of women from raising her voice to claim her rights.

There are a number of such scenes that shows the dark side of sexism and misogyny in Malayalam films. The last scene of the movie ‘Narasimham’, where Mohanlal put forth the idea of a well mannered submissive wife; the handsome hunk role of Prithivraj in the movie ‘Chocolate’, who slaps his love interest Roma and claims to give her one less slap after marriage; and the recent controversial scene of the movie ‘Kasaba’; all highlights the domestic violence that women face to name a few.

The Ultimate Sexist Tracks

Since we finished the chauvinistic movie scenes how about we vibe with some of the ultimate sexist songs?

The beautiful melody ‘Poomukha Vaathilkal’ from the movie ‘Rakuyilin Raagasadasil’ sung by the veteran singer K.J Yesudas is still enjoyed and appreciated by many people. But the lyrics of the song force many people to believe in the ideology that, after becoming a wife, a woman should be well mannered as well as tolerant to go through anything. The most discreditable line of the song goes like this... “Karyathil manthriyum, karmathil dasiyum, roopathil lakshmiyum bhaarya...” Here the perspective of the lyricist is quite outrageous, he says that a wife should be like a minister who looks after everything and she should work like a servant. Women are compared to servants who have to take up any work for the welfare of her family in these lines. But can we just point out the fact that how well gender discrimination and misogyny is highlighted in these lyrics. But we always tend to appreciate these kinds of song without knowing the actual in-depth meaning of the words used.

The song ‘Aanalla pennalla’ from the movie ‘Njangal santhushtaraan’ sung by M.G Sreekumar, gives out the patriarchal idea of how a woman should behave and how she should present herself in the society, ‘Rakshasi’ from the movie ‘Nammal’, also brings out these kinds of misogynistic perspective. 

A Ray Of Hope

Films and Entertainment will persist as long as we live but we need to make sure that having a hero in the lead role does not mean that we should consider and treat women and their rights as an inferior subject. Why can’t women raise their voices to fight against this ill treatment of the male chauvinists? Are women considered inferior in today’s society too? But we know for sure that this should be changed. We can see today that women are standing up for themselves and fighting for their rights. 

The #metoo campaign and the formation of WCC (Women in Cinema Collective) have very much created a sense of empowerment for women in the Media and Entertainment Industry. Seeing more ‘feminocentric’ movies like ‘Achuvinte amma’, ’22 female Kottayam’, ‘How old are you’, ‘take off’, ‘uyare’, ‘june’, ‘helen’ and so on...have proved that women are not below men instead it instils the idea that all genders are equal. In the coming years we can expect that all the hard work will pave the way for a better future where neither exist gender discrimination nor stereotyping.

A FUTURE WHERE EVERYBODY IS EQUAL!!

- Prudentia and Lustitia