The Honest Feminist: Movie Review #1

One fine day, you sit with your family, sipping tea, watching a classic Bollywood comedy/ romantic comedy that your dad has played, and suddenly, you realize, this movie does not make sense. This does not happen in the real world. If you are a feminist, these things might stay in your mind for a while. You’re tired of how negatively some women are portrayed in some Bollywood movies. If you’re not a feminist or an anti-feminist, please read my whole series of The Honest Feminist: Movie Reviews. There are a lot of movies on this list.

Film #1

Movie: Dulhan Hum le Jayenge [2000]

Actors: Salman Khan, Karishma Kapoor

Writer: Rumi Jaffrey (Male)

Director: David Dhawan (Also male)

Scene: Karishma Kapoor is angry with Salman Khan because he has a girlfriend (who turns out to be fake). She goes to a club, orders a beer even though she does not have the money to pay for it. Salman refuses to pay for her beer. A kind stranger offers to buy it. Karishma accepts, takes two sips of the beer, and loses control as women can’t handle alcohol. She starts dancing with the two men. The strangers make inappropriate gestures and start taking advantage of her. Karishma continues to dance then suddenly realizes “uh-oh, I’m in trouble.” And of course, the hero is ready to come to her rescue. Salman then SLAPS Karishma. The strangers leave them alone because obviously now she is with a man and their intentions changed. And it’s not over. Salman goes on to ask her if she is French, Russian, German, or of some other nationality where women behave like this, to which she replies that she is Hindustani. She then asks him why he didn’t beat them up as Indian men are supposed to beat up other men and display toxic masculinity. To which he says that it was her mistake and…

But she was just dancing, she says, and forces Salman to prove his masculinity by smashing them. He obviously beats them up and Karishma is suddenly turned on and goes on to sing a bullshit apology song.

Conclusion: The notion of the writer of this film seems to be that women:

1. Are dumb

2. Cannot handle alcohol

3. Are the property of a man

4. Have no sense of right or wrong

Women were often portrayed as dumb and unaware of how the world works. Especially in these movies from the 90s and 2000s. They used to become easily jealous. They were very rarely shown as working women. Whereas, the men were mostly shown as successful entrepreneurs. The basic idea of an average romantic comedy in that era would be: The successful, rich man gets attracted to a beautiful woman. He overcomes some hurdles to marry her. And they live happily ever after.

Now, we have seen enough examples of women losing control after consuming alcohol in Bollywood movies. Yes, consumption of alcohol is injurious to health and can have serious long-term negative effects on the human body. What I don’t understand is why such precautionary scripts are subjective to just women.

Are they telling us to not drink alcohol or this will and should happen to us? Is drinking alcohol an invitation to molest us? At least, Salman thinks so, in the movie.

There are a lot of unrealistic and misogynistic scenes in this movie. Another one includes Karishma Kapoor wearing comparatively fewer clothes to get a lift and one of the passers-by takes it as an invitation to molest her. I mean, seriously, what is wrong with the men in this movie?! Except for the hero, of course, who is her savior, thankfully?

Now, of course, some great movies were released in the 90s and 2000s with a distinct storyline. But what I am trying to explain here is that most of them showed women as dumb-witted, and of no individuality, whatsoever, which somehow crawled into the audience’s minds as we grew up. And that is perhaps why women face a lot of stereotypes as compared to men in India.

Stay tuned for more Honest Feminist Reviews of movies that could have showed women in a better light.