It seems that with all the Feminism and Gender Equality Campaigns and Workshops, all the filmmakers and story writers can think of is how can they make a male hero, the super-hero savior of a woman.
The recent movie Kaabil which is a rape-revenge story very skilfully utilizes this context in the name of emotional blackmail and in the name of revenge. It’s disturbing to see that no one seems to be questioning the promised unconditional support and love that the hero simply distances himself from as soon as his wife’s raped. Yes, raped and not violated.
The heroine is given dialogues like :
“Mai jante hu ab tumhare liye mai pehle jaisi nahi rahi. Agar tum saath nahi rehna chahte to mai samajh sakti hun” and
“Jo mere saath hua, wo mai shayad seh leti lekin tumhe tute hue roz nahi dekh sakti”.
As idiotic as it sounds, the audience simply digests the whole episode as a reason for the thrill of the action-revenge tale.
Let’s clarify something commonly misunderstood. The heroine committed suicide not because of the tragedy that happened with her, but because of the fact that the hero couldn’t live with the tragedy. All she needed was love and care, but no, it’s perfectly alright, if she dies, because then the motive shall be stronger to take revenge. All to satisfy the hero’s bloated ego.
Wait, what did the hero, with blood on his hands, get at the end of it all? But, the Indian audience shall digest it all easily, since they got to see the hero killing the villain.
It’s revolting to see people digesting blockbusters like Dangal (everything is alright in the name of patriarchy) and Kaabil. I wonder, when will a director grow some to make a movie like, “I Spit On Your Grave”, where the raped woman hunts and kills all those men all by herself.
Can you see where exactly the problem lies in our society?