Is Bollywood turning into Hollywood?

“Are you like checking me out?”[1]
To what extent has the Bollywood heroine changed and why, with close reference to “Dhoom 2”?

1913, the birth of Bollywood cinema, binding “together an astonishing admixture of cultures”[2] introduced Bollywood heroines as “traditional”: women were “portrayed as devoted housewives, sacrificing mothers and dutiful daughter-in-laws.”[3] However, over the years this image of the women with the “domestic chores”[4] gradually changed throughout the Hindi film industry. The image of the modern Bollywood heroine is as a “sex object”, she no longer accepts the “traditional” roles to the same extent. By closely analysing “Dhoom 2,” an international success, in comparison to the classical and a powerful movie, “Mother India”, we will see how and why the heroine has changed. Nevertheless, the patriarchal ideology still exist within Bollywood, it can be argued that the industry is still male dominated, to an extent.

There was a time when Bollywood movies “reflected an image of women as a creature relegated to the sidelines”[5] whilst patriarchy came across with male as the protagonists. However, a historical text, “Mother India” (1957) to some extent puts aside patriarchal issues as Nargis Plays the role of Radha, suffering women facing many tragedies. “Seen as a national epic,”[6] this movie “follows a poverty- stricken mother’s struggle to overcome impossible odds.”[7] Not only being portrayed as a female protagonist within a patriarchal society, the character of Radha goes through tragedies such as working in the fields, raising her children as the father runs away after losing his arms in a accident and killing her rebellious son. All incidents throughout the movie as a norm were not acceptable behaviour of a woman. The character of Radha portrayed the typical heroine of the days. This has now changed over the decades.

Hindi cinema had always shown a split between the female roles and they were put into two categories; the Madonna and the whore. The opposition between the Madonna (heroine) and whore (the vamp) also complies with Strauss’ binary oppositions as the two represent a stark contrast to one another. This was a typical split, also shown in “Mother India” with having just the Madonna (Radha) the heroine. A few examples that showed the split are historical movies such as “Kala Pani”, with the heroine as a “fearless journalist”[8] and the whore who is Kishori, the dancer. The vamp has always been connoted sexually while the heroine dealing with domestic roles has been identified as pure.

The reasons for why this typical heroine is always portrayed in this way are due to the Indian society itself, the patriarchal culture and norms and values it has passed down over the years. Women have always been subordinate to men, even when the second wave of feminism appeared in the west in the late 1960’s, where it “encouraged women to understand the psychological implications of sexist stereotypes”[9] women did realise that there was more to life than motherhood and a housewife. However, despite this, due to the glass ceiling, it can be said that women have not yet reached the same levels as men. “Mother India” exemplifies these ideologies in the sense of wearing traditional clothes, being covered, still looking after her children despite working. Even though these ideologies are present to a small extent, it can be seen that women have progressed over the years and “Mother India” was a movie to portray such influence through women of the time. And without Nargis and her outstanding performance, there “is no Mother India.”[10]

“Dhoom 2” produced by Aditya Chopra and directed by Sanjay Gadhavi is a big budget movie, “Rs.90 crores (900 Million/ $ 20.2 Million.)”[11] The cast consists of Hrithik, Ash, Abhishek, Aditya and Bipasha. The “action”[12] movie is about Jai and Ali, buddy police officers who are on a mission to capture, international thief, Mr. A (Hrithik). Mr. A finds a match in Sunehri and they find themselves in a partnership, but little does he know her little secret of working for Jai. The first half is focused on the cat and mouse games while the second half relates to the romance. “Dhoom 2” takes off where “Dhoom” left off, with an action filled genre; “Dhoom 2” is regarded as an exciting challenge. “This action flick as the movie is still making waves in the international film circuit,”[13] with the use of mind-blowing stunts.

The role that Ash plays is of Sunehri a thief who is assigned to get track of the international thief. She as a Bollywood character does not conform to the typical heroine and is an outgoing female also represented as a “sex object” for the “male gaze” along with being “a sassy girl and at the same time she’s a cool dude.”[14] Moreover, she is a female “who wants to be one of the action guys.”[15] Females have become “masculine” and are taking on roles like this in order to move away from patriarchal values and to show that they are not subordinate to men any more. However, this is not possible because despite this “masculine” role they are still represented as sex objects. This is portrayed in the movie as both women, Ash (the independent thief) and Bipasha (a police woman) are beautiful and sexy this influences women to watch Bollywood movies “and are exposed to beauty norms that now mirror the west’s obsession with thinness.”[16]

“Dhoom 2” comes into account when discussing how the typical heroine is no longer the same. There has been a tremendous change which once again may be the outcome of the most recent wave of feminism, the vamp and the heroine have now combined and this combination is shown throughout many recent movies. “Dhoom 2” includes this sex object and as well as being sexual she is also the heroine of the movie; Ashwariyah Rai who plays the role of Sunehri. The character of Ash is a sexy, seductive, outgoing thief, who helps the police to catch the number one thief (Mr. A), soon she realises she has earnestly fallen in love with Mr. A. Being the main woman and the heroine in the movie, she is also he most sexual item throughout most of the movie.

“Not only are women becoming more assertive in life but in Bollywood films as well.”[17]Sex has “popped out of the closet”[18] and has entered Hindi Cinema. Women within Bollywood do not carry the label of being “innocent” and housewives but are now known as “liberated, self-dependent individual, a visionary, a vamp, a seducer, an adulterer”[19]

Furthermore, this “Phenomenon peaked 2003”[20] with the one of the first movies to provide Hindi Cinema with sexual scenes was the “erotic thriller”[21] “Jism- dir. Amit Saxena”[22] a story of a young woman who uses her beauty and her body to seduce a young man in order to kill her rich, ageing husband from whom she will gain the will. This was just the beginning, after this many movies went against the traditional Bollywood ideologies and values. The reason for these changes is mainly linked to the westernised values. Globalisation has taken place and Bollywood movies are not just produced for Asians within India but Asians all over the globe, also targeting ethnicities internationally. People are now integrated into a single society and function together, sharing norms and values and ideologies.

The “NRI phenomenon” is one of the reasons for globalisation and for why movies are now targeted at different audience and include western values. Bollywood has made it big globally and has been a success at the UK box office over the years with “74 Indian films released in the United Kingdom in 2005, compared with just 61 British productions.”[23]Bollywood movies are now “consumable via television at home,”[24] with channel 4 which broadcasts Bollywood movies for its audience and therefore appeals to wider audiences and can be seen how Bollywood has now taken a global approach.

Moreover, other controversial issues within Bollywood movies included: lesbian relationships (Girlfriend- dir. Karan Rajdan), wives cheating on their husbands (Murder- dir. Anuraag Basu) and wives swapping their husbands (Fun: can be dangerous- dir. Sunjay Zaveri) along with many other sexualised movies. Furthermore, “Dhoom 2” is also seen to be sexualised with Hrithik and Ash’s “kiss mess”[25] This was seen to be a big issue throughout India as it is not acceptable internationally in countries such as USA or Britain. The “lip lock”[26] between “Bollywood’s biggest heartthrobs”[27] was known to have “sparked off controversies”[28] and the kissing scene had been chopped off especially with Ashwariyah now being engaged to well known Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bhachan’s son, Abhishek. Through the film “Dhoom 2” Ash reflects the zeitgeist of modern India. According to Marshall McLuhan, the kissing scene shows globalisation and that the “globe has been turned into a village by the electronic mass media”[29] it can be seen that by living in Britain individuals are so immune to the rest of the world and cultures have interlinked through media, and therefore Bollywood is trying to grasp western cultures in order to be part of this “global village”.

With all these sexual scenes and kissing being shown throughout Bollywood movies, it is no longer acceptable to sit together as a family and watch films like “Sholay- dir. Ramesh Sippy” which were targeted at families. Bollywood still produces family films, such as “Main Hoon Naa- dir. Farah Khan” and “Om Shanti Om- dir Farah Khan” or even “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai- dir. Karan Johar” however these are decreasing day by day and Bollywood films now have a fragmented audience. So as consumers we are pluralistic as we choose what to watch, “like any other cinematic audience Bollywood audiences read the films in different ways”[30] By having a fragmented audience it means where not everyone is the same, we don’t get drip fed and believe everything we see and view media differently.

The introduction of new Bollywood actresses is also the step forward to why sex is seen throughout Hindi Cinema. Malika Sherawat who plays as adulterous wife in “Murder- dir. Anuraag Basu” had close emphasis on her body which were shown through various sex scenes “‘After all, we come from the land of Kamasutra’ is her rationale.”[31] Malika believes that society should accept such sexual ideologies and face natural happenings. Malika is not alone, another actress, Celina who also take pride in her sex appeal believes “skin show will take her somewhere some day”[32] and also believes that as well as being slim and sexy she also has a “masculine side”[33] to her. Freud would “launch his theory on Penis envy in women”[34] when such aspects arise throughout a debate. Freud believes the theory of fetishism, “that woman is castrated or that woman is castrating”[35] just the way Malika has sexual fantasies of getting men into bed, which is evident through many of her movies such as “murder”.
In “Dhoom 2”, when Sunehri (Ashwariyah Rai) first appears on the screen, she is dressed and poses like Lara Croft in “Tomb Raider- dir. Simon West.” This is an intertextual reference to Lara Crofts movie which therefore means it appeals to British Asians as well as Indians as they watch Hollywood movies, as they are able to identify with this comparison within both movies. After flicking her hair, the audience identify with Sunehri “stripping down to her tank top and hot pants.”[36] This sexy and seductive look was not a norm for heroines in previous years to be shown on camera.

Moreover, this can be linked to Laura Mulvey’s theory; Mulvey believes that in order to have a successful film, females are always objectified, with Sunehri being dressed in hot pants would position a “male gaze” amongst the audience and also come across to enhance erotic pleasure. Women have always been, and up until now seen to provide “visual pleasure”[37] through which the patriarchal ideologies within society can still be acknowledged. She maintains that narrative cinema portrays two main forms of pleasure: “Scopophilia and identification.”[38] Scopophilia is gaining sexual pleasure by looking and in its intense forms this “pleasure becomes voyeuristic.”[39] “Dhoom 2” may have created this pleasure for the male audience when Sunehri is shown on the screen. Looking at the screen creates the form of identification and leads to Scopophilia, the “spectator almost becomes part of the action in the film.”[40]Mulvey raises issues on how women are present in movies just to be looked at by men and “the determining male gaze projects its phantasy onto the female figure.”[41] Women have always been on screen to be looked at and represented as sex objects. However, Germaine Greer, a famous feminist argues in her book, “The Female Eunuch” how women are hated by men and how women are taught to hate themselves as well, portraying the patriarchal ideologies within society.

Throughout the movie the audience identify with female characters such as Sunehri which enhances “male gaze”, this was also in “Dhoom” with Sheena (Esha Deol) who is an “enigma”[42] portrayed as “alluring, beautiful and mysterious”[43] as she comes out of the water in her bikini. However, this movie also creates “female gaze” as the protagonist, the thief Mr. A, played by handsome Hrithik Roshan is identified and seen by the females, “college girl crooned ‘oh, the men in the film are so hot.’”[44] Due to “Dhoom 2” “his sex-quo has soared way past normal”[45] another example of a recent movie is “Om Shanti Om- dir. Farah Khan” were world famous actor, Shahrukh Khan is topless in a song sequence, being an erotic and creating “female gaze” which was also the case in “Dhoom” with John Abraham also shown topless throughout the movie. “Female gaze” is when women get pleasure in looking at men, this raises the issue of changes in the society today, not only are women seen to be objectified and represented as “Sex objects,” so are the men on the screen.

Bollywood, “the industry is way too westernised,”[46] due to globalisation and is changing dramatically. They are a few female directors of the “Indian origin”[47] who have influenced a change in female heroines who are known to be “one- dimensional”[48] by having “carved a niche”[49] in global cinema. These females idols consist of film makers such as Gurinder Chadha (‘Bend it like Beckham’ and ‘Bride and Prejudice’) both movies portraying western ideologies. This is also a closer representation of the view on women as we now have a female perspective on the representation of women rather than a male perspective on the representation of women. Other female directors include Mira Nair (Vanity Fair), Pamela Rooks (Dance like a man) and Deepa Mehta (Fire).

Furthermore, “Dhoom 2” also reflects this westernised culture throughout the movie and at many occasions it can sincerely be linked back to the change in the Bollywood heroine over time. With the main conventions of Bollywood Cinema that stand out is the song and dance. Bollywood movies are merely categorised as “Bollywood” but it is evident that the songs are taking more of a westernised approach through the use of English lyrics in each song in the movie, especially the song “Dhoom Again.” Most of the titles of the song have close reference to English words such as the songs, “Crazy kiya re,” “My name is Ali” and “Touch me.”

In comparison to recent movies such as “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,” “Dhoom 2” has taken a leap into western ideologies, throughout the songs it is not evident that the Asian culture has come across as the costumes were not at all traditional. Another recent movie which consists of these ideologies throughout the movie is “Race- dir. Abbas- Mastan.” This movie can be seen as a Hollywood movie if it was not in Hindi. Shot in Dubai and South Africa, this movie portrays western values throughout the movie, with fashion, clothes and eye candy; Katrina and Bipasha along with westernised dancing. There is no scene in the movie “Dhoom 2” by which the audience can identify the “typical heroine” wearing a sari or a suit, in this case the two women in the movie show this changing heroine wearing dresses, bikinis and hot pants. “Outfit of D:2 will be a real feast for the eyes,”[50] and this is totally the case, as many Asian females, especially the youngsters take these costumes as ‘fashion’ and identify themselves with these heroines and try to be like them. With saris to the wet sari look, Bollywood now has introduced the ‘no sari’ look.

Talking of westernised conventions throughout the movie, “Dhoom 2” is also located from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to Durban, Brazil as well as many places in India which also enhances these values. Even the speech within the movie is conformed to a western society, with Ash using speech such as “are you like checking me out?”[51] No longer speaking Hindi or Punjabi within movies, as the typical heroine was usually known to be ‘illiterate’ and now women are socially educated with movies like “Main Asia hi hoon-dir. Harry Baweja (2005)”were Sushmita plays the role of a well known Lawyer and is in demand throughout the movie.

In conclusion, it can be seen that the Bollywood heroine has changed over the years due to various reasons such as Globalisation and how Cinema conforms to westernisation in order to be accepted in society and women have changed from the roles of “Motherhood” and “housewives” to being represented as ‘sex objects’ despite having achieved equality to some extent within society. Female directors have played a part in portraying women as more independent. However, women no longer see “nation = mother = soil”[52] as a value to carry out and have turned to western ideologies.

Bibliography

Books:

Baldwin, Elaine (2004). Introducing cultural studies’ pg 383

Creed, Barbara (1993 The Monstrous- feminine: Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis London: Routledge. Pg 119

Ganti, Tejaswini (2004). Bollywood- a guidebook to popular Hindi cinema. Routledge pg 191

Gokulsing K (2004). ‘Indian popular Cinema: A narrative of cultural change.’ Pg 93

Korte, Barbara (2004). Bidding for the mainstream? Black and Asian British film since the 1990. Rodopi Pg 10

Kumar, Rajinder (2006). ‘Bollywood: sociology goes to movies’. Sage pg 82

McLuhan, Marshall (1962). ‘The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man’. University of Toronto press.

Merchant, Ismail (2004): Indian Cinema THE BOLLYWOOD SAGA, Great Britain, Aurum Press. Pg 16

Mishra, Vijay (2002): Bollywood Cinema: temples of desire, Routledge. Pg 214, 91

Mulvey, Laura (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. London

Prasad (1999) Television and the National Culture: Journal of arts and ideas. Pg 125

Probert David. AS/A- Level Media Studies: Essential Word Dictionary

Rajadhyaksha and Willemen (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema: Oxford university press. Pg 350, 354

Rajan Gita (2006). New Cosmopolitanism: South Asians in the U.S, Stanford University Press. Pg 141

Moving image texts:

“Mother India” dir. Mehboob Khan (1957)
“Mughal- e- azam” dir. K. Asif (1960)
“Tomb Raider” dir. Simon West (2001)
“Jism” dir. Amit Saxena (2003)
“Chameli” dir. Sudhir Mishra (2003)
“Dhoom” dir. Sanjay Gadhavi (2004)
“Murder” dir. Anuraag Basu (2004)
“Julie” dir. Deepak Shivdasani (2004)
“Aitraaz” dir. Abbas- Mastan (2004)
“Girlfriend” dir. Karan Razdan (2004)
“Dhoom 2” dir. Sanjay Gadhavi (2006)
“Nishbad” dir. Ram Gopal Verma (2007)

Newspapers/ Magazine:

Cineblitz The actor…The warrior, January 2008- issue 8
Telegraph newspaper, 20/08/06

Websites:

http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20050308-1.html
An article by N.K Deoshi “women’s day special” discussing the changes in the role of women in Bollywood.

http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=106150
Talks about the film season and Hindi movies on Channel 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism
Second wave of feminism

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/dhoom-2-stunts-get-a -foreign-salute/39720-8.html?xml

http://www.indiaenews.com/bollywood/20061128/30302.htm

http://apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20041229-2.html

[1] “Dhoom 2” dir. Sanjay Gadhavi (2006)
[2] Merchant, Ismail (2004): Indian Cinema THE BOLLYWOOD SAGA, Great Britain, Aurum Press. Pg 16
[3] Mishra, Vijay (2002): Bollywood Cinema: temples of desire, Routledge. Pg 214
[4] http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20050308-1.html
[5] Ibid
[6] Rajadhyaksha and Willemen (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema: Oxford university press. Pg 350
[7] http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=106150
[8] Rajadhyaksha and Willemen (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema. New Delhi: Oxford university press. Pg 354
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism
[10] Prasad (1999), Television and the National Culture. Journal of arts and ideas. Pg 125
[11] http://www.desifans.com/news/20061491
[12] Probert, David. AS/A- Level Media Studies: Essential Word Dictionary
[13] http://www.ibnlive.com/news/dhoom-2-stunts-get-a -foreign-salute/39720-8.html?xml
[14] http://www.indiaenews.com/bollywood/20061128/30302.htm
[15] ibid
[16] Rajan, Gita (2006). New Cosmopolitanism: South Asians in the U.S, Stanford University Press.
[17] http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20050308-1.html
[18] http://apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20041229-2.html
[19] Prasad (1999), Television and the National Culture. Journal of arts and ideas. Pg 106
[20] http://sbbfc.co.uk/Bollywoodand sex.asp
[21] http://apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20031226-0.html
[22] Jism- dir. Amit Saxena (2003)
[23] Telegraph newspaper, 20/08/06
[24] Korte, Barbara (2004). Bidding for the mainstream?: black and Asian British film since the 1990s. Rodopi pg 10
[25] http://www.ibnlive.com/news/now-ash-hrithik-get-into-kiss-mess/39328-8.html?xml
[26] http://www.indiafm.com/news/2007/01/20/8689/index.html
[27] http://timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2486524,00.html
[28] ibid
[29] McLuhan, Marshall (1962). ‘The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man’. University of Toronto press.
[30] Kumar, Rajinder (2006). ‘Bollywood: sociology goes to movies’. Sage pg 82
[31] http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20041229-2.html
[32] http://apunkachoice.com /scoop/bollywood/20050908-0.html
[33] ibid
[34] Creed, Barbara (1993). ‘Monstrous- feminine: Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis, The.’ London: Routledge. Pg 119
[35] Ibid pg116
[36] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441048/quotes
[37] Mulvey, Laura (1975). ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.’ London
[38] Baldwin, Elaine (2004). ‘introducing cultural studies’ pg 383
[39] Ibid pg 383
[40] Ibid 383
[41] Ibid pg 384
[42] http://www.bollywoodpremeire.com/movies/preview/04/dhoom.php
[43] ibid
[44] http://www.musicplug.in/songs.php?movied=3092
[45] ‘Cineblitz.’ The actor…The warrior, January 2008- issue 8
[46] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1283283.cms
[47] http://apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20050308-1.html
[48] Ganti, Tejaswini (2004). ‘Bollywood- a guidebook to popular Hindi cinema’. Routledge pg 191
[49] Gokulsing. K (2004). ‘Indian popular Cinema: A narrative of cultural change.’ Pg 93

[50] http://www.desifans.com/news/20061491
[51] “Dhoom 2” dir. Sanjay Gadhvi
[52] Mishra, Vijay (2002). ‘Bollywood Cinema; Temples of desire’. Pg 91