From Konkona to Tejasswi, celebs share how women are stereotyped in films: Exclusive

Several filmmakers in India are actively trying to do away with the stereotypical tropes associated with women in onscreen. Still, female characters in desi movies continue to be depicted through a clichéd lens. In an exclusive conversation with Hook, women from the industry—be it directors or actors—talked about stereotypes about women in Bollywood that they are tired of.

Konkona Sensharma and Jyotika Saravanan are tired of perfect women

When asked about the clichéd traits they are tired of seeing in Indian films, both Konkona Sensharma and Jyotika Saravanan had similar responses. Konkona talked about how women don’t have the space to be human and be anything less than perfect: “Very often, women are portrayed as morally good and well-behaved, with a certain sense of moral propriety, which I think is an unnecessary burden to put on women,” adding that the solution to this problem is “allowing women on-screen to be outrageous, to make bad decisions, to behave badly.”

Jyotika also made a case for imperfect women onscreen, revealing the kind of female character she is tired of seeing: “The good, old-fashioned woman who has to impress everyone, who cannot be flawed,” adding how she wishes to play more grey characters.

Kusha Kapila and Tejasswi Prakash on portraying women as frivolous

Women being confined to arm-candy roles is not new in Bollywood. But even today, women are relegated to being decor in many movies, and aren’t given a concrete storyline or thoughts of their own. Kusha Kapila talked about this, and said, “I think when they have just flowerpot roles, where there is very tokenistic representation, where they’re shown ditzy... See the problem is not with ditzy women—we can be ditzy—but we’re not always ditzy. We’re not always stupid, we don’t always need to be saved, we don’t always need to be just plot points that are for just pleasing the eye. There’s so much more to us than that.”

Tejasswi also pointed out the issue with casting women in frivolous roles: “It’s unfortunate but if there is a girl, who in real life comes from a well-to-do background, she is for some reason expected to play the blondie in the film. It’s, it’s unfortunate. I’ve never been only approached for like rich-girl-blondie roles. I’ve been approached for challenging roles. I’m very happy with the projects that I’ve done. But I feel bad for them, and I feel like they had to do a lot more to prove that they are not that silly.”

Parvathy Thiruvothu on commerce dictating women-centric narratives

Parvathy Thiruvothu pointed out the selective attention paid to stories centered around women, and how commercialism dictates whether such movies are made. “There are times where the market goes into the, ‘Oh we want to be woke,’ when that’s lucrative, and it’s conveniently woke, and conveniently problematic for “the market” so to speak. In the studio spaces especially, when decisions are made, there are times when we see the trend ki abhi woh feminist films would be lucrative for us. Abhi thoda zyada ho gaya, thoda kam kar dete hain. So, it’s according to their convenience and market, not for the betterment of us, just evolving together as artists. So, I think that convenience-based thing is a very tokenistic way to look at things.”

Aditi Rao Hydari on the male gaze circumscribing women to niches

Aditi Rao Hydari pointed out how many filmmakers in India are men, and their perspective is what ends up determining how women are portrayed: “A lot is looked through a male lens, and how men view women. So, I think it’s so important to have a more equal view of women and to have a more um inclusive and expansive view of women and their stories.”

Aditi also pointed out how female actors often get typecast in the industry: “Female actors tend to get boxed. And it’s very difficult for them to break open that box because people like the convenience of slotting you, because that is what you are, and you’re that one tone... And I think that’s very claustrophobic.”

Kani Kusruti on films exploiting women’s misery

When quizzed on the stereotypical depictions of women that she dislikes, ‘All We Imagine as Light’ actor Kani Kusruti talked about the damsel in distress who is never allowed to be happy onscreen. She said she was tired of “This woman who is having so many tragic incidents in life, and just sad about it,” adding how the women she knows in real life are nothing like these characters: I find most of my female friends, they have a problem, then they cry, they come out of it, and they move on.

Kani also pointed out how women’s pain is central to many scripts she is offered: “I’m indulging in their tragedy. A lot of stories that comes to me as an actor... a lot of tragic incidents, and they are just not able to come out of it or something, and I’m always like, ‘Actually, women watch a great funny film and then laugh and they move on man!’ Like, it’s not that difficult for us.”

Neha Dhupia’s take on the unfair treatment of women on sets

While many celebrities pointed out the onscreen tropes they were fatigued by, Neha Dhupia spoke about the inequality on sets. “In most cases, second on the credit roll. I mean, something as simple as that. Storytelling, narratives, and all of that has changed a little bit.” She talked about female actors playing second fiddle, saying, “Call sheets, like you’re always number two, like, character number two,” adding how seemingly small and simple things like that also need to change.

Clearly, the film industry is no different from the rest of society when it comes to the treatment of women, be it the portrayals onscreen, or the treatment off-screen.