Rape Culture and Bollywood

As of 2018, one case of rape was reported every 15 minutes on an average. Why is it that we are still not able to take this human-rights violation seriously? The mere fact that Rape is a prevalent crime in our society, yet normalised and excused by us is what ‘Rape Culture’ is. Any culture informally educates us about values, beliefs and behaviours that are broadly seen as “normal”. Rape Culture is a process of learning that conditions a kind of misogynistic culture to be normal. It is when we trivialize sexual assault, blame the victim or don’t take his/her/them seriously, and make rape jokes. It is not limited to this as it encompasses a much broader range of behaviours, beliefs and norms than the act of rape alone. It is the attitude that objectifies women and their bodies as sexual conquests. Rape culture means that people don't actually see 'rape' as a big deal. We created this culture and our social and institutional factors contribute to it largely. I want to focus on a particular institution for now. 

Cinema influences our lives and our minds, which is why Bollywood is also such an establishment that contributes largely to how we view rape, sexual violence, gender, sexual identity, and the power dynamic between men and women. 

Think of any item song with a single female and 50 other guys. Who is the focus on? What is being done in the song? What is the message here?

Think of another song with a single male and 50 other girls? Who is the focus on? Is there any difference in the sense of it? What is the message?

In every item number, a girl among many boys is seen as something to enjoy by all. She is seen as a prize. Her identity is created by those around her. She is hypersexualised for the sole purpose of entertainment. (fun fact: they are called ‘item girls’) She is dancing provocatively in front of men who are usually drunk and making obscene gestures, throwing money and thrusting their pelvises. 

On the other hand, any video with any boy as the main subject among 50 girls is put on a pedestal. He is someone special. Girls can’t have him. His identity is clear and is in his own hands. Male stars are also hypersexualised when it comes to item songs, but they are not objectified in the same sense. 

The video is only half of the problem. The lyrics of such songs compare women to objects or even food, ‘afghan jalebi’, or ‘tandoori murgi’. They are openly sexist and misogynistic. “Hai tujhpe right mera, tu hai delight mera. Tera rasta jo roku, chaukne ka nahi”( I have a right over you, you are my delight. If I block your way, don’t be surprised) or “Main tera boyfriend, tu meri girlfriend, oh mainu kehndi,

Na Na Na Na. Ruk te ja meri gal tu sun le, oh mainu kehndi Na Na Na Na” (I’m your boyfriend, you’re my girlfriend, she says to me No No No. Hold on, listen to me, she says to me No No No) are just some of the crap lyrics given to us under the disguise of catchy beats, glamorous costumes and good choreography. 

It’s not ‘all fun’ and ‘just a movie’. Our stars who agree to perform these roles for generous paychecks do so without realising the consequences of such portrayals. Watching the stars you idolise engage in certain actions validate and justifies the idea of harassing a woman because she is wearing revealing clothes and that she desires sex/attention. There have been many, and I mean many reported incidents of harassment where particular Bollywood songs were sung. 

There is a serious lack of sensitivity to issues like eve-teasing, gender-violence and sexual harassment, especially objectification in adult comedies. 

Stalking the girl to get her love is the power move in Bollywood. Films like Ranjhanaa and R...Rajkumar depicts how the male ‘heroes’ couldn’t take a simple no. It is harassing a girl until she says ‘yes’. In fact, the more a girl is hard-to-get the more interesting love is. 

Salman Khan in ‘Wanted’ says “inki jaisi ladkiyan hamare jaise ladko ke liye dance karti hai” (girls like her dance for boys like us) as he stalks the female protagonist regularly outside her aerobics class. Adult comedies like ‘Grand Masti’ normalise stalking, teasing, objectifying as harmless humour. 

For Bollywood, the line between portraying reality and glorifying it is blurry. A director when depicting an abusive, violent and dominating character can choose to show him/her/them as horrifying where you are basically calling-out the character’s actions. Films like ‘Kabir Singh’, where Kabir is also depicted as aggressive,  dominating and violent are instead glorified as a hero, disregarding everything questionable with the character. Kabir falls in love at first sight. Kabir kisses his love without even talking to her (how romantic). Kabir slaps his love when he’s angry. Kabir also threatens a girl to undress at knifepoint. Kabir is still the ‘hero’. This is precisely what’s wrong with such depictions. The ‘Balatkaar’ joke from 3 Idiots was the funniest when it was released. Nobody questioned it because we saw it in a blockbuster movie with Aamir Khan (didn’t he host ‘Satyamev Jayate’?). Showing sexual objectification and sadomasochism as romance, and rape and misogynistic jokes as comedy further perpetuate its acceptance as “normal”. 

To be clear, I am not blaming Bollywood entirely. It is just one institution and its contribution to the Rape culture that I chose to talk about. It is still a reflection of society’s understanding of male-female relationships but both society and Bollywood are in a give-take relationship. Bollywood is a popular and powerful cultural medium. We have stars that are worshipped next to Gods. Therefore, it is safe to say that this level of influence demands social responsibility and sensitivity.