HYDERABAD: Whenever controversies spark out in the Indian movie industry, female leads are viciously made the foremost target. The fact is that a striking face and one holding dominant role will immediately grab attention that will add mileage to the storm.
Priya Prakash Warrier, the 18-year-old actress, who became an internet sensation overnight, has been hauled into trouble hours after her wink video of a film insanely went viral.
Though a police complaint filed at Falaknuma here is against the lyrics that allegedly offended the sentiments of Muslim community, the female lead has been dragged into it knowing that she has not authored the song.
Not too long ago, Bollywood’s Padmaavat that exceeded Nation-wide protest from Karni Sena saw a cash price to chop off actress Deepika Padukone’s nose but there was no bounty to harm actors Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor though both males played lead in the historic movie.
Like Padmaavat wasn’t enough, another storm broke out recently against Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut. She faced the wrath of Rajasthan-based Brahmin outfit for her upcoming period drama Manikarnika.
To protect their vote banks, self-claimed Indian culture protectors come out taking law into their hands. But the bigger worry is that the government remains silent and these so called protectors of culture and religion gain power.
“What we are witnessing now is a rise of ‘conservativeness’. When women played ‘Saas Bahu’ roles and were doormats in the entertainment industry, such patriarchal storms never broke out. No objections were raised when women played a lesser lead role. In the recent past, anything that upholds women dignity and personal anatomy is being taken as an offence.
“Misogynists are hiding behind masks and moral policing is turning into protest. This is surely not Indian culture or at least the Constitutional culture,” director of Council for social development Kalpana Kannabiran said. It should be recalled that Goshamahal BJP MLA Raja Singh went on record asking his followers to burn down theatres in twin cities that screen movie ‘Padmaavat’ while neither the political party or the government pulled up the legislator for his threat call.
Senior Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdhury expressed that this is precisely what I fought against in Parliament. “Protests envisage to denigrate a woman’s status with the connivance of incapable men. Why does a female lead actress have to be humiliated or insulted for what she has not done? Why is the trouble always passed on to the actress? Even if a woman speaks her mind out, there is a protest. A message for all those who object. If women no longer want to be ‘Sweethearts but Surpanakha’, so what problem has the world have with it?” she asked.
‘We are a free state, an advisory must be issued’
On how the government should handle such situation, Padmavathi Reddy, a Congress leader, said that it is the utmost duty of the government to issue an advisory stating that it is a free state and protection of the people is their responsibility.
“No individual in any authority can or must threaten another, especially if the threats are coming from a public representative. Also, cinema itself is fiction. Raising strong objections make no sense. Such margins must not be there and should not cause reservations for a female lead. No parallel inference must be drawn from a movie,” she said.
While looking at the other side of the coin, a former censor board member from AP said, “Not all protest revolves around the female leads. We have seen objections raised against directors, producers and even dialogue writers. There was a protest against the producer and script writer of Tollywood movie ‘Ready’.
Protests were also there against a producer of another Telugu movie ‘Kantri for its name. However, in the recent days, female leads are being dragged in.
