It is rightly said by Herman Melville that “art is the objectification of our feeling.” The various forms of art we see around us portray our feelings, and depict the prevailing conditions in the society. Films are a form of art through which we are made familiar about the changes that are taking place in the world around us, be it political, economical or cultural.
But one thing that has not changed much in the bollywood films is the portrayal of women. Women have always been portrayed as some inferior characters, which are always targeted in the society, and to come out of the incarceration they are trapped in, they always require the help of a man.
The courtroom drama movie “PINK” (2016) is an excellent example, which portrays the gender politics that exist in the society. It brings in forefront the orthodox mentality of the people who consider women to be marginals in this androcentric world.
The movie brings forth the message that “if a girl says no for a sexual intercourse, that means a ‘NO’ and nobody has a right to violate her body.”
According to the indianexpress review, the movie is titled so because the colour is girly. Girls are always considered to be humble and diffident but in the movie we see that this significance of the colour is subverted. Instead of accepting things as it is, and surrendering to male desires, the girls break all the traditional and orthodox norms of the society and rise up to be victorious.
But, albeit the three women in the movie are shown to be bold and strong enough to fight their own struggles, it is ultimately a man who comes to rescue them.
CHARACTERS
The main characters in the movie are:
* The three girls whose struggles the movie depicts:
Minal Arora: a girl from Delhi
Falak Ali: a girl from Lucknow
Andrea Tariang: a girl from Meghalaya
* Rajveer Singh: a boy from a rich and powerful family
* Raunak Anand (Dumpy) & Vishwajyoti Ghose (Vishwa): Rajveer’s friends
* Ankit Malhotra: Rajveer’s cousin
* Mr. Deepak Sehgal: an advocate suffering from bipolar disorder (fights the case from girls’ side)
* Mr. Prashant Mehra: an advocate (fights the case from boys’ side)
* Javed: a professor and Falak’s boyfriend
*Sarla Premchand: SHO of Surajkund Police Station
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PLOT
The film is based on an incident, where Minal, Falak and Andrea who live together in an apartment in Delhi go to a rock concert in Surajkund and meet some men named Rajveer, Dumpy and Vishwa. One of the boys, Vishwa was an old acquaintance of Minal and hence the girls decide to hang out and have a dinner with them at a resort. The meeting turns into a havoc when Minal, in her self defense smashes Rajveer’s face with a glass bottle, who was trying to outrage her modesty, even after she said a ‘NO’.
The movie shows how this incident turns out to be a life changer for the girls. The girls are continuously threatened after the incident. When Minal, disturbed with the threats decides and lodges a complaint against the boys, she is kidnapped and molested by them. Then the girls finally gather courage and file an FIR against the boys charging them for molestation, although making no difference. Even after the FIR was filed the situations seemed to be adverse for the girls. On the account of a false FIR filed by Rajveer and his family, charging Minal for attempt to murder, the police arrests Minal. Then, it is Mr. Deepak Sehgal who comes forward to support the girls and in the end, the girls finally turn out to be victorious.
ANALYSIS
The movie brings in forefront the vulnerable position of women in the society, the truth about how women are assaulted, raped and tortured in their daily lives. It shows that how can an incident prove to be a metamorphosis for a girl’s life, rendering it fractured. As stated in the firstpost movie review, the three girls in the movie typify the dilemma of the modern working young woman.
After the incident at the resort the regular lives of the girls are shattered, even though it was not them who were at fault. The girls are sequentially threatened by the boys. Andrea is stalked; Falak loses her job just because of a morphed photo which portrayed her as a sex worker. Her colleagues look at her as if she was a slut, divulging how whenever a crime is committed against a woman, instead of supporting her, the society treats her as if she herself is the criminal. The way the society reacts to Minal’s arrest, reveals their orthodox and stereotypical mentality. One of their neighbours comments “this is what will happen if the girls live alone.” In our society if a boy lives alone he is considered to be an independent man who is ambitious in life, and is responsible enough to take care of himself. But if a girl lives alone she is considered to be more prone to become promiscuous and profligate.
Rajveer’s cousin Ankit, who was not even present when the incident took place and was unaware of what exactly happened, jumped into the matter with an intention of having fun. Threatening Minal, he says “now you will be played with”, suggesting how a woman’s character and prestige is considered to be a toy which can be played with. A woman is considered to be a commodity which is bought for entertainment purposes. When Vishwa asks Ankit to end the matter with a compromise, Ankit says “I am just following the traditions, trying to show them their real position”. It is this buttoned down mentality of the people that is responsible for the assailable position of women in the society.
In our society, it is always a girl who is expected to compromise, even if not guilty. When Vishwa comes to meet Falak, he says to her “it is better for you to say sorry and end the matter here, because it is always the girls who are slandered”, revealing how different is the meaning of identity and character for men and women in the society. Men feel free to do anything because it is ultimately the girls who will be blamed.
The way Mr. Prashant Mehra and the SHO of the Surajkund police station manipulate the case and accuse the girls of being sex workers shows how easy it is to stigmatize the character of a girl in the society.
The movie also brings forth the harsh reality that howsoever daring and courageous a woman is, she is always afraid of being hunted by the eagle eyed men wandering in the society. Although while talking on the phone with Ankit, Minal seems to be audacious and bold, but after the call ends, she is shown running alarmingly to her home, displaying her fear.
When Minal is kidnapped and molested by the boys, we see a girl as strong as her, turning helpless and miserable, pleading for mercy to let her go. Falak’s dialogue “they can come up with anything horrible now” perfectly depicts the fear in a girl’s mind which holds her from rebelling against the barbarism done against her.
In our society a girl does not even have the right to fight against the injustice done to her. Even if a girl is audacious enough to protest against men, it hurts the male ego and they take even more pleasure in shattering her strength into pieces.
The courtroom scene reveals how the personal lives of the girls are misused as a tool to prove them guilty. The fact that Falak was in a relationship with a man much older than her, who also gave her financial assistance; Minal despite having a family in Delhi chose to live alone and Andrea who was a north eastern settled down in Delhi, were presented as evidences against them, to prove that they were characterless and worked as sex workers. But when it came to questioning Rajveer about his personal life, he loses his calm and claims that he was not characterless as those girls, who have no reputation and whose personal life could be discussed openly in the court, suggesting how in our society it is only the boys who have a right to keep their lives private and a girl’s life is considered to be an open book which can be read by anyone passing by.
The courtroom scene brings forth another very important issue that is highlighted through Andrea’s attest that although, also Indians, the north eastern girls in India are harassed more than other Indian girls in Delhi.
Today it has become difficult for the girls to rely on anyone for support. They cannot even trust the police for help. When Minal goes to file an FIR against the boys for their threats, the police commissioner suggests her not to indulge in the legal matters. The commissioner’s rotten and filthy mentality is seen when he says “you girls first get involved in all these matters and when the boys harass you, the women start marching and plead for justice.” The way he talks seems to present the candle marches, which are protests for the savage cruelty of men against women, almost as a caricature.
It is always a girl who is considered to be at fault. In the movie, we see that even until the girls are actually proved to be sex workers as accused by Rajveer and his friends, the society accepts so. Minal’s father seems to lose faith in her and asks her to return home, Javed breaks up with Falak. Tired of Mr. Prashant’s continuous attempts to prove them guilty, Falak admits to the wrong claim of being sex workers and tells Mr. Deepak Sehgal “Everyone has already considered us to be sex workers, how does my acceptance create a difference”. This shows how a girl’s opinions have no importance, even in her own life. She is never given the same importance and status as a man in a society, whether it is her family matters, professional lives or even their personal lives. A girl is never seen as who she actually is but through the male gaze.
During the courtroom scene, although we see the three girls being embarrassed, when the boys and their lawyer use derogatory terms for them. But we don’t see the boys guilty of what they did. Even Rajveer’s family was standing as a support for the boys, bringing in forefront another very important issue that how the families are responsible for inculcating in their children’s mind the traditional and conventional attitude wherein the women are considered as insignificant and unimportant members in the male dominated world.
With the advancement of the case in the movie, Mr. Deepak Sehgal devises a safety manual for the girls, which includes all the norms and standards that exist in the society and delineate that on what basis is a girl categorized as good or bad in the society.
In our so called cultured society, if a is frank with boys and likes to hang out with them, she is considered to be characterless.
If a girl comes home late, goes to parties or wears short skirts, it incites the boys to harass her, and hence if she is raped it is not the boys’ fault but the girl’s.
Although it is the same society in which the girls and the boys live, there are different rules that define their characters. If a girl drinks, she is considered to be promiscuous and corrupt. But if a boy drinks, it is the manifestation of his status and is just a means to celebrate his youth.
Having stepped into twenty first century, although all of us claim to have progressed economically and technologically, but have forgotten to progress psychologically. There are people who still believe that girls should not be educated and should be married at an early age because unmarried girls are more prone to stray from the right path and hence can prove to be a stigma for the family’s honour.
PINK is a movie that breaks the mould by raising the issue of virginity in an explicit and lucid way. It tells the people that the fact that a girl is not a virgin does not imply that she is available for everyone to be used as a public property. She still has an exclusive right to her own body and nobody has a right to breach her privacy.
The movie ends with Deepak Sehgal appealing to the boys and the society to realize that a woman is not a property which can be used and then dumped. If a woman- whether or not she is a virgin, is an acquaintance or a stranger, even if she is your own wife, says ‘NO’, it means she is not ready and nobody has a right to go against her choice.
Although the movie ends with the girls winning the case (which was a deliberate and intentional act to present the movie as a ray of hope for the society, as revealed by Tapsee Pannu in one of her conversations) it brings forth the GENDER POLITICS that exist in the society and presents in front of us a picture of the real world, where a woman is assaulted every hour, every minute and every second.
CONCLUSION
Today the condition of women has become so assailable and unguarded that there is no place that is safe and secure for them- be it their own homes, offices, streets or any other public place. There is a dire need for the people to realize that men and women are equally important for the society and hence must enjoy equal rights. The women must be as liberal as men to live their lives the way they wish to.
And for this, we should respect a woman’s choice, her body, and her prestige. We should respect her as a WOMAN.
I am an English Honours student and currently trying to catch on my passion of writing.
