Media plays a huge role in shaping someone’s opinion, especially youth. And if today’s youth is influenced by something the most, it has to be Bollywood movies. Bollywood movies have been known to be very misogynistic and sexist by their very nature. They have been known to glorify toxic relationship traits and objectifying women’s bodies countless number of times. They have either presented women as someone to be worshipped or someone to be constantly ridiculed and berated, they are rarely presented as normal human beings. Women’s narratives are taken away from them are just used for the propoganda purposes of big media houses.
The contemporary actress Anushka Sharma was recently noted saying,
“It was liberating for me to stand up and do this for myself. I was done seeing myself as an accessory and I vowed that as a producer I would not allow any woman to be portrayed regressively. So, my film choices and then my productions are a testimony to the fact that I’m committed towards sparking a conversation in society about equality, self-respect and empowerment.”
As things are changing in the society, so is the portrayal of women in movies. There have been numerous movies in the present day where women are portrayed respectfully and presented as characters with depth and not just two-dimensional supporters.
So obviously, things have changed both in real as well as reel life. But we still need to work on the betterment of how we treat women, be it in the society or in the movies, a change needs to be made towards the better!