A lot has been said and written about the treatment of female characters in mainstream Hindi cinema. From being relegated to supporting roles to leading roles, female protagonists have been portrayed in diverse ways in Bollywood films. But with time, even in family-oriented films, the depiction has evolved. Filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya says his own stories are a litmus test, where women have transitioned from being just homemakers in the 90s to being career-oriented working women now.
Sooraj Barjatya on depiction of women in Indian films
Barjatya’s new show, Sangamarmar, stars Sheen Savita Dass as a woman taking over her father’s business after his untimely death. Talking about the story, the filmmaker tells Hindustan Times, “Where stories are concerned, agar main aaj bhi sochoon ki ghar pe baithengi ladies (the women will sit at home), that is over. You cannot make a Hum Aapke Hain Koun where everybody lives together, because it’s not possible today. But the values remain the same.”
Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Barjatya’s most successful film, was released in 1994. It was India’s highest-grossing film for over a decade. The film, a story of a tightly-knit family, remains popular on TV and OTT three decades on.
‘The only women on set were actresses and their mothers’
Barjatya says the stories in Indian cinema have evolved to a point that being career-oriented does not automatically mean being opposed to family values. He attributes this change to more women being involved in the filmmaking process. “My sets have more women than men today,” he says. “This is a big change. When I started, the only women (on set) were the actresses, their mothers, and hairdressers.”
He says that the presence and involvement of women in every aspect of filmmaking has brought about changes. “The energies are different. The way to look into a scene is different. We never used to pay so much attention to costumes, production design. The number of kitchen sets and temples I have put on screen, no one else has. That is where women come in with new ideas,” says the filmmaker.
However, Barjatya admits that women in positions of power in cinema still find it difficult to exercise that authority. “They say it is so difficult to give orders to men,” he laments, adding that the women tell him: ‘We have to manoeuvre by massaging their egos in order to get the work done.’ The filmmaker hopes that this, too, will see some transformation as time progresses.
Sangamarmar, his new show, also stars Sourabh Raaj Jain. It is currently streaming on JioHotstar.