Happy New Year - Movie Review

We went and watched Happy New Year over the weekend. Yes, the Farah Khan extravaganza with pretty faces, garish clothes, groovy moves. All glitzy, all entertaining and in parts even funny. As far as I can remember, this was the first time I went and saw a much hyped movie in the first weekend of its release! This was a really special Diwali treat for my two little girls, 13 and 9, who often feel left out when their friends animatedly discuss the latest movies, hapless victims of their parents’ abominably poor movie watching habits!

 The first thing I noticed was the order in the credits in the beginning, Deepika Padukone’s name did indeed come up first, followed by King Khan – a promise he had made on Women’s Day. Shah Rukh Khan had declared that any movie of his would have his leading lady’s name first and sure enough he was sticking to that promise. I felt happy. Even if it was merely symbolic, it was atleast there. And symbolic things have their own value, no doubt.

But are we mindful of the other subtle symbolic gender stereotypical messages that are being passed on? After Mohini (played by Deepika Padukone) enters the lives of the five “losers” (as SRK refers to himself and his mates very often) things become happy and comfortable. She coyly carries trays of tea for them, serves them as they all sit around a table smiling and waiting to be served, she does Arti and distributes prasad to them, stitches clothes for them. All in all, does everything that a woman is typically supposed to do in the lives of men, while at the same time trying to teach dance to a bunch of slovenly, ungraceful men, all born with two left feet. This is not even a subtle portrayal of a woman’s place – it is right in your face. You may be the Guru, the teacher, the expert in the situation and the saviour in the plot, but mind you woman, know your place. Remember to smile and serve tea to the men in your life. And this from a woman director who made the men on screen show off their well-sculpted and well-oiled bodies at the drop of a hat.

In the great comedy show hosted by Kapil Sharma, his wife addresses him as “Sharmaji” and “aap”. He in turn, says the crudest things to her and talks rudely in “tu” terms. In television shows, this portrayal of a woman's place is very rampant. In all TV soaps, whenever a serious discussion is seen taking place in the drawing room of an Indian household, the Great Indian Bahu, in all her finery, will always stand behind the sofas, while the matriarch and all men folk, young and old, will sit regally. Need I remind you that it is a woman who is the pioneer of the genre of television and is at the helm of most of these shows?

I shudder to think of the messages that are being passed on to my girls. Some things don’t change, do they?