Let your voice be heard

The story of acid attack survivor and grassroots activist Laxmi Agarwal, who founded Stop Sale Acid, has done the rounds in prominent Indian and international publications. However, it was only when superstar Deepika Padukone, in collaboration with ace film-maker Meghna Gulzar, decided to produce and star in a film based on her journey that Agarwal’s story gained sudden and widespread traction.

Chhapaak released earlier this month to positive reviews — although it is hard to diss a film that carries such tremendous emotional weight and social importance. But the real story lies in the fact that two women single-handedly helmed such a huge movie and the country lapped it up.

The Hindi film — and now by extension the over-the-top (OTT) industry — has been pushing patriarchal boundaries, breaking barriers, as well as steadily questioning the sheer paucity of women in critical behind-the-camera roles. While Bollywood still remains under a traditional cloud, where big budgets are allocated to films with A-list male stars, famous male directors — with the exception of perhaps Farah Khan, and big production houses with men at the top, the web content industry has disrupted how Indians consume content today.

With this, and a gradual disregard for most movies releasing in theatres, especially in the tier-one cities, the Hindi film-making powers-to-be are going after serious talent across all segments — from writers to cinematographers, directors, producers, music composers and actors — and gender is taking a back seat.

“Since the success of Good Newwz, I’ve been getting calls from big production houses to write films centred around big stars,” says Jyoti Kapoor. “This is the first time this has happened to me in 14 years.” Kapoor, who has also co-written Badhaai Ho, is among the more established female screenwriters in Bollywood, and has seen her share of struggles as well as of her peers. “Everyone is trying to survive.”

Opportunities are certainly opening up for women today, not only in film but also other content platforms. For example, Amazon Prime Video’s critically acclaimed show Made in Heaven has Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti as creators; Alankrita Srivastava, who made Lipstick Under My Burkha, joined as a writer. Some of 2019’s most talked about movies had women in leading roles — Badla by Sujoy Ghosh, Saand Ki Aankh by Tushar Hiranandani, Mission Mangal by Jagan Shakti and Mardaani 2 are some examples that come to mind. In fact, Ghosh’s next production, Bob Biswas, based on the iconic character from the cult classic Kahaani, is being produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and directed by Ghosh’s daughter Diya.

There are several levels on which women have come a long way in Bollywood. The aforementioned examples include a wide variety of writing and characters having been penned by a range of women. However, for a long time — and commonly even today — female writers and directors are seen to simply provide supplementary input so that the women characters are appropriately portrayed. “Most women are turning out women-centric content,” says Shikha Makan, acclaimed ad film-maker who is making inroads into the industry with her first feature.

“There is also a certain typecasting that pushes people to think that women can only write female characters. Why can’t one write a great male character?” Cases in point are Chhapaak and Gulzar’s 2018 spy thriller Raazi. Another prominent director, Gauri Shinde has made English Vinglish and Love You Zindagi, also both with female protagonists. Srivastava’s next film, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, features Bhumi Pednekar and Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead, while the official Hindi adaptation of The Girl on the Train stars Parineeti Chopra and Aditi Rao Hydari. Akhtar and Khan are exceptions in this regard.

Is gender taking a back seat? “People are just a lot more open to good ideas,” says Makan. “A lot of content is being generated out there [for online platforms]. But there’s a thick line between the creative aspect of film-making and business.”

Unfortunately, the latter is ruled by financiers and distributors, who are only essentially concerned with profit-making. This then leads to pressure to churn out movies that follow tried-and-tested consumption patterns and similar storylines. It also encourages the presence of a big male star (as opposed to women, whose presence is aesthetic) and the people who hold the reins are steeped in patriarchy.

But this is not entirely the case with OTT platforms, which is where most of the talent is making a beeline for. Also, as opposed to a disorganised Bollywood, web content platforms are more corporate in character, so there is fiscal and ethical discipline in the way they treat artists and creators. Pay too is a lot more respectable.

“While opportunities have increased, so has competition,” says Savita Singh, an award-winning cinematographer and co-founder of the Indian Women Cinematographer Collective. “The quantum of work has risen, it’s not just limited to TV shows and ads anymore. Having said that, gender representation in the industry is still highly skewed.”

In the context of movies and even web content that are male-dominated in every aspect — cast and crew — one realises that the presence of women remains miniscule. “When I started working in this industry about 12 years ago, there were only two or three female cinematographers around,” explains Singh. Now there are many more, yet the biggest budget films (the 100-crore club) do not have women in any prominent role, let alone in a technical field such as cinematography.

Singh also points out that unlike the West, there has never been a formal in-depth study on the gender gap in various spheres of the Hindi film industry. Female technicians are still few and far between. “A serious empirical survey, with proper data, needs to be mounted in order to understand the reality of the current scenario. How many women shoot films in the Rs 3-10 crore segment, how many in the 100-crore segment? Because all we have are feelings, but no numbers to back them up per se.”

Director Tanuja Chandra, who has made powerful films like Dushman and Sangharsh, takes a stronger view. “When I began my career, female directors could be counted on one hand and stories about women were few and far between. It’s better today but by no means is it where it needs to be! We’re languishing far behind. To my mind, only when half the film-makers in the industry are women and when half the films made tell female stories, will we be able to call it an equal playing field.”

Bias undoubtedly exists, but things are definitely changing, though not as quickly as they should. A lot of great projects have fantastic cast and crew with gender not even a question, while for others, deserving women get shot down for reasons unknown to them. For scores and scores of women in the business, speaking up in any capacity — whether about harassment or plagiarism or getting written off projects or films getting pulled off for unknown reasons, or simply the everyday drain of patriarchy — is a matter of serious concern. There’s also pay disparity, however both Kapoor and Singh concur that it all boils down to good negotiation skills.

Now, the possibilities for talented artists and technicians are vast and there’s ample amount of work produced every day. “If your film works, it’s a good equaliser, and if you’re good at what you do, then you will make it,” says Kapoor.

“What we need is the presence of the female voice to be a part of all discourse, of all storytelling and narratives,” adds Chandra. “I dream of the day we won’t have to have this discussion anymore.”