Today I volunteered to present on a panel for the International Women's Day at my university. An event hosted by the Women's Resource Center at Southern Illinois University, panelists were asked to prepare a small talk about trailblazing women who
have made changes in the industry that they are working in. I am from India and
it was initially my intention to write about a historical female figure. There
are many strong female figures in Indian history and I thought discussing their
achievements would give everyone a good idea about the struggles that women
have faced throughout Indian history. However, I chose to focus on a present
day female figure, rather than a historical one. This is because the recent media
storm concerning this woman is interesting and highly indicative of the
challenges that Indian women continue to face in professional settings. Today,
I have decided to focus on a literal heroine, a Bollywood actress by the name
of Kangana Ranaut.
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Bollywood is the name of Hindi language film
industry that is set in the city of Mumbai. While Hollywood continues to loom
as an important influence on Bollywood, it is minuscule in size compared to Bollywood.
In terms of earnings, in terms of the amount of movies it makes, and the number
of people it hires, Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world with a significant global audience. Yet, for all its connections and earnings, Bollywood remains
an industry that is extremely difficult to become a part of if you are what
they call, "an outsider". And Kangana Ranaut, for all her current success
as a Bollywood actress, is this "outsider".
Bollywood
has its dynasties and not surprisingly, most of the new actors, actresses,
directors, and producers who enter this multi-billion dollar industry are
almost always related to the members of these dynasties. The most famous
Bollywood families are the Kapoors, the Johars, the Chopras, the Bachchans, and
the Khans. To find a way to get into Bollywood, you need to find a way to get
close to these families. If a large banner such as Yash Raj Films introduces you
as an actor / an actress, then you, by default, become an A-List actor /
actress in Bollywood. How some of the "outsiders" who have been
launched by the big banners, have managed to get to this place, is a mystery in
itself. Sadly, Kangana did not have the luck to be launched by a big banner.
Born in a small village at the foothills of the
Himalayas, Kangana Ranaut comes from a middle-class family. With a business
man father, a school teacher for a mother, and two siblings, Ranaut
reminiscences about being treated differently at home than her brother.
Talking about her childhood in an interview, Ranaut said, "If my father would gift my brother a plastic gun and get a doll for me, I would not accept that. I questioned the discrimination. I’m still the same." (Source) In another interview, in response to questions about sexism in
Bollywood, Ranaut responded, "Why just Bollywood? We have to… especially
the kind of environment that I grew up in, I come from a middle-class family
and we know that sexism or misogynistic society is a matter of fact… I feel
it's a matter of fact we live with… We can't claim that it doesn't exist or
exists only in a few portions of the country. That is not true. [Even today]
when a girl child is born the first thing the family feels is a [sense of]
disappointment. And that goes for even the high society people in India. So,
that is where a girl child starts from". (Source)
Growing
up Ranaut recounts her grandfather asking her to move away from the dining
table during meal times so that the men of the house could eat their meals first,
after which the women eat their meals (Source). This is a tradition that continues to be
practiced in many parts of India, something I have myself encountered when I
was carrying out my ethnographic fieldwork in India in 2014. Ranaut's family
expected her to be the model offspring who studied hard and worked on achieving
a career in medicine. However, after having failed one paper in a school test
in the last year of high school, Ranaut decided that being a medical doctor was
not for her (Source). She chose to take a path that most middle-class Indian families would
never approve of. She decided to enter the world of glamour. Ranaut recalls
very clearly that her father had a strong opposition to what she chose to do.
At the age of 16 she moved away from her hometown to Delhi, the capital of
India, and got hired as a model. From there began her journey (Source).
Soon after, Ranaut started acting and finally
moved to Mumbai. What she expected to find, she herself does not know. But what
she did find were walls, many many walls. Her first movie Gangster, became a commercial hit with the critics lauding her portrayal of an alcoholic
and a drug addicted woman. At the age of 17, Ranaut found a small foothold in
Bollywood. Gangster released in 2006. In the 11 years since, Ranaut has managed to, as some might say, "weasel her way in the industry and make something of herself". I could speak for a long time about the history of Kangana's career but I will focus on one important storm taking place in Bollywood over the past week.
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One of the things that makes Ranaut so incredibly
intimidating is what her peers might say behind closed doors, is "her lack of
tact". On camera they usually call it "being bold". In the past
5 years Ranaut has managed to break away from the stereotypical mould of the
neurotic female characters that she kept being offered to play. Her 2013
movie Queen finally established Ranaut as a star capable of playing a
wide range of characters. In the past 5 years, she has also managed to bag
multiple awards, including 3 National Awards which are treated as the highest
distinction in Bollywood. As Ranaut became important, she started being called
for interviews. However, instead of thanking Bollywood for accepting her,
Ranaut started clarifying just how much of a struggle it has been to enter
Bollywood and to retain her integrity in an industry mired in nepotism.
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This February, one of the most famous talk
shows on Indian television finally invited Kangana. A show running since 2004 by the name
of Koffee with Karan. Who is Karan you might ask? Karan Johar is the son
of Yash Johar, a movie producer. Johar's show is as he calls it, is a "frivolous
show to talk about nothing in particular". On this show, he often calls
his friends in the industry and has many a times attempted to make trouble by
insinuating one thing or the other about their colleagues to them. Many take
this in jest, some take it seriously. The bigger the trouble, the higher the
TRP ratings. Over the years Johar has worked as a film director, producer,
screenwriter, costume designer, and actor. To say he is steeped into Bollywood
since his childhood would be an understatement. The current topic of discussion
in the media is about the appearance of Kangana Ranaut on Johar's show.
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As an outsider Ranaut was often shunned and
consistently kept away from being cast in big banner movies. Another issue that
she faced was with her English. For those of you who don't know this, mastery
in English is indicative in elite India, of just how cultured and educated one
is. Coming from a small village, Ranaut has, over the years, been mocked for
her bad English by her peers. For her part, she has been very honest about her
struggle and often told reporters and interviewers about the amount of work she
has had to do on her English to be treated respectfully by her peers. On that
fated show, Ranaut, for the first time since the inception of the show in 2004,
appeared on Koffee with Karan. But instead of showing gratitude, as
expected by Johar, Ranaut chose to talk about how she thinks Johar's mocking
drove her to become better at what she does. In answer to his question about
"Who in the industry has given you the most amount of unnecessary
attitude?" Ranaut went on to reply, "I think it is you Karan." She continued,
"In my biopic, if ever it is made, you will play that stereotypical
Bollywood biggie… who is very snooty and completely intolerant of outsiders.
The flag bearer of nepotism. The movie mafia." While nothing Ranaut said
was untrue or even exaggerated, it left Johar and the other male guest on the show
aghast and speechless. As the show proceeded one can see Johar having a harder
and harder time maintaining his smile.
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The show aired as planned on February 19th. Two
weeks later Johar started talking about the episode. For one he claimed it was
rather decent of him that he aired the show without cutting out Kangana's nasty
comments, implying that he was free to shut her out and quiet her down if he
chose to do so. He went on to say, "I’m done with Kangana playing the
woman and victim card. I am done. You cannot be this victim every time and have
a sad story to tell about how you’ve been terrorised by the bad world of the
industry, leave it." What is the woman card you ask? It is what men fall
back on when they feel intimidated by women who call them out on their
behavior. They call it the victim female card that allows women to make
accusations about their alleged bad behavior. Not surprisingly, Johar's
reaction only adds to the point Ranaut was intending to make. In that, he does
not think her struggles are real and that now that she has made it big, he
expects her to be grateful that the Bollywood glitterati are finally welcoming
her into the fold. Johar's implication that she should leave the industry again
adds to the Bollywood dynastic structure that revels in its hold over the
industry attempting to quiet voices of dissent, especially those of women like
Kangana that make public statements about their displeasure in seeing that
female actors get paid less than their male counterparts or that most movie scripts
have male actors as an integral movie character with women playing the
peripheral roles of the mothers, wives, and daughters. In a recent speech
delivered at the London School of Economics, Johar went on to say, "She
was my guest and I had to hear what she had to say. She has a right to have an
opinion. When she says ‘flag-bearer of nepotism’, I just want to say, I am glad
she knows what it all means. [Though] I don’t think she has understood the
entire meaning of the term." This again reiterates Ranaut's jibe at Johar
on the show where she said, "You have mocked my English on this couch
Karan."
What is interesting about the Johar-Ranaut
controversy though is that India, which has been undergoing a metamorphosis for
a long time when it comes to the position of women, is currently a place where
blatant sexism is being held accountable. In an interesting turn of events,
many female journalists and columnists have taken to defending Ranaut and
slamming Johar.
One columnist writes, "One small piece of advice: When
women talk about victimisation, they are not necessarily playing the victim
card. And when someone is showing their vulnerable side, you don't exploit it
to stir another controversy. Most importantly, you don't attack a person when
she is not present to defend herself" (Source). Writing on March 7th, Vinta Nanda,
another industry outsider and a script writer states, "It is unfortunate
that I am writing this on the eve of the International Women’s Day" Speaking about the sexism that she has encountered in Bollywood over the past 2 decades, Nanda says, "These men
were simply not accustomed to assertive women, particularly those who were not
brought up to believe that their intelligence and knowledge were meant only to
add value to the performances of their male counterparts—husbands, boyfriends,
colleagues. And that is why I support Ranaut. I will stand up for every single
girl like her who is before the camera or behind it and has the courage to
speak her mind. However uncomfortable that may make the men, whom I expected to
change at least in Johar’s generation" (Source).
Asked about her role as the feminist of the industry, Ranaut claims to have done nothing for women. She asserts that everything she
has done so far has been for herself and to be true to her own values.
In fact, Ranaut states that she finds it terrifying that Bollywood and women all over
India view her as the feminist icon because according to her, there is nothing that
she has done consciously to help increase awareness or better the position of
women in Indian society. She hopes that someday she may be able to say that she
has been a feminist icon and has helped women reach a better place with pride. But for now, she
continues to focus on her career and call out people when they mistreat her and
expect her to be quiet.
In her own way, though Ranaut may not take the
credit for it, she remains a shining example for all those women who face sexism
every single day of their lives at home, work, and even in their social lives.
On this International Women's Day, therefore, I chose to talk about Kangana Ranaut, one
Bollywood actress who refuses to be bogged down. A woman who speaks her mind
and unabashedly tells the world about her sexual experimentation and her
romantic faux pas. A woman who refuses to become the insider and who thinks
that being an outsider is in itself her greatest strength. While women the world over persistently struggle to be treated equally, it is important that we acknowledge and celebrate candid statements made by women like Kangana who continue to challenge the boundaries drawn for them by patriarchy which reigns supreme and uninterrupted in many parts of the world even today.
--
Ms. Gauri A Pitale
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Anthropology
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL - 62901
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Anthropology
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL - 62901
