Wednesday 12 April 2017

Badrinath Ki Dulhania – Bollywood breaking stereotypes?

While in Jaipur we watched a Bollywood movie: Bardinath Ki Dulhania (or Badrinath finds a bride, in English). It was a fascinating experience, not least because the movie theatre was a work of art in itself. We’ve been told it’s something special even for India, with its sweeping staircase, high ceiling, and enormous theatre. The movie itself was equally as spectacular. For non-aficionados, Bollywood movies generally feature multiple musical numbers with large choreographed dance numbers and romantic plot lines. But it also got us both thinking about it on a thematic level.

Short plot summary
Boy meets girl. Girl insults boy. Boy decides he wants to marry girl. Girl, however, is well-educated and would rather train as an air hostess. Girl agrees only to consider marrying boy when her sister also marries. Boy arranges sister’s wedding through his best friend’s online matchmaking service. Boy and Girl prepare for double wedding with girl’s sister. But girl runs away on wedding day to train as an air hostess, leaving boy at altar.

Interval

Boy’s father commands him to bring back girl ‘to hang her from the rafters.’ By travels to Singapore and kidnaps girl. Boy gets arrested by police, but girl covers for him. Boy stalks girl. Boy gets drunk and arrested again outside girl’s house. Boy will be deported in 3 days; in the meantime he is girl’s responsibility and costs her $1,500. Girl takes boy home. They fall in love again. Boy is deported back to India and girl misses him. Boy gets drunk at dowry ceremony for his brother’s wife. Criticises father for his misogynistic and cruel ways. Boy declares love and pride for girl. Girl arrives from Singapore just in time to hear it. Boy and girl get together and defy father. Brother has children which seems to mellow father out. Girl eventually moves back to India to open air hostess training school. Boy and girl live happily ever after.

Roll credits.

Confusing? Try it without subtitles, all in Hindi!

The analysis
Aware as we are of India’s patchy track record when it comes to women’s rights (in 2015 they were ranked 155th out of 180 in the UN’s index for women’s rights) we were watching the film and trying to understand what its message was concerning women. Did it reflect the country as a whole, or was it trying to be more progressive?
The answer, in our eyes, is mixed.

On the one hand, the film does tackle challenging social issues such as dowries (which are illegal in India but still widely practiced), women focusing on their careers instead of marriage and motherhood, and generational conflict. And good does win out: Badri, the boy, becomes admiring of his love’s career and the fact that she is far cleverer than he is, which at the beginning of the film made him angry and humiliated. The tyrannical father is seen treating both his grandchildren (a boy and a girl) equally and generally chilling out about life, when previously he had been an ogre. And Vaidehi, the girl, gets to realise her ambitions in her career.

But dig a little deeper and some of those seeming victories start to unravel. For most of the film, Badri (the boy) is an arse. He’s a man-child incapable of interacting with people in a courteous manner; when he doesn’t immediately get what he wants, he reacts either with anger, outright violence, or sulking. After Vaidehi leaves him at the altar (of the wedding he manoeuvred her in to), he beats people up. He throws Vaidehi in the boot of his car and threatens to strangle her (admittedly at his father’s command, but at this point part of us wonders how much persuading he needed). And Vaidehi’s response? She apologises that she left him at the altar, and lies to the police about what was happening so that he doesn’t get arrested – a particularly chilling scene when you consider that many domestic abuse victims behave in a very similar manner. When he stalks her, shows up drunk at her house and at her work, and puts her career in jeopardy, she responds by taking him into her house! Within the confines of the Bollywood format, Badri does of course reform and see the error of his ways – but the man committed serious crimes! And Vaidehi doesn’t just forgive him, she marries him.

And sadly, Vaidehi’s happy ending feels a little suspect. Why does she decide to move back to India and open a flight attendant school? Of course she’s motivated by her love for Badri, and doesn’t want to have a long distance relationship, but there’s also the consideration that teaching is a more acceptable career than that of a flight attendant, for a woman. And of course, the idea that Badri would move to Singapore (where Vaidehi is told by her boss that they are considering her for a promotion), is never even considered.

Of course, as with Badri this is all done within the confines of the format of Bollywood. Love prevails, and is a greater force than friendship, hardship, family, or career aspirations (if you’re the woman). A lot can be forgiven if it’s done for love. And that’s fine, but we got the feeling that beneath this were hiding some pretty stale attitudes towards the roles men and women play in society. It didn’t feel intentional on the part of the filmmakers – it was obvious that they were trying to start discussions about the subjects they were portraying (and of course, with us they have succeeded), but rather a little like a halfway house towards female empowerment written from a male perspective.

The audience were also a little disconcerting. They were enthusiastic participants in the drama – applauding at the right times, and laughing at the jokes (some of which we even got despite not speaking the language). But they also laughed uproariously at some bits which were fairly obviously meant to not be funny – serious music, serious faces, serious voices – and laughter from the crowd. We don’t know if we were missing subtle jokes, or whether they were missing key emotional developments in the film.

So did you hate it then?
Oddly, no, we didn’t. Despite its shortcomings, it was still a charming, entertaining, even somewhat moving piece of theatre. The dancing was excellent, and the comic timing on the money. And in Jon’s opinion (the resident Bollywood connoisseur, having watched at least 5 films now) Bollywood’s portrayal of the battle between the sexes during courtship is always exciting and engaging. We’d definitely recommend you all watch it! And hey – regardless of how well it succeeds in being a progressive piece of film, it definitely got us talking – so chances are it will get other people talking, too – and that’s where change begins.

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