Women in Regional Films 1. Objectives
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A) Personal Details Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University, Allahabad Paper Coordinator Prof. Sisir Basu BHU.Varanasi Content Writer/Author (CW) Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra Subhash Chandra Bose Content Reviewer (CR) Subhash Chandra BHU, Varanasi Bose Language Editor (LE) DR. Sonal Parmar Consultant Editor, New Delhi Description of Module Subject Name Women’s Studies Paper Name Women, Media and Films Module Name/Title Women in Regional Films Module Id Course – 10, Module - 28 Pre-requisites The reader is expected to have some knowledge about how regional films in India portray women. Objectives To make the readers understand the concepts of Regional cinema and how it represents the women and the girl child . Keywords Regional Films, Women, Portrayal, Stereotyping, Representation, Women Directors WOMEN IN REGIONAL FILMS 1. OBJECTIVES In this module, you will be acquainted with the concept of Regional Cinema and its characteristics particularly in the context of Indian women. After going through this module, you will be able to: • Describe the concept of regional cinema; • Know about the prominent regional cinema centres in India; • Analyze the portrayal of women in regional films; and • Discuss the women’s role in real and reel lives. 2.1 INTRODUCTION Cinema is a powerful medium of communication which reflects our culture, rituals and current situation of the society. It also depicts the earlier history and civilization of a society. In the previous module, we have read about the role of the women and their importance in commercial films. We also examined the space they get and their portrayal in commercial films in the light of the present scenario. Now in this module, we will discuss how women are depicted in regional films. What type of roles they play and how their issues are raised by regional filmmakers? Do their portrayals in regional films reflect the condition of their real life. We shall discuss the issues of women depicted in regional language films of India. 2.2 REGIONAL CINEMA Regional Cinema is the cinema which is made and produced in a region or a state in the local language of that region. Hindi is spoken in many northern states and is considered a national language. Yet the popularity of Hindi cinema has allowed it to cut across regional and linguistic divisions, giving Bombay cinema a national or ‘‘all- India’’ status distinct from regional language cinema whose access is limited to audiences within the states in which they are produced. Regional cinema is as old as mainstream cinema (Bollywood). We have already read in the previous module about the history of commercial cinema and about the first Indian film Raja Harishchandra - directed and produced by Dhundhiraj Govind Falke (Dadasaheb Falke) - which was released in 1913. Since then, many films have been produced and exhibited in India. Films in regional languages were also being made around the same time. The first Bengali feature film Nal Damyanti was produced by J. F. Madan in 1917 and the first silent South Indian feature film named Keechaka Vadham appeared on screen in 1919. The latter was directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar (Chennai). 2.2.1 WHY THIS NOMENCLATURE? The nomenclature of ‘Regional Cinema’ refers to the fact that this kind of cinema is based on a regional language. In India, cinema is nothing less than a religion. India is a land where the most diverse cultures are seen across the regions and hence, the film industries are based on the linguistic patterns, much like the way states were divided on linguistic grounds. We know the group of films by the name of their regional languages. India has many linguistic groups whose behavior, literature and other verbal/written cultural activities is designed in their own languages. In ancient era, Indo-Aryan languages were spoken by the people who were residing within a certain boundary and other languages like Dravidian and Tebeto-Burmese were spoken by others. The Indo-Aryan linguistic group covered the north central part and the valley of the Ganges of the India. It also covered Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Chhatishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, etc. The second linguistic group was Dravidian. They Did you know? were pushed back to the south of the There are mainly three linguistic groups in India-i) Indo-Aryan, ii) subcontinent (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada) by the Dravidian, and iii) Tebeto-Burmese. invaders. The third group was of Tebeto- Burmese in the pre-Himalayan regions located at the extreme northeast of the country, like Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, and ‘Bodo’ region of Assam. These groups have their own culture, fashions and traditions and to propagate that they also follow the powerful medium of communication. Hindi is the official language of our country. However, only 40 percent people speak Hindi. In North India, variations of Hindi are spoken as the first language by the population of several states around Delhi. Other North Indians, whose first language might be Gujrati, Punjabi, Bengali, etc., can also access Hindi films, as can Urdu speakers in Pakistan. All these languages are part of the same Indo-European group. But in South India, the language family is different. As a result, English was retained as India’s second official language. In the South, the different regional language cinemas have the support of the mass population in all the linguistic regions. The Hindi Cinema Industry is considered to be the largest film industry in the world. More than a thousand movies are made in India but a gap in the proportion of Hindi movies and regional movies exists. For example; the total number of movies made in India in 2003 can be seen as under- Table-1 Sl.N. Language of Movies (made in 2003) Total number of movie 1 Hindi 222 2 Tamil 151 3 Telugu 155 4 Kannada 109 5 Malyalam 64 6 Bengali 49 7 Marathi 25 8 Assamese 17 9 Others 85 Source: website of Central Board of Film Certification. Thus, it’s evident that the regional cinema industry collectively produces more movies than Hindi cinema industry. Hindi cinema has created its artificial culture that is accepted throughout India. Regional cinema, on the other hand; has remained firmly rooted in its own culture and languages and is viewed by mostly the regional people who speak and understand the regional languages. Thus, it is due to the variety of its culture and language that a regional film industry is known by the name of the language of that region, such as Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Bengali, and Marathi. 2.2.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF REGIONAL CINEMA So far, we have discussed about the regional films and how they are firmly rooted in their own languages and culture. Regional cinema has its own identity due to its unique characteristics and qualities which we can understand through the following headings: LOCAL CULTURE: Regional cinema’s structure is formed on the base of local culture and custom. Regional films assimilate these things in their portrayal of marriage, dowry, caste, ritual performed for gods and goddess, networks among the people, etc. The depiction of these things attract more people and they have fun with a regional movie due to its local colour and touch. Everyone prefers hearing the local language and watching the representation of his/her group on screen. FOLK MUSIC: It is said that music rejuvenates the mood of a person. People get more attracted to folk music because it is of their own area and has local flavor. Folk music contains many theme-forms like Holi songs, Puja (regional worship) songs, marriage songs, etc. It entertains all types of people, be it educated or common people. Each and every one understands the sense and meaning of folk because of its sweet nature. FOLK DRAMA: Folk drama is another important part of regional cinema. Earlier folk drama was alive in society and used to be a good source of entertainment but with the passing time, the genre of drama is losing its existences. However, this style of amusement still has a little space in regional cinema and it also has elements of entertainment which common (regional) people of that area like to watch. STRONG APPEALING POWER: Regional movies have the power to express social issues. For example, though we speak Hindi/English language but when we listen to our own regional language or regional song, we are filled with special feelings. It is a natural phenomenon because people learn very basic things of life through the language they speak at home. Therefore, we can say that regional cinema has strong appealing power to express the culture, custom and ritual of a particular region. Regional films like Sasura Bada Paisawala, Nirahua Hindustani, Nadiya ke Paar (Bhojpuri), Sudigundalu (Telugu), Kanchivaram (Tamil), Pather Panchali, 36 Chowrangi Lane (Bengali) were popular due to its strong appealing power. Not only these movies were grand hits in the box office but also they portrayed the burning issues of that time. This way, due to its deep impact on audiences and the heart touching characteristics, regional cinema has a major space in the cinema sector. LOCAL CHARACTERS: Regional cinema is rooted in reality. It uses the unique quality of moving images to convey personal visions through the portrayal of local story and the roles played by local characters in which their authors and characters are born and grow-up. Through the local characters, regional cinema represents the story in local forms. Like Rajnikant in Tamil, Mahesh Babu in Telugu, Dinesh Lal Yadav, Kheshari Lal Yadav in Bhojpuri, etc., are very popular characters in regional films. People like to watch their local heroes in the film. 2.3 REGIONAL FILMS IN INDIA A common notion is that Cinema plays a significant role in shaping public opinion and in imparting knowledge and understanding of the lives and traditions of the people.