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Home , Aarathi, Bhojpuri cinema, Keechaka Vadham, Telugu cinema

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

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 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. 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 (). We have already read in the previous module about the history of commercial cinema and about the first Indian film - 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 ().

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, , 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 , 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 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, in Telugu, Dinesh 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. In that order, Regional cinema has also shaped and expressed the changing scenario of modernity of the country. It has influenced the way in which people perceive various aspects of their own lives. It has given people power to understand their values and culture. Not only has the country witnessed the growth of Hindi Cinema, but the regional film industry has also made its own mark. The first Bengali feature film Nal Damayanti in 1917 was produced by J.F. Madan. This film had two Italian actors, namely, Signor and Signora Manelli in the leading roles. And on the other hand, the year 1919 saw the screening of the first silent south Indian feature film named Keechaka Vadham. This is evidence that the regional film industry is as important as the Hindi film industry. Regional films are also making their presence felt on the international scene. Satyajit Ray, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and G. Arvindan were among the filmmakers who established milestones in regional cinema. In West Bengal, Satyajit Ray established the ‘Calcutta Film Society’ in 1947, with his friend Chidananda Dasgupta.

If we look into the business of regional cinema, we find that around 90% of films produced in India are in regional languages. That is to say, that regional languages mean other than Hindi, and very rarely in English, except in the case of documentaries.

Out of this 90%, 65% are made in the four major languages of the south - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malyalam. The Hindi cinema may be more popular and is considered as the largest film industry in the world. Yet, Regional cinema has its large share in the context of production of films . For example, out of the 1288 films produced in the country in 2009, only 235 were in Hindi, which is the national language. The rest – that is over 1050 films - were made in 23 other regional languages, the majority of them in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. In this regard, another table is being given here for the better understanding of proportions of films produced in regional languages. (Source:http://wfh.wdfiles.com/local--files/dwfh-full-programme/Women%20Undoing%20'National%20Histories).

Source:https://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw= 1366&bih=640&q=keechika+vadham&oq=keechika+vadham&gs_l=img.3...25142.28772. 0.29680.17.8.0.8.0.0.370.1419.0j1j2j2.5.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..14.3.990._1UNn_Ud4gg#hl =en&tbm=isch&q=pather+panchali&imgrc=_ki - Table-2 Sl.N. Language of movies Certified in 2010 Certified in 2011 1 Hindi 215 206 2 Tamil 202 185 3 Telugu 181 192 4 Kannada 143 138

5 Malyalam 105 95 7 Oriya 26 38 8 Bengali 110 122 9 Marathi 116 107 10 English 8 6 Source: Annual report 2011 of Central Board of Film Certification. It is clear from the above table that there is a decrease in production of Hindi films and a slight increase in production of regional films. However, the year 2011 saw the production of total 1255 feature films in which 147 films were dubbed from one regional language to another. This way, we may clearly see that the range of regional films is spreading and getting popular.

(Source:https://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=640&q=nomenclature+of+r egional+cinema&oq=nomenclature+of+regional+cinema&gs_l=img.3...4949.15784.0.16)

2.3.1 PROMINENT REGIONAL FILMS IN INDIA India is a multi linguistic country. As per a census of the languages of India 1971, there are 1652 languages and dialects identified in our country. Films are produced in around

30 languages in which the share of regional films is more than Hindi Cinema. We will now discuss some prominent regional films industries focusing more on women.

BENGALI With the advent of talkies, Bengali films started their journey in Calcutta and novels written by famous writers became the source of inspiration that characterized Bengali Cinema. Bengal possessed excellent stage actors because Hindi in those days was not understood by the majority of Bengalis and they gave their own language greater importance and visibility on the screen. During the period of 50s and 60s, Satyajit Ray lit up the Bengali film industry by his unforgettable movies like Appu Triology, Charulata, Teen Kanya, Devi, Jalsha Ghar, Ghare Baire, etc. All these movies were directed by Satyajit Ray and he portrayed different issues of women and one can see the representation of woman of that period. Now we take some glimpse of the film Charulata. The film Charulata is based on a novel ‘Nashtonid’. This film tells the story of a lonely housewife known as Charu. Charu lives a wealthy and idle life in 1870's Calcutta. Her husband, Bhupati runs a newspaper. He spends a lot more time at work than with his wife. However, he notices that Charu is lonely and asks his cousin, Amal to give her company.

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=image+of+stereotyping&biw=1366&bih=640&source=l

nms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI3OXfgdzSxgIVjBmOCh12Fg6H&dpr=1#t Amal is a writer and is asked to help Charu with her own writing. After some time Charu and Amal develop feelings for each other. Consequently, they move beyond the boundary of social milieu and desire to have physical relationship with each other. Here we see that movie circles around the female character ‘Charu’. Rituparno Ghosh , a Bengali director also made various films on women issues. Asookh, a film directed by him revolves around female characters. The relationship among four characters; father,

mother, film actress daughter and her boyfriend are depicted. The filmmaker explored the middle class girl’s struggle to cope with stardom and gave an actual space to women characters in the film.

TAMIL When Hindi became the official language of India after Independence in 1947, it was understood only by a small group in south India and the people of the south did not appreciate it. The political establishment in Tamil extended a help to establish . A way was opened for Tamil cinema by the political party Dravid Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) under the leadership of Conjeevaram Natrajan Annadurai. Annadurai was a script writer as well as a play writer. Marudu Gopalamenon Ramachandran was a great actor who took the Tamil film towards the road to success. The first Tamil film was made in 1916, but the industry got momentum with the success of the first talkie in Tamil, Kalidas, which hit the screens on October 31, 1931. It was on this day the boxes carrying the reels of the movie arrived at Chennai port and from there, it reached the Liberty Theatre in a huge procession. This was a period when mythological films dominated the industry. Seethakalyanam – based on Indian epic Ramayana was made in 1933. Thereafter, in this series, a very popular name was added as Shivaji Ganeshan, a superstar who could shoot simultaneously in 30 films.

Source:https://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en& Jaylalitha was also a superstar who worked in the 70s. She site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bi h=640&q=rajnikant&oq=rajnikant&gs_l=im entered politics at the age of 30 and became chief minister of the state. A few heroes from Tamil cinema have made it big in Bollywood too. Two of the most prominent among them are Kamala Hassan and Rajnikanth, two unparalleled superstars. They not only created benchmark in Tamil cinema but contributed a lot to Bollywood as well. How can we forget the Robot and Chaalbaaz of Rajnikanth and Chachi 420 of Kamala Hassan? Currently, Tamil Cinema is producing half the numbers of the films compared to that of Hindi Cinema.

Initially, there were no depiction of women related issues in Tamil Cinema but after some years women issues based film like Mantra, Mangala, Oka Kuri, Arundhati were released. Women centric Tamil movie named RUM (Rambha, Uravashi Menka) is to be released soon in which Tamil popular actress is in lead role. B.G. Bharathan, Balu Mahendra, Mani Ratnam, Rajnikant, Kamal Hasan, Hasan, Dhanush, Aishwarya Rai Dhanush are the famous figures of Tamil Cinema (The , thoraval Y, pg-318, Macmillan India Limited publication,2000.)

TELUGU is the most populated state in South. is the centre of politics and film. Nandamudri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR), founder of Telugu Desam Party, is the main figure of . Under the leadership of Nandamudri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR), Telugu cinema industry produced 54 films in 1960, 72 in 1970, 144 in 1980, 198 in 1986 and 204 in 1989. This is only a glimpse through which we can understand the production capacity and popularity of Telugu cinema. The first identifiable Telugu film was the mythological , Bhishma Pratigya, produced in 1921 in Madras by R. Venkiah and R. Prakash but it was evidently the talkie which was going to give a personality to films. If we talk about women issues in Telugu, this cinema industry is way ahead in giving importance to women issues. There have been various films like Mala Pilla in 1938 (Harijan Girl) which depicted the story of a girl from down trodden class. It talks about the self respect and social freedom of the lower class in society. The movies focus on society evils like remarriage and caste system.

BHOJPURI Bhojpuri is a regional language which is known by the name of the district Bhojpur in Bihar. Everyone wants to see the presence of his language on the screen. It was Dr. , the first President of India of Bihar who had discussion with Hindi film actor of

Ghazipur and told him to make Bhojpuri films. Consequently, the first Bhojpuri film Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo came in 1962, directed by Kundan Kumar and scripted by Nazir Hussain.

It is understood that there would be no cinema without women. Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo focused on social evil through women character. The film revolved around widow remarriage and emancipation of women which turned out to be a grand success at that time. There are some other movies that appeared on the screen like Bidesiya, Ganga Mai, Hamaar bhaujai, Nadiya ke paar, Bairi Kangana, etc. These films centered on the strong characters of women and portrayed them as the force behind family and the society’s upliftment. However, at the turn of the millennium, has changed its form with regard to the portrayal of women. It is continuously presenting the woman as an object of desire dressed in provocative clothes; seen as rejected, abused and admired for her heaving bosoms and pelvic thrusts. Nowadays, double meaning songs play a great role to make a Bhojpuri film a grand success. Such types of songs are offensive to the society. Bhojpuri filmmakers are depicting women characters as objects that are meant for flirting and as sexual showpieces. Hence, Bhojpuri cinema has started to lose its distinctiveness and is known for lewd songs, eroticism to a great extent, deploying soft pornography to titillate and invite the audiences to the theatres.

Apart from above mentioned regional film industries, there are some other regional film industries that gave importance and space to women characters. Different women centric films that have appeared on the screen are Umbaratha, Kajree, etc., in the Marathi Film Industry.

Source:https://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&sit e=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=64

Amol Palekar directed Kajree and also acted in it. It is about a ten-year old girl brought to her maternal aunt’s house following the loss of her parents. Aunt’s (Mausi) life is bare. She doesn’t have a child and she looks after her nicely. This film represented a

girl child’s emotions, desire and happiness very nicely. At one stage the girl asked her aunt why she misses the peacock whenever it appears. The aunt said that she herself wishes to be a peacock. Palekar presented the tenderness of the child and the inner strength of woman (the aunt). This kind of woman portrayal can also be seen in films like Vanprastham, Karunam by Jayraj (Malyalam) and Assamese film Pokhi (literally a bird) directed by J. Barua and Kannad film Kanooru Heggadithi (the mistress of the house of Kanooru) directed by Girish Karnad, etc. All presented the women’s grief, desire and emotions but in a sophisticated way.

2.4 STEREOTYPING OF WOMEN CHARACTERS

Stereotyping is a conventional form of characterization. It encourages certain kinds of interpretation of a story’s characters. It is also considered as a common set of values and beliefs that is continuously practiced in the media and cinema industry where women and men are portrayed through oppositions such as indoors/outdoors, domestic/public, worker/boss, passive/active, irrational/rational (Source:Tools for Cultural Studies, P-152). These aspects of stereotyping can be seen in regional cinema. Regional cinema generally showed women character in a stereotyped way where women appeared in a fixed narration. ForSource: example,https://www.google.co.in/search?q=image+of+stereotyping&biw=13 woman character of the Bhojpuri film Narahua Hindustani,66&bih=640&tbm=isch&imgil=t Radha is the only cousin of her uncle. She has lost her father in the early stage of her life and is the owner of the property. She spends a luxurious life. She drinks alcohol in front of her uncle. She wears what she likes and enjoys with her friends. It seemed that she has been presented only as a modern woman but in addition to presenting other social conduct and manner of her life, her biological parts and sexuality have been emphasized more. She is dressed up in the film like a commodity for males. This kind of images of female characters can be seen in south Indian films as well as in other regional films where female characters are objectified. They do not have freedom to do things without the permission of male characters such as father, brother and husband. Female characters are portrayed in a way that they are made for living only in four walls of social system which they cannot avoid. If they try to break the social norms, they will be punished. Very patriarchal conducts of male characters show that even in the present era, females cannot cross

the boundary of socially constructed modes of conduct. In this way, regional cinema reinforces stereotyping of women characters.

2.5 ISSUES OF WOMEN There are so many issues of women in Regional films in the Indian context like safety, security, protection, participation in politics, property rights, education, decision making, etc., which need to be discussed. We will understand these issues through the different sub themes discussed below like role of women, women directors of regional film and women in reel and real lives. To measure the equality of women and men, it is necessary to observe their role and their participation in regional films.

2.5.1 ROLE OF WOMEN/GIRL CHILD The role of women in regional film can be understood through a glimpse of the film made. Firstly, let us see this in the Bhojpuri film Bairi Kangna. The film Bairi Kangna came in 1992 in which Meera Madhuri played a lead role. Her father Choti is worried regarding her marriage. He fixes her marriage with Rakesh Pandey (another character). In the family, Meera does not have a right to take decision or share her opinion. She is not highly educated but can read and write. Despite these, her husband’s family understands that she is only made for domestic work and she has no right to raise her voice even against harsh treatment. Hence, we see the presentation of women characters under the suppression of patriarchal environment where they have been portrayed as disempowered and voiceless. In Nirahua Hindustani (directed by Satish Jain), we see the female character (Aamrapali Dubey) is highly educated but objectified And serving no real purpose in the film. In this context, in an interview, Bhojpuri actress says that ‘she felt while working in Bhojpuri films that the majority of filmmakers consider women either as a prop or a showpiece. They are least interested in coming up with a strong storyline with good characters for actresses. They just want to sell their movies banking on naughty dialogues and tacky item songs.’ (Reference:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bhojpuri/movies/news/Shw eta-Tiwari-Bhojpuri-cinema-has-no-respect-for-women/articleshow/46618964.cms).

In the Marathi film Kajree, a 10 years girl is in a lead role. The entire story revolves around her. She lives with her mausi who looks after her. Kajree has a golden dream of life and her mausi helps her to achieve it. Kajree is only of ten years but she knows and understands her mausi’s grief and consoles her. The husband of Kajree’s mausi is a brutal man. He drinks a lot and tortures her mausi. Despite all these, Kajree and her mausi have their own world. This film presents the positive role of Kajree. She is an intelligent girl. This kind of positive lead roles of female characters can also be seen in the Bengali film Pariomitar Ek Din, a film by Aparna Sen. The film reflects the withering away of conventions. The bonding between the mother- in-law and daughter- in- law remains intact even after the younger woman leaves the family and remarries. This is a departure from the traditional adversary roles of mother- in- law and daughter- in- law. The young woman leaves her uncouth husband and marries a man of her choice. This again is contrary to the concept of marriage being an unbreakable sacrament and of the bride’s unbreakable ties with her husband and family. Here, Aparna Sen has explored the relationship between a divorced woman and her mother-in-law in a pleasant manner.

2.5.2 WOMEN DIRECTOR OF REGIONAL FILMS The Regional cinema industry has much talent in the form of women directors who are serving the society by their creations. Some of these creations are discussed below.

ROOPA IYER

She is a Kannada film director as well a dancer, choreographer, model, business executive, philanthropist and philosopher. She directed a film titled Chandra in two regional languages, Kannada and Tamil. Through her film Chandra, she explored the inner desire of a woman and Source:https://www.google.co.i made it as a romantic film. Another film which she directed is n/search?q=image+of+stereoty ‘MUKHAPUTA–The Cover Page’. This focused on a child ping&biw=1366&bih=640&sour

suffering from HIV/AIDS. She is known for her selfless contribution to society in creating awareness about HIV/AIDS among the people through her company of India Classic Arts.

APARNA SEN Aparna Sen is a popular name in the Bengali Cinema Industry. She contributed immensely to the Bengali cinema with her talent and wonderful cinematic work. Being a women she understands the importance and space of a women which has been explored and established in her films like Mrinalinee, Pariomitar Ek Din, Sati, Park Avenue, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, 36 Chowrangi Lane, etc. Her father was Chidananda Dasgupta who was a friend of Source:https://www.google.co.in/searc h?q=image+of+stereotyping&biw=1366 Satyajit Ray for a long time. She acted approximately in 75 films.

Other women directors in regional films are Nandita Roy (Bengali), Mrinal Sen (Bengali), Meera Nair (English, Bengali, French, Hindi), Deepa Mehta (English), Aishwarya Rai Dhanush (Tamil), Aarathi (Tamil), etc.

2.5.3 WOMEN IN REEL AND REAL LIVES Cinema is an entertainment industry whose purpose earlier was to educate and to propagate culture and tradition of the society. But at the present time, regional cinema has changed its motto and focuses only on generating more and more money. In an interview, Bhojpuri cinema actress Shweta Tiwari claims that filmmakers of Bhojpuri films concentrate on making money by focusing on a sleazy portrayal of women in their films. A woman is the central part of a film. Without portrayal of women there would be no film. But portrayal of women characters in the regional films are far from the reality of society.

For example, if we see the heroine of a regional film whether it is Bhojpuri, Tamil or Telugu, she is always represented having beautiful face with white skin. Heroine is presented either in extremely civilized or ill mannered. She (heroine) speaks sentences

having double meaning and dances on songs having double meaning in such a way that she invites the male characters towards her through the body gestures. Whereas, in real lives, women of these regions are not like that. They never behave in that manner which is presented by a regional film. They live and like their culture but not impropriety. The general life of a woman in regional sector is bounded with respect for family and society. They usually do not take alcohol. They never go to market and school in short dresses. Therefore, the portrayal of women characters of regional films does not show the real status of women in the society.

2.6 LET US SUM UP Regional Cinema is the cinema which is made and produced in a region or a state in the local language of that region. Regional language cinemas have usually been exhibited within the linguistic boundary of the states in which they are produced. 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 basis of the formation of states based on languages. We know the group of films by the name of their regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Oriya, etc.

The number of regional films made every year is much more than Hindi films and their circulation covers its regional areas. Regional Cinema mainly has five characteristics such as Local Culture, Folk Music, Folk Drama, Strong Appealing Power and Local Characters. Regional cinema represents the stereotyped images of women which is far from the reality of existing society. Often, the aim of regional filmmakers happens to be minting money by showing women characters in an erotic manner. The acceptance of portrayal of women as an issue in regional films is becoming a parameter for a film’s success. However, women directors like Roopa Iyer, Aparna Sen, Mrinal Sen, Deepa Mehta, Meera Nair, etc; are trying to raise many more real issues affecting women. Hence, there is a hope for positive and strong space for women and women related issues in regional cinema.