a feminist response to pop culture

A FEMALE FRIENDLY SEX TOY BOUTIQUE Issue #78 — Spring 2018 DISPLAY UNTIL 6-1-18 for every body NO. 78 SPRING 18 USA $7.95 | CAN $9.95

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FROM BOLLYWOOD Susanna as an immoral person driv- IN STRICT BOLLYWOOD TERMS, SCORNED: latent female anger, en to crime for selfish reasons, but women stay home and concern it is hard to dismiss the genius in the themselves with their “honor” flawless and innovative schemes as old as our mythologies. while men go about avenging all THE COLD she comes up with and executes the tarnishing done to the honor neatly, each murder undetected by of their wives, sisters, mothers, law officers. protagonists: Aarti’s resurrection estrogen-driven act executed through girlfriends, and any other woman VENGEANCE OF The 2012 film Kahaani (Story) takes place with an image of Shakti, treachery and lies. But there is noth- they remotely know. features a woman plotting revenge the goddess of power, behind her, ing hidden or impulsive about the In Bollywood films, there’s a very that involves false identities and and she kills Sanjay as Kali, the motives of Jyoti, Susanna, and Vidya; gendered divide. For men, revenge fake pregnancies in order to (here destroyer of all evil, looks on from the “lies” are all careful, tactical de- is seen as logic driven and well HINDI CINEMA a portrait. The climax of Vidya’s cisions that are well planned in order comes the gender reversal!) avenge planned. It always serves a larger her husband’s death. Vidya’s (Vidya revenge plays out in Calcutta, as to achieve the women’s goals. With- good and invariably becomes an plastic surgery to emerge as the panther and administers a heroin Balan) complex story line implicates people celebrate Durga Puja in a in Hindi film’s shortsighted binary action-packed spectacle filled with hyper-glamorous supermodel Jyoti. overdose to her lying, cheating senior Intelligence Bureau officials five-day ritualistic celebration of of the “good woman” (with all the guns, explosions, and, most impor- On top of not taking women’s second. She follows up by burying and proves their involvement in a a goddess created by male gods when feminine goodness) versus the “bad tant, other men. A woman’s revenge, revenge plots seriously, Bollywood her third husband alive, poisoning poisonous gas attack. The film em- they failed to vanquish the demon vamp” (with all the qualities consid- on the other hand, is an anomaly in Mahishasura. Much like Durga, who ered terrible in a woman, but often

by Choudhury Bedatri Datta female revenge dramas often and of itself because it means tak- fetishize the “woman on the kill” pierced her trident through the celebrated in a man), these char- ing ownership of the crimes commit- in an Annie Oakley–like manner in demon’s chest, Vidya yanks off acters act as cultural interventions ted against her, fighting for herself which her anger and wielding of her hairpin to stab the side of a that help dismantle formerly water- instead of ceding vengeance to a weapons is meant to be a source of villain’s neck. tight notions of womanhood. These male relative. Though many Bolly- titillation, her disdain for men only To anyone aware of these very characters are all “good” women: wood films feature revenge against a costume. Jyoti appears onscreen popular myths, the comparison in heroines who are loving moth- a rapist, when women take revenge in tight pants, riding horseback iconography is unmistakable. For a ers, caring wives, and empathetic into their own hands, the assump- and wielding a whip. Invoking feisty country where religion and pop cul- employers—but also ace planners tion is that their actions are guided warrior goddesses from Hindu my- ture often intersect onscreen, these and calculative risk-takers. purely by emotion, an almost hys- thology, she tells Sanjay, “You have comparisons go a long way in legiti- This deviation makes us think be- terical acting out with no rationale. only seen women as toys. Now you mizing female-revenge narratives; yond the trivial “scorned” woman Hence a woman’s revenge is seen as see me wield the sword of woman- in a way, such stories are a reminder of “hell hath no fury” fame, and a crime with little or no redemptive hood.” And then she whips him into of the power of latent female an- also opens up new possibilities for a value and no moral high ground. Pur- the same crocodile-infested lake ger that’s as old as our mytholo- crop of female characters who plan suing vigilante justice makes them where he once left her. Sanjay begs gies. Moreover, the women in these and plot with their brains, needing “bad” women who are overstepping for mercy and, for a moment, we films are widows—a status that no male savior to keep their honor rightful boundaries. see Jyoti/Aarti lost in a flashback, has socially, economically, and sex- intact. These women are not bad— In 1988’s Khoon Bhari Maang close to forgiving him, but then she ually disempowered Indian women. but they are ruthless enough to (Blood on the Head), revenge be- snaps out of it and gives him one It is a feminist questioning of that gain control over their victimhood

comes the only goal for protagonist last ruthless shove into the lake. discrimination when these women, and grief. Photo courtesy of Kahaani (2012), Viacom 18 Aarti (Rekha). The title refers to the She is avenged, but her bodily honor their status diminished by the loss Bedatri Datta Choudhury Hindu practice of married women has little to do with it. Instead she of their husbands, find themselves studied litera- applying vermilion on the part- wants the money and property that the fourth with snakes, overdosing ploys sexist clichés of motherhood empowered enough to become ture and cinema in New Delhi and New ing of their hair as a mark of their were rightfully hers, capital that will the fifth with Viagra, and finally, and widowhood—both of which are exactly like men, the usual carriers of York, and loves writing on gender, popular marital status, but in this case, the renew her social standing and liter- shooting the sixth. The murders, used to portray Indian women weak- the revenge narrative. Angry women culture, film, and most other things. She marker is blood. The exaggerat- ally pay for a new face. which start out as targeted attacks er than men—that Vidya uses to her don’t need to be goddesses for their lives in New York, where she binge-watches edly plain and extremely wealthy The 2011 film 7 Khoon Maaf (Seven on the men who have failed Susanna, advantage. Her revenge is not only anger to be legitimate, though. reruns of old tv shows and makes notes widow, Aarti, is shamed into mar- Sins Forgiven) is the story of Susan- eventually become crimes of neces- personal, it also serves the larger I look forward to the day Hindi cin- about strangers she meets on the subway. rying Sanjay (Kabir Bedi), who then na’s (Priyanka Chopra) search for sity to protect her secret. Though good of ridding the government of ema recognizes that angry women You can follow her on Twitter @Bedatri. throws her into a lake where he love—and how she kills six husbands based on her romantic desire to corrupt officials. are just as human as caring, loving, believes she’s been eaten by croco- when they fail to live up to her trust find love, nothing about Susanna’s These films also rely on the ex- and maternal women. diles—and escapes with all her or demands. She feeds her doubt- revenge is soft. With her own pro- tensive roster of fearsome Hindu Female revenge in Hindi cinema money. Aarti survives and undergoes ing and abusive first husband to a tection and needs at the core of her warrior-goddesses to frame their is typically viewed as an illogical,

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