Professionalism in Films and Job-Orientation
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Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University, Allahabad Paper Coordinator Prof. Sisir Basu Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Content Writer/Author (CW) Shri Arindam Roy Professional Writer, Allahabad Content Reviewer (CR) Prof. Sisir Basu Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Language Editor (LE) (B) Description of Module Items Description of Module Subject Name Women’s Studies Paper Name Women, Media & Films Module Name/ Title Professionalism in films and job-orientation Module ID Course – 10, Module – 32 Pre-requisites The reader is expected to have the knowledge about the status of the professional and working women in India. They should have an idea about the problems they face in promoting their cause. Objectives To make the readers aware about the long and arduous journey of women in the film industry, their low presence as technicians, such as, directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, etc. Also, the struggle for the industry to become organized and the harsh realities of the casting couch. What is the way ahead for women in cinema. Keywords Bollywood, Hollywood, Gender, Male Gaze, Taboos, Conflict, History, Identity, Organized, Disorganized, Casting Couch, Exploitation, Parivarvaad, Star-kids, Hindi Cinema, Regional Cinema, Popular Films, World Cinema, Diaspora, Feminist Cinema, Women’s Films, Feminism, Feminist Auteurs, Post-feminism, Third Cinema, Reality, Fantasy, Media, Medium, Equal Opportunities, Filmmaking, Filmmaking Institutes 1 Professionalism in Films and Availability of Jobs for Women 1. Objectives As stated earlier in the description of the module the purpose of this unit, in general, is to make the readers aware of the various job opportunities that are available for the women professionals in the Indian film industry. The specific objectives of this module are to: • Describe the jobs that are available for the women; • Explain the struggle that the women have to undertake to establish themselves in the so called men’s world; • The struggle that the film industry as a whole has undergone to organize itself; and • The realities of couch casting that stares at the women folk in the film industry. 2. Introduction With USD two billion earnings from ticket sales, per annum, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world1. The Hindi cine industry employs more than 250,000 people, mostly contract workers, according to trade analysts. Women had to break the glass ceiling, fight taboos and break shackles. Their journey was arduous, replete with trials and tribulations. A small step in the last century by two women (mother-daughter duo as actresses) was to mark the beginning of a long journey by many more in over 100 years. Slowly women got their share of the sunshine. In the previous unit, we have had discussion about the portrayal of women in various forms of films. We now have a fairly good idea about the types of representations that the films offer about the women in our film industry. In this unit we shall discuss and analyse the job opportunities that the women professional have in Indian film industry; the struggle that undergo to establish themselves in various jobs; and the difficulties they face to organize themselves as professionals not forgetting the issue of couch casting that is prevalent in the industry. 3. Women Pioneers Break the Glass Ceiling Dadasaheb Phalke had to cast male actors as female cast in his first film, Raja Harishchandra (released on May 3, 1913). The film was a runaway success. Raja Harischandra captured the nation’s imagination. Thus, Phalke was able to cast a mother-daughter duo, the first women actors of Indian cinema, Durgabai Kamat and Kamlabai Gokhle, in Mohini Bhasmasuri (released in November 1913). It’s a landmark film for another reason. Kamala, the heroine, performed the first ever dance by a woman on Indian screen, as Mohini, enticing the demon. It was Phalke’s second film. We were in the era of silent films then. Things were not easy for women. At that time, acting in films was a taboo for women. Women actors were likened to prostitutes. 1 News report, ‘Supreme Court says Bollywood must allow female make-up artists’, Nita Bhalla, Nov 4, 2014, Top News 2 Fig 1. Kamlabai Gokhle Stage actress, Fatma Begum2, was to create history. She was India’s first entrepreneur- director. She established her production company, Fatma Films, later rechristened as Victoria-Fatma Films. Bulbul-e-Paristan (1926) was the first landmark Indian film that was directed by a female director. Two early women music composers were Jaddan Bai3 and Saraswati Devi4. Hailing from the family of Tawaifs, Jaddan Bai, an actress and singer, was to become the country’s first woman music director, with the film, Talashe Haq (1935). She is better known as actress Nargis’ mother. Born in a Parsi family, Khorshed Minocher-Homji, popularly known as Saraswati Devi, was the second woman music director of the country. She was associated with Bombay Talkies. She scored the music for the well known film, Achut Kanya, the following year, in 1936. Till 1961, she composed music. Figure 2: Jaddan Bai and Fatma Begum In the Tamil cine industry Meenakshi Narayanan5 was the first woman sound engineer. She entered the film industry in the 1930s. Three other women actor-directors, pioneers in their own rights, became trendsetters as actor-cum-technicians in the cine world. They too were from the Tamil- 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatma_Begum 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaddanbai 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati_Devi_(music_director) 5 News report in Hindu, Feb 22, 2014: http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/cinema-columns/viswamitra-1936/article5716729.ece 3 Telugu film industry. The three legends were Thiruvaiyaru Panchapakesa Rajalakshmi (TPR), Kommareddy Savithri and Paluvayi Bhanumathi Ramakrishna. The 1936-film, Miss Kamala, saw Rajalakshmi6, popularly known as TPR, multi-tasking as a writer, director, editor, singer and actor. She was a freedom fighter and was jailed by the British many times. Highly respected, she ruled the cine industry for many years. A wealthy lady, she had lost her fortune. She passed away ill and poor. Savithri7 started her career as a child artist but was noticed after her association with NTR’s theatre company. She was secretly married to Sivaji Ganeshan, an icon of the Southern cinema. In 1968-69, her directional career shined with films like Chinnari Papalu, Chiranjeevi, et al. Though she died in her forties, she paved the way for female directors in three southern languages. At 25, Bhanumathi8, a highly respected and no-nonsense actor-singer, became the director of the film, Chandrini (1953). She worked in 200 plus films. She was not shy of experimentation. Her gutsy portrayal of female sexuality is another feather in her cap. For Arundhati Devi9, wife of filmmaker Tapan Sinha, the lines between real and reel lives blurred. Her real life unfolds like a silver screen drama. Her first film was Yatrik (1952). Fifteen years later she directed her first film. Megh-o-Roudra. She bravely challenged the boundaries of her times, paving the way for other women directors. Her celluloid journey came to an end in 1990, when she passed away. Prema Karanth10, a well known dramatist and filmmaker, much like her celebrated husband BV Karanth, directed Phaniyamma, her directorial debut, in 1983. Before that she worked as a costume designer and art director too. She is an important female director of the Kannada films. Vijaya Nirmala’s11 name figured in the Guinness Book of World Records 2000, as a prolific female director. She directed 42 films, the maximum number by any female director worldwide. With more than 200 films to her credit, she directed Meena, her first Kannada film, in 1973. She also directed Malayalam and Tamil films. Now, she stays in Hyderabad and manages Padmalaya Studios and Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd. 6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._P._Rajalakshmi 7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri_(actress) 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhanumathi_Ramakrishna 9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Devi 10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prema_Karanth 11 http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/04/30/stories/2002043000330203.htm 4 Figure 3: Vijaya Nirmala These bold-and-the-Beautiful pioneers braved the difficult times and paved the way for many new entrants into the showbiz. They rode over many contradictions and were not cowed down by the taboos and shackles of a conventional society. They stormed into the male bastion, breaking the proverbial glass ceiling. 4. The Inbuilt Conflict: Professionals in Unorganised Sector and Exploitation When it comes to 'professionalism', the cine industry is offering employment to trained professionals. These people are replacing the errand boys, uneducated but street smart, who made it to the top, the traditional ‘Muqaddar-Ka-Sikandar syndrome’. Some of them are still around. Since they were exploited, they believe in perpetuating it. Things are now changing and that is the sunny-side-up for the industry. Women are on the rise among the technical workforce too. Some celebrated insiders were exclusively interviewed telephonically or via emails. Jyoti Madnani Singh, a prominent costume designer and stylist in Bollywood, in an email interview, said, “Let me first talk about the reason behind the unorganised nature of film industry. It is largely unorganised because people seriously don't pursue it as a business and don't think of it as a 'real' industry. Like every business has a plan, barring few corporate, no one has a business plan or road-map in Bollywood.” 5 Figure 4: Jyoti Madnani Singh She added, “The cine industry is relying on trained professionals because there is increase in number of educated people getting into industry. There's influx of educated people in industry. In general, the impression of 'Bollywood' has as well changed in society.