It Is Time Young Indian Women Stop Being Influenced By Demure Role Models In Indian Cinema

It is time Indian women cast away the influence of Indian cinema which teaches them that good girls do not freely express their love for a man! 

While we talk about women empowerment every second, there are still situations which position women as shy and retiring individuals. Involving women in decision making at home and at business is also not encouraged. We are also trained and conditioned to veil our feelings – it is supposed to be ‘unwomanly’ to freely express feelings of romantic love, for instance.

I still fail to interpret the rationale behind the existence of this trend even today, having considered the modern thinking of 21st century girl. It cannot be attributed to one reason because our behavior is influenced by our education, family background and upbringing, and what we learn in society, what we could call external factors.

I have been watching Indian cinema since childhood and have been an ardent follower of the dramatic silver screen. I keep brooding while watching love stories. Why do we see male protagonist always proposing to the female lead in many stories? Why does the story revolve around the hero trying to impress the girl with his circus stints (read – stalking the girl) or intelligence?

These stories are usually male centric with the role of the female lead restricted to glamour and certain skin show. The titles of these movies also show a bias towards the male character – whether good or bad!

I rarely came across stories where female lead has a crush on the hero and she does all possible things to make him hers. Many a times, feelings of fondness nurtures in both of them simultaneously. However, it is always the male protagonist who takes first step to express his feelings to the girl.

Often, friends of female protagonist advise her not to let her heart out until the guy proposes. Moreover, they also say to their friend, “You are a girl and girls are not supposed to take this bold step!” The girl is portrayed as a composed, humble, non-aggressive individual with mediocre intelligence who wouldn’t talk much about what she feels about the situation.

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It is not an understatement to say we live in a society greatly influenced by Indian cinema. Our youth draw their ideas of proposing to a girl and the feeling that they have to ‘convince’ her from our very own movies. It is very evident from the dressing, punch lines, songs, hair styles, etc. that they follow. They make references to movie dialogues during conversations.

Just like the boys get these ideas, girls too get influenced by these stories to not express their feelings unflinchingly. As shown in our movies, young women in real life too hold back their feelings and fear the consequences in case she expresses herself out first. Even an independent, successful woman thinks twice before talking about her love. A woman who might have been an eloquent speaker fails to express her love to the guy, under the influence of Indian cinema.

In a way, Indian women have become inexpressive cowards, hiding their feelings for the fear of being called desperate, sluts and characterless. They are habituated to subdue their feelings, influenced by predefined silly societal norms and Indian movies.

Honestly, we still do not appreciate and accept women who express their heart out to the world loudly. Not really. Although, I see we have climbed a small step towards reaching the step of equality, there is a long road to walk. We are yet to see a day where people realize feelings are innate to the human race and not gender specific. And women are equally given a chance to express and speak their feelings sans any hindrance.

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