Chaudvin ka chand ho, ya aaftaab ho, jo bhi ho tum khuda ki kasam, lajawab ho to Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga, jaise shayar ka khwab, to Durga bhi tu, shakti bhi tu … No, no, I am not playing antakshri! As I revisit my music collection and examine the compositions and lyrics from yesteryears to the ones we hear today, I am amazed at the range of expressions depicting the woman first as a beautiful ‘object’ and more recently as a woman of ‘substance’.
With due apologies to UNDP (United Nations Development Fund), life expectancy, literacy rates and economic growth indicators are inane and deceptive metrics of the status of the development of any country. True reflections of egalitarian and progressive development are inclusive growth — in the Garden of Eden both Adam and Eve got equal opportunities to grow, develop and blossom without glass ceilings or iron slippers. Thus, when one sees the changing portrayal of the Bhartiya nari it gives one solace and hope that badal rahe hen hum, badal raha hai India.
Let’s start with the all-time favourite — Bollywood. Time and again the creative maestro realised the strength of a woman in the plough-bearing Radha in Mother India and the quintessential village woman, Son Bai who stands tall in Mirch Masala. However, today the portrayal is more decisive, stronger and aggressive whether it is the autobiographical portrayal of the underworld don, Satokh Ben Jadeja in Godmother or the underdog and non descript team that wins its way through in Chak de! to Meghna Mathur in Fashion and the journalist, the bar tender and the silently smouldering sister in No one killed Jessica. From the sacrificing and dignified Kalpana to the matter-of-fact professional, Shruti Kakkar of Band Baja Barat, we have transcended manifold hurdles and boundaries.
The baton is carried forward by the small screen where, whether the setting is rural as in Gulaal or urban Maike se bandhi dor, the protagonists have no qualms in standing up for their beliefs and principles, even if it means going against existing traditions and norms. Ek nayi soch…is what the Indian woman of today seems to be saying.
Similar trends are obser-ved when one looks at advertising. While government ads focus on nurturing the girl child by educating her and not tying her up in child marriage and adolescent motherhood, in-surance companies speak about daughters who happily pursue careers as chefs rather than traditional school teachers. The message and the choice speak of equality. It is the earning daughter who tells her dad to buy a new, bigger car as she is funding it and the dad proudly says Gadi badi ho gayi aur beti bhi.
From Sajana hai mujhe sajana ke liye, to looking your best because “girls you are worth it”; from the Fair and Lovely girl whose objective in life is to hook a good looking groom to the Nokia girl, Supernova 7610 who in a one minute commercial captures the scent of a woman so comprehensively, when she narrates in chorus the essence of the phone as well as herself as she tells you — we organise, we categorise, we decide, we can decide, we take on the world, we call friends, we text friends, we are nice, we are naughty…it’s not just a phone, it’s who you are!
The Indian woman has had her own share in the struggle for independence. And today, as she rides rough terrain as a photo journalist and zips away on her scooter, she jauntily thumbs her nose at you and asks, “Why should boys have all the fun?”
However, just like the dark side of the moon there are still those caught in the capsule of time, where the Ying is not the other half of the Yang and alas are still referred to as Munni and Sheila — who have to their credit only their jawani. The acne creams, the fairness lotions, the array of cosmetics are the sole lifelines of the Aisha who will ultimately end up as just a decorative prop on the arm of some Axe hunter.
Today as the marketeer celebrates and praises womanhood, he needs to realise that the Indian woman of today does not seek serenades, doesn’t need ‘fragile: handle with care’ written all over her. She is not just the ardhangini, Saraswati — who merges invisibly so that the Ganga and Yamuna (her family) exist, nor is she just a zandu balm. As you bow down your head in prayer to the Sherawali Devi recognise that the one in front of you is but an avtaar of the same, don’t wait for her to bell bajao instead acknowledge and salute this woman of spirit’s right to seek her own destiny…
The writer is professor, marketing, International Management Institute,
New Delhi