WOMEN LIKE IT, WANT IT, NEED IT...

Mainstream films and web series made by top names are breaking stereotypes by showing ordinary Indian women acknowledging their physical desires

Female sexuality has long been a taboo subject in India. But a few years ago, Bollywood actor Vidya Balan succinctly explained the reality on a popular chat show, saying, “Women like it, want it, need it, as much as men do.”

Vidya had by then become famous for playing the role of a big movie star, modelled on the late Silk Smitha, who was unabashedly sexual, both on the screen and off it, in The Dirty Picture (2011). But her character stood out in a repressed society. Almost 10 years down the line, in a positive change of events, a number of films and web series are being made to show that ordinary Indian women — a young married socialite (Swara Bhasker in Veere Di Wedding); a young teacher with a dissatisfactory sex life (Kiara Advani in Lust Stories); a 55year-old family elder buried under responsibilities (Ratna Pathak Shah in Lipstick Under My Burkha, LUMB, 2016) — can and do find ways to fulfil their sexual needs, and that such needs are real. Film and TV producer Ekta Kapoor has also ventured into this space with the web series Gandii Baat.

With female sexuality now boldly becoming a part of mainstream entertainment, the trend is breaking the awkward Indian silence over this subject.

Alankrita Shrivastava, director of LUMB, says, “There has definitely been a shift. Today, there are more films trying to break the stereotype of female characters. If 50% of the population comprises women, then 50% of films should be about women and by women writers.”

Actor Neha Dhupia, no stranger to bold characters, appears in one of the four stories in the anthology, Lust Stories, playing a librarian who masturbates on the school premises. She says, “I think if you give them anything with a pinch of entertainment [combined] with great storytelling, the audience always receives it well.” Handling a heavy topic with a light touch makes it “easier to communicate”, she believes, and adds that “makers like Karan Johar (one of the directors of Lust Stories) have the ability to do so”.

“I see a welcome change,” says LUMB actor Aahana Kumra, adding, “I’m glad that now film-makers are open to writing roles for women, who’re open about sexuality.”

And how do men see this evolution of female sexuality? Jaideep Ahlawat, who stars in one of the short stories in Lust Stories, as a man sleeping with his best friend’s unhappy wife, feels that it’s high time for this change. “It’s very normal if you talk about male sexuality or homosexuality, so why can’t we talk about female sexuality? It’s a great change; we should keep making such cinema,” he says.

Trade analyst Atul Mohan feels that viewers have started “shedding their inhibitions and enjoying the movies”, even though the change is more visible in big cities.

However, Ratna, who played Buaji, an older woman exploring her sexuality and being criticised for allegedly not acting her age, thinks that a “sea change” in social attitudes is still not on the horizon. “Two-three female characters and references to their sexual behaviour don’t make a sea change,” she says.

I feel there has been a shift. I’d say that today, there are more and more films trying to break the stereotype of female characters. ALANKRITA SHRIVASTAVA, DIRECTOR

(Clockwise from top) Stills from Lipstick Under My Burkha, Lust Stories and Veere Di Wedding