Actor Dia Mirza makes an interesting observation, “I read recently that female characters in mainstream Hindi cinema are mostly ‘mute’. A major film released last year accounts for only 8 minutes of talking time for women in the first 53 minutes of the film’s run time. Until we start building a better balance in our mindsets, narratives will be unable to bring gender balance and respect for roles of women in Indian cinema.”
About women characters are their portrayal in what is termed as ‘item songs’ or vulgar lyrics, in some cases even allude to assault, Dia said, “There are different types of people who tell stories in cinema and a lot of what is made is their reflection of what they understand of what is happening in society, what they learn from their experiences, what they imbibe and consequently how they reflect that through their cinematic journey. And then there are some who don’t think of any of this and treat cinema like a mass entertainment business that caters to a vast percentage of the audience. And unfortunately, there is a large part of the audience that does enjoy this narrative and it is disgusting.” She further says, “”It is deeply offensive and I really feel that more and more of us need to come forward and refuse this kind of narrative and make it very apparent that this is unacceptable to us as women.”
