The cinematic industry has a history of displaying a stereotypical portrayal of women. Decades have passed, showing us great masterpieces and making us fall head over heels with fabulous stories and colossal characters. However, for all the eminence of whopping cinema, we have failed to do justice to our female characters. For the longest time, we have seen women stoop to mere romantic props making nearly no substantial contribution to the pace of the storyline. This is half a decent portrayal. In contrast, we have also been scarred by cinemas that have vehemently made derogatory remarks to the female sex, along with subscribing to every belittling stereotypical standard.
Fortunately, the fashion of bad sketching of female characters has come to light by directors and people in the domain who have tried to remedy the blunder of the industry. Anurag Kashyap is one of those faces. From Dev D to Gangs to Wasseypur, Kashyap has showered us with many paragons of wonderful cinema. Apart from the splendor of great direction and storyline, Kashyap’s movies have given keen importance to its female personas. They haven’t just been tailored into significant roles, but he has experimented with their characters, making them stand out and ahead of the crowd despite their mundanity.
Women In Kashyap’s Movies
The most unconventional and remarkable takeaway from Anurag Kashyap’s movies is his diversion from the mainstream narrative. He follows the same pattern while portraying female characters in his film who are also quite aversive towards societal norms and expectations.
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Paro, Dev D
As noted, Anurag Kashyap doesn’t hesitate to break stereotypes and portray his female characters in an unconventional light. The exemplary character of Paro from Dev D is cinematic testimony to the same. Throughout the movie, Paro defies every trite label of submission or damsel in distress attached to females and indulges in non-traditional romantic rendezvous. She is portrayed as a bold, strong-willed, resilient woman, the traits generally not associated with women of bollywood.
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Nagma, Gangs of Wasseypur
The classic character of Nagma, played by Richa Chadha, is beyond any ounce of appraisal. Keeping aside the terrific magnificence of the storytelling in the movie, the character of Nagma wooed us all with her strength. But more than her courage, the flaws and vulnerabilities displayed on her part spoke to the audiences. Instead of just ducking down to romantic props, the show’s women were participating and surviving in the crime-fledged household.
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Ruth Edscer, That Girl in Yellow Boots
Another key factor of Kashyap’s movies is his unhinged vocality in unfolding the social realities. He lays bare the dogmatic and unsettling face of societies often overshadowed by mainstream cinema. The character of Ruth in That Girl from Yellow Boots is an accurate caricature of a girl struggling with her identity and sexual orientation in an alien land whose working doesn’t make it any easier to grapple with her problems. The movie brings into light the scourge of patriarchy still prevailing in our society, the gender-based violence and atrocities eating up our system from within.
The movies of Anurag Kashyap have a unique touch of direction that seizes our hearts and provokes the brain every time. However, the over-sensualisation and sexualizing of female characters in his movies have been a constant matter of backlash. Despite that, the strength and resilience shown by his female characters are nothing short of commendable.
