Indian Cinema is one of the biggest assets of our country. Producing over 1200 movies annually, Indian Film Industry is one of the largest in the world. In the present scenario where people are busy in their respective lifestyles, cinema is generally treated as an escape from the reality.
Cinema has often played an important role in depicting the positive as well as negative aspects of reality in a subtle yet hard-hitting manner.
But, In an industry which has been known to objectify women and portray male actors like a ‘hero,’ some movies have actually managed to represent the true essence of Indian woman achievers, their powers and bring out different characters of top inspiring women.
Here’s a list of such movies which shouts out that women are not just meant to suffer the misogynistic attitude of the society and can fight back with a vengeance.
Anjaam: The 1994 Bollywood Thriller Drama is one of the most outstanding movies in the cinema industry. It features Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in the lead roles. As the name of the movie suggests, the movie is based on the concept of what turns out to be the ultimate ‘consequence.’
The movie quite aptly narrates the ordeal of what a woman goes through if she dares to challenge a man’s fragile ego.
In this movie Shahrukh Khan (Vijay) falls in love with the protagonist played by Madhuri Dixit. But when he comes to know that she is happily married with some other person, he makes every attempt possible to destroy her and her married life. After enduring all the atrocities and oppression, Shivani (the protagonist) finally decides on taking revenge. She takes care of Vijay and brings him back to life as he had met with a terrible accident. But as soon as he reaches to his normalcy she kills him, seeking her long pending vengeance.
One of the greatest aspect of this movie is that it establishes the fact that a woman is not just meant to suffer the atrocities, instead can destroy the one who tries to harm her.
Ek Hasina Thi : The Neo-Noir thriller film starring Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan in the lead roles, is a brilliant example of direction and acting.
In the list of movies that illustrates a woman’s journey from being a gullible to a clever, hard-earned woman, Ek Hasina Thi emerges out as a winner.
The movie starts with Karan’s (Saif Ali Khan) attempts to charm Sarika (Urmila Matondkar). The plot reveals that how after Sarika falls in love with Karan, he uses her as a bait to get out of a criminal offence by imposing it on Sarika instead. She then has to spend 7 years in jail because of a fake crime accusation, but while her time in jail she plans out the revenge plan against Karan.
Both the actors, Urmila Matondkar (protagonist) and Saif Ali Khan (antagonist) have done an amazing job in the movie to make it look impactful.
In the movie, everything has been portrayed quite realistically, even the revenge seeking part, bewaring the viewers of the fact that one should not underestimate the power and strength of a woman.
Hate Story : Hate Story is one of the most controversial movies in the recent times. It is an erotic thriller where the protagonist, played by Paoli Dam, uses sex as her weapon to destroy the man who betrayed her trust and used her.
This movie is a proof that no matter how much torture a woman goes through, when she decides on seeking revenge there’s nothing that can stop her from destroying her culprit.
In the movie, Kavya (Paoli Dam) plays the role of a journalist who reveals about the involvement of one of the biggest business tycoons in a scam, through a sting operation. While the company belonging to a stubborn, arrogant rich tycoon Sidharth (Gulshan Devaiya) he takes revenge from her by offering her a job and charming her to fall in love with him and then ultimately torturing and insulting her. Kavya on the other hand does not just sits quiet and weep but decides to strike back with a vengeance.
Hate Story focuses on women power depicting how the life of an ambitious girl changes itself to a dreadful reality just because she dared to expose the truth and hurt the fragile male ego in the way.
These movies are a narration of the fact that when a woman tries to exceed the boundaries of the patriarchal and misogynistic society, she’s thrashed back inside the threshold and if she still dares to revolt, is tortured, betrayed and insulted.
But these movie characters tell us that no matter what the situation is, a woman should never give up, instead should fight back against the male chauvinism.
Akanksha Rathore
An aspiring filmmaker who believes in creating stories, a writer, a dancer, and an avid food lover. Likes to keep the spirit and the music both high. If not doing anything then probably will be sleeping.
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