“Chauvinism Is A Malady!”

“Chauvinism Is A Malady!”

FPJ BureauUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 03:31 AM IST
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BOMAN IRANI Tells SHUBARNA MUKERJI SHU That If You Cannot Take Orders From A Female Director You Deserve To Be Screamed At On Another Set By A Less Competent, Brutal Director!

Brought up by my mother, my aunt and my sisters, I come from a family where I have grown up amidst women. Growing up being pampered and bullied by them is something I will remember all my life – they really are the best thing to have happened to me. Moving on, my wife too has played a great role in my being the way I am. Maybe that’s why my understanding of women, their moods, is a little better than it might be for others. I do however feel the whole concept of ‘men don’t understand women’ etc is just a generic phrase being used and is almost incorrect.

It is all about human beings not understanding human beings most of the time; let’s not make it a battle of the sexes. It is all about individual relationships. Having said that, considering the individual is a woman, men should try and understand them a little better, firstly as human beings! We each have a heart, mind, soul… it shouldn’t matter what body embodies that. If you say women feel misunderstood or hurt by the way men behave around them, you are far from wrong. Men do tend to be a little insensitive, too practical. They give the impression of being less emotional but it is not true. Men might like to put up that façade but they can be extremely emotional.

See, whether you like it or not, films are in some skewed sort of way a reflection of society. Why restrict our discussion to films, currently we have a plethora of television serials which depict women in a certain way. Why are these serials so popular? Because they are getting the empathy from home. Where is this empathy coming from? Women! Men too are watching it but women are making the TRPs and who is producing these serials, a woman! So who’s to be blamed? Blaming men for regressive women characters is not correct. The females are also responsible for participating in those films, producing those films and watching those films and serials!

Women should take some responsibility too! The same goes for all the talks about objectification of women; the fact of the matter is those songs are written and gone, no one remembers them. Believe me, when we sit and play Antakshari with the young kids, they pick up some obscure songs from yore because that’s the melody that has stuck in their minds, despite not hearing it frequently. These racy, crass numbers might get to be the flavor of the season, some idiot will also go and make some money, good luck to him, what do we care? These songs, these films will always be forgotten, they deserve nothing better. There’s no posterity for them!

Look around us today, there has been so much progress for women, even in cinema. If I may boast a little, I think I might have the record of working with maximum number of female directors. Ruchi Narain, Zoya Akhtar, Sooni Taraporevala, Bela Sehgal, Farah Khan and many more, and yet for me, they are not my lady directors, they are my directors. If I have to argue with them I will, as I would with male directors. There should not be any difference when they are on the studio floor.

There are some people, men especially, who don’t like to take orders from a female director. But to hell with them, if they cannot take orders from a female director, they can leave! They should not take up the job. She is your boss, she is your director and you will listen to what she has to say! Generally the Indian male finds it very difficult to take orders and to be screamed at by a woman. Too bad buddy, be screamed at on another set by someone who is less competent and a complete brute! It is your bloody loss. Bye-bye!

All said and done, I have one major issue though in the film industry. By and large, I think women are treated pretty well, except for some of the stories we have heard which we won’t get into right now. But I find there is a very glaring disparity when it comes to hair and make-up – till recently women were not given a make-up membership card. Women were only to do hair… Men did the makeup.

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