Tanisha Mukerji tells Vanessa Viegas that the best way to empower the women in our country is to get the men to value them!
You are a very bold woman and don’t really shy away from breaking stereotypes, do you think Bollywood is still far behind in the portrayal of women or even sex for that matter? How will we ever become a progressive society if our cinema is regressive?
> It is not that our industry isn’t trying as otherwise we wouldn’t have films like ‘Mary Kom’, ‘Gulaab Gang’ etc. coming out. I absolutely loved ‘Kahaani’! That was one film I thoroughly enjoyed as it was extremely well executed and scripted in terms of portraying a strong woman. However, films are a reflection of our society and hence it isn’t really easy to change an entire society. So if we have a Vidya Balan playing a strong, sexual and assertive woman in ‘Dirty Picture’, she is given mental problems and a sad lonely end for our audiences to accept the movie! Or then the sexual Indian woman is just shown as a sexual plaything with no personality in these sex comedies and how they promote themselves! According to me, strong women threaten our male audiences, as somehow it is always shown that the woman cannot be more intelligent than the man. Only mothers, widows or vamps are shown as standing up to men in movies. Or if the heroine does stand up she is promptly tamed by love. I wouldn’t say that these stereotypes are only in India as they are a global phenomenon, but slowly we are moving towards a better portrayal of women in cinema.
Who are the women that inspire you?
> My mother Tanuja and sister Kajol inspire me the most!
Why do you think it is important for a woman to be defined by herself?
> It definitely is important because everyone else’s definition of you will keep changing! And if you don’t know who you are and what your boundaries are, you will be walked all over and that wouldn’t be a life of your own!
We find it really refreshing that you are taking your own time when it comes to marriage, 30 is the new 20 for women today. What do you think of this concept?
> Marriage is a dying institution only because people don’t believe in those values anymore. Tolerance has gone out the window and women are not taking the kind of crap they used to anymore. That though is a good thing! It’s forcing men to take more responsibility. Most of my friends have married people who have studied abroad or lived on their own because Indian men who haven’t, are too regressive. My mom has never insisted I get married, so I have no pressure to conform!
Tell us about your upcoming projects, especially the Anna Hazare biopic. Does he know about it being made?
> I am thoroughly enjoying my Anna Hazare biopic project because the kind of man he is, is extremely inspirational. It’s his journey and how he formed the values and ideals he did. Yes, of course he knows we are working on the film. In fact we were at his village and he met my mother and me and we chatted for a while. He has really helped his village and many others grow. We need more people like him taking responsibility for our land.
In what way would you want to empower the women in our country? Is there anything you want to change or help bring about a change in?
> First and most importantly is to educate the women in our country. We will definitely see women’s empowerment when more women are educated in our country. There is such a wealth of talent in our country of women who are sitting at home and aren’t able to go out there and work! I can’t imagine where our country would be when we are able to optimise this talent! I also think the best way to empower the women of our country is to bring up men who understand how to value, respect and treat a woman!
