Wandering around here and there, experiencing diversities,
she weaves her own dreams…..
‘Women… in
Wanderlust’
Yes! This seems to be the flavor of this season in Bollywood
with Highway and Queen being the most loved and talked about movies.
Highway: Alia in Wonderland.:: Through an accidental
kidnap into this highway, she first discovers a dark-land of no-return but later she is amazed to visit some bright-mountains
one would never wish to return from.. Instinctively decides who’s the bad man
and distinctively places faith on rest of the good men in her
rustic-kidnappers. Surprises herself by confessing her incest childhood within
her high-profile family to these strange
good-men, delights herself by finding a platonic friendship with the leader of
these men. Unlearns the good-manners of her upbringing- plush-society and
learns the hidden goodness of her kidnapping-rustic-society. Never cherishing
her family memories, she is now cherishing each and every present moment. Now she
does not want to go back and does not know what she wants. So she goes deeper
into this mountains with her platonic companion and unknowingly deeper becomes
her desire to settle there with her own sense of freedom. She is then forcefully taken back to her suffocating
past, plush family and it is here she feels Really Really Kidnapped and it is
now she discovers What she really Desires. So she does what she has to do.
Shout and Break out to the mountains to make a living in her own terms.
A sensitively crafted movie with a very artsy-wartsy &
philosophical touch. While Highway remains a good one to watch, the other one
i.e. Queen is more relatable, where the art lies in its realistic
cinematography just the way we see the world through our naked eyes and
philosophy is expressed through words
and actions spoken in our normal lives.
Queen: Kangana in scandal
land:: Once wooed fancifully in the small town streets by her lover who was
floored by her simplistic beauty, she is later woed by his rejection for being a
meeky personality, at the endth time before their wedding. Dumped yet Desire
for the honeymoon travel, she ventures into France only to be caught in
cultural shock, Caught in her memoirs & miseries, caught in her clumsiness,
caught by a cop, caught by a burglar, caught herself in all womens rave party,
all the times thankfully being found and befriended by a high-spirited,
carefree woman. She loosens up in this friendship, carefree culture, accidental
boozing, sloshed monologues, yet never ever losing her inherent innocence. Eiffel
towers once haunting her with past promises of her lover, now breezes her with
promises of hopeful trip to Amsterdam. It is here, she shocks herself to be
squeezed in with threesome male roommates in a backpacker hostel to later surprise herself by becoming their fourth-some
friend. With them she explores diversities, male friendships, Amstredam, its
brothels, a job contest only to finally, yes finally discover victory, job
satisfaction, a fleeting crush, driving skills, self-confidence, discover everything..
everything that her lover had undermined. Now she is beautiful and has a confident
personality and knows what she wants and who she does not want. She thinks
“Thank God not to have got married to her MCP lover who is now pursuing her only
for her makeover look and returns the engagement ring with a sarcastic “Thank
You”
And there, you hear all the applause in the theater.
If one may recollect, ‘Quest of a Woman’ kind of movies have
been made in the past like ‘Hero’, ‘Dil hai ki manta nahin’ and many others but in all of those movies,
women were always made to cling on to a man, giving it a yet another love-story
tinge. Maybe the directors were not bold
enough or maybe those times were not experimental enough. But it is good to
see, filmmakers of the above and other recent movies like Kahaani,
English-Vinglish just focusing on pushing out the women of her unwilling or
unintentional comfort zone to a paradoxical route of self discovery to finally end the movie with her single…..single…
Individual Status. Her own quest, her
own discovery, her own individuality.
One thing that most movies however have been consistent on ,
is in showing Parents’ Supportiveness towards
their daughters. If not in the beginning but then definitely towards the end,
they do respect her decision. In
Highway. Alia’s mother suppressed the injustice done to her due to societal
pressures, but at the end, her parents choose to let her free and follow her own
path.’ Whereas in Queen, though middle-classed, but Kangana’s parents have been
shown supportive throughout and give her the liberty to explore a completely
foreign land alone on her request. A women today, who has spent a 90s &
millennium childhood may recollect her growing up years, her parents and most
other parents as well had provided their daughters with all the possible
opportunities to realize their full potential. Let her, in some cases
intentionally move her out of the comfort zone, relocating to a different city
or country, stay in hostels/PG if needed, allowing her to view the world from
her own perspective, shaping her own opinions. They have always treated her
with her own… Individuality.
And again it is mostly these parents who are becoming
parents-in-law, who albeit a slight sensitive relationship, do acknowledge of
their daughters in law’s own… Individuality.
If the parents are somewhere responsible for the positive
change in todays women, they are also responsible for bringing in a positive
attitude in todays men towards women. Be it friends, boyfriends, brothers,
colleagues, husbands. Most Husbands are friends first and then life partners. Such
Friends, who enjoy doing things together, share responsibilities, opinions, anxieties,
encouragements, triumphs, gossips, laughter and sometimes just a comforting silence.
Also, they give each other’s one’s own
space and one’s own friends time. They
have a Togetherness and yet have their own independence. They together have
their own wavelength coz they admire each others… Individuality.
If the families are all for women today, so has been the
outside world which is full of career avenues and ever growing in the past 15 years or so .
Though some careers may be male specific, but otherwise women have a level
playing field. Competitive exam scores do not identify genders and women maybe
as competent or as incompetent as men for a particular qualification. She feels
as triumphant as her male friends on her achievements. If not in the beginning
of her career, but once caught in the rhythm of success and work which gives
her a strong sense of identity, she becomes as anxious and as ambitious for her
own growth as her male counter-parts. Her interests maybe different but in the
work-front, everything in varying proportions that motivates a man in his job/business,
drives a women as well and she will be as workoholic or as Sincere or as aggressive
or as shrewd or as tactful or as visionary as others. And this is regardless of
sometimes and of some jobs her family ever being monetarily dependent on it. When
in a career, she is just another person in the race, just another …. Individual
With all the encouragement from the family and career
avenues, the only persistent lacunae of ”kids
and work without elderly’s support???” is now getting plugged in with increasing
external support system of day-cares, nannies, at least in all the tier1,
tier2, cities.
And therefore, today there are all the possible options
available for leading an urban life without any social stigma.
·
To not marry and focus on career.
·
To marry and
o
focus on home-front only.
o
have a
career with no kids at all.
o
have a career
throughout the phase of no kids, then a kid and then kids.
o
have an
aggressive career with no kids then switch to less aggressive with a kid and later
switch to focusing on just kids.
o
have an
aggressive career with no kids and then switch to focusing on the kid or kids.
o
have an
aggressive career with no kids, take a break with kid or kids and return to the
career.
o
not work
in the beginning and start a career after the kid or kids.
o
switch careers regardless of no kids, a kid or
kids.
And so many more..
But what option really to choose is a very very personal decision
depending on various factors, situations and individual priorities. There is no
right or a wrong way. Important is being happy with it. However, it can change also
with changing situation and times.
And so is what we call the “Liberating Factor” which is repeatedly
used in women related topics, almost implying 'financial independence'. BUT Liberation
is not always financial-independence but Liberation is always a mental-contentment.
It is inherently a Freedom from an inner turmoil. For E.g. In Highway,
liberation is about gathering ability to live life on one own terms, in Queen, it
is about getting over a subtle-abusive affair, in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, its about
getting over a haunting-nightmarish
incident, in English-Vinglish and Chake-De, it is about garnering respect, in
Laqshya & Wake-Up Sid it is finding an aim in life. Similar situations that sometimes we go through
in our real life phases. Be a Man, a woman, Liberation is unique to each…
Individual.
Yes! These are the good times when women can choose from the
many. And yet there is a long way to the best of the times. Not denying that untoward incidents don’t happen today against
women. But can hope that as we keep observing 'successful mix-group teams', 'happier
unbiased families', recognizing the benefits of taking each others view points, recognizing
that talents are unique and non-stereotypical to a specific gender, accepting each
one’s own individuality, we will gradually keep making a happier and safer
society to live in.
Where each Man, each Women with their own uniqueness, create,
live and complete this world.
