INTRODUCTION:

The word objectification depicts the image of a woman in Indian commercial mainstream cinema. As we surf through any music channels, all we can see are skimpily clad women dancing in some strange steps with songs which have very little musical or lyrical value.

The popular culture is defining the trend, as it always had, and we are getting showered with such ‘item songs' with famous actresses gyrating to the tune or new ‘item girls' stepping in every day.

The media wants to put it as the celebration of a woman's sensuality. But the question is: isn't this just objectification of the female embodiment? At a time when women seem to have broken free from the Indian home and family set-up into the world and are ready to challenge stereotypes, is this happening in the Indian film industry and the industry's portrayal of women in films? (Kamalika Sanyal, 2013)

As the spectacular Institution called Indian Cinema celebrated 100 years, are Indian films reflecting this changing social trend? These are questions worthy of exploring. As per the history manifests, in the dawn of the era of films in India, women were not allowed to be part of it. Working in films was thought something even worse than being a prostitute. The pioneer of Indian Cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke, couldn't get a lady as his heroine and had to take a boy called Salunke to be his female lead.

NORMS OF BEHAVIOR:

In most of the movies, women were just idols to respect, and the characterization of women was inspired by Manusmriti which had a profound effect on shaping the morals of Indian society. They never broke the society's law, they were super in all household works and most, most, most importantly, they always maintained their chastity. Earlier there was also a trend that the girl, who is not abiding the unwritten laws of society, is the escort of the villain guy(s), or the "vamp." She can never be the example of ideal Indian women; she can be only the follower of the evil side of the story (Nandakumar, 2011).

And What Budd Boetticher says about the narrative cinema in the west also applies here: "What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does, and in herself, the woman has not the slightest importance". The stories played out on the screen are the men are their conflicts, their, dreams, their aspirations, their tragedies, their revenge, their desires and their heroism. The women exist only about the men, as their mothers, their wives, and especially their lovers. It is hard to find even one story revolving around a single unattached woman, and of course, there is the worship of youth and 'beauty.' We rarely ever see a woman act independently, make her own decisions, question authority or even are a working woman unless her mother is on her deathbed, or the father crippled, and never once she gets married! Traditionally, women have been reduced to being a mere spectacle in tile movies, pretty faces commodified for their beauty, with hardly any dividing line between beauty contests and acting in films (Sherafat, 2014)

Gokulsing and Dissanayake (2004), attribute historical and cultural reasons to the portrayal of women in "stereotypical" roles in Indian films. In traditional Indian society, there were definite and consensual norms of behavior that regulated the conduct of women Sita, immortalized in the Ramayana is the ideal woman, the ideal wife; she is steadfastly loyal to her husband and obeys his wishes unquestioningly. In traditional Indian society, women's roles were essential as daughter, wife, and mother.

While women were embodiments of purity, they could have romantic love affairs which are based on the Radha-Krishna model of pure, all consummating, absolute love with no space for mistakes, errors or slips. Indian films represent the lead actress in the role of the romantic woman based on this model. (Gokulsing & Dissanayake, 2004). In this context, Ganti (2004) writes, in the very early days of cinema when Phalke was beginning to make films, women were not willing to act due to the stigma attached to public performance. Acting, singing or dancing for an audience was associated with prostitutes and courtesans, and so were outside the boundaries of decent society (Nandakumar, 2011).

Vampitude here can be defined as the desire of a woman to undermine the rectitude of a man, usually with her sexuality as her primary weapon. The mythological nymph Menaka who helped trip over the sage Vishwamitra with her wiles is our exemplar. Much like Helen and Bindu did in the Bombay film industry, actresses like Silk Smitha made entire careers in vampitude, working on the villain's behalf to test the hero's resolve.

WOMEN: IN THE LENS OF MEN:

The movie, Padayappa, is one of the best examples that depict women regarding "good" versus "bad." Considering the movie, the hero, and Padayappa lists women into three categories according to their physical appearances. He names the women as "saathveekam" who looks divine, equal to female Goddesses such as "Saraswathi" or "Lakshmi," by wearing the Tamil traditional clothes such as saree or half saree. The second type of women is "prasothakam" who looks very sexy by wearing modern dresses such as short skirts and tight pants and give a feeling of lust. According to Padayappa, the last category of women is "bayanakam" the women who look violent from their first sight and give the feeling of fear. When his friends ask him, what type of women that he is fallen in love, he proudly says that I love the woman, who belongs to the category of "saathveekam". This movie shapes women and their characteristics regarding "good" versus "bad" through emphasizing their physical appearances and dressing codes. That the nature of the objectification may have changed, but ideas and perceptions about women or the way women are projected in Indian cinema are still debatable. We want a bond, especially marriage, to sanctify sexual relationship between men and women. Marriage is an important ritual. Even the most compatible minds in Sindhu Bhairavi, the singer, and his fan were not allowed to live together, even after the wife reconciled herself to that. (Kolappan, 2013).

CONTEMPORARY WOMEN:

On the other hand in the recent films, we witness few changes in the stereotypical portrayal. When the lead ladies of earlier cinema had left with no choice, kept their past life if any in secret, today's young woman expressed it. In the recent film Rajarani, the story begins with John (Arya) and Regina (Nayanthara) getting married in a church. When they take their wedding oath, Regina utters her lover's name 'Surya', instead of John and on hearing this, Regina's father faints in the church. Regina feels sorry for her father and eventually ends up marrying John. She also reveals her past relationship with Surya (Jai), who is very timid and humorous, to her husband, John.

In this film, the portrayal of the lead character Regina should be noticed. When her love interest Jai is not bold enough which was considered as the predominant male character to say about their love to his dad, here Regina did that. And during their romantic period, she took him to pubs, malls and even danced floors, which could be again portrayed as male characters and criticized as bad women characters on screen.

But at the same time in the film Sillunu Oru Kadhal, only the male lead had past life, of course, the love life just! And the wife of Gautham (Surya), Kundavai (Jothika) even found the girl with whom her husband had love before their marriage and arranged for their meet. Satisfies male in all possible ways is the most important quality of a female on screen! We are obsessed with values and deviations are seen as a social crime. Marriage and thali had drawn boundaries to women. The theme is well portrayed in Andha ezhu Natkal(Those seven days). The heroine's former lover himself does not allow her to walk out of her marriage. You can't forget the popular dialogue by palakkattu Madhavan (K.Bagkyaraj) to Dr. Anand (Rajesh) in the climax of the above-said film.

Namma nattu pengal speciality enthanu ariyo?

Enda kadhali ungalukku manaivu aaittu varum aanal ungal manaivu enikku kadhali aaittu varathu.

Do you know the specialty of our country women?

My love can become your wife, but your wife can't be my

In the film Alaipayuthe, Sakthi (Shalini) the lead girl who ventures to marry her lover Karthik (Madhavan) in secret, but continues to live with her parents not with the husband, waiting for an opportune moment to break the news. All the while she wears her thali (mangalsutra) but keeps it concealed — for, she can't bear to be without it. But at the same time, Sakthi in a scene will look for her thaali when she was getting ready to the hospital. She is a doctor. Her husband makes fun of her when she couldn't find it. During the conversation, he asked why she removed. Their conversation given below in transliterated Tamil version and English translation

K: Enna thedara hm?

S: thaali

K: Adipaavi Tamil ponna ne (laughing)

S: Sirikaktha. nethu rathiri kuthuthu ne thana kalatti potta?

K: Nana heh ne tholachuttu ne mela pazhi podaraya saguname sari illa enakku yethavathu nadanthuchuna en pontaty than poruppu

S: Bayamurthatha enga vachen

K: Kallupillayar mathiri unnaku near ukkarthu irukknenla enna vituttu manja kayara poi thedara

S: Ennakku thaali than venum ne vendam poo

K: What are you looking for?

S: Mangalsutra

K: Are you a Tamil girl?

S: Don't laugh. You only took off last night since its disturbed you

K: Me huh? After u lost, pointing me? Bad symptoms, if something happened to me, my wife is responsible for that.

S: Don't frighten me? Where I kept it?

K: Am just sitting opposite to you idely, but you are just looking for the yellow thread (mangalsutra)

S: I just need that, not you! Go. In Pizza, living together results in the girl becoming pregnant. But the story veers away, erasing the relationship from the mind of the audience. Living together is common in a world where men and women are economically independent, but a long-term relationship warrants marriage. Another film Siva Manusula Sakthi (SMS), Siva (Jiva) asked Sakthi (Anuya) to sleep with him to prove that she loved him and wanted to marry him for sure, since they prank each other in the film often. Eventually, she did that!

But in Mayakkam Enna, a girl (Richa Gangopadhyay) abandons her boyfriend for a new relationship that ends in marriage. Her subsequent life is one of suffering from a husband Karthik Swaminathan (Dhanush) who becomes mentally unstable and frequently drunk, but she is firm not to allow a more sympathetic man to take advantage of her. She is a dedicated wife, and her only mission in life is to rehabilitate her husband.

In the film Paruthiveeran, the heroine Muthazhagu (Priyamani) gives an idea to her lover (Karthi) who was thinking of the obstacles of their wedding, to sleep with her and make her pregnant. So that it won't be a big problem for them to get married.

Engeyum Eppothum is the film which showcases two couples and their life. Manimegalai (Anjali) who paired opposite Kathiresan (Jai) played a very bold, talkative woman who was keen on her work, desire and ambitions towards life. Highly self-motivated. And also in the other pair, lead lady amutha (Ananya), drew a caricature of her fiancée on her room wall with inspirations from the person whom she started liking. Keeping him in mind, she said no to all bridegrooms not simply but with the commends on their physical conditions including the skin tone (dark) which always was the male behavior on screen.

In the film Kalyana samayal sadham it just went to a variant extent where premarital sex attempt ends in proving the groom temporarily important and the turmoil that happens between the bride and the groom to solve this becomes the plot. O Kadhal Kanmani, is a refreshing take on contemporary romance and relationship of Aadi (Dulquer) and Tara (Nitya), two well-educated, independent and ambitious individuals. Aadi and Tara first meet at a railway station. Well, they don't meet. They just glance at each other through the gaps in between the bogies of passing trains. Their second meeting is at a friend's wedding in a church where they are seated in the same row but a few seats away from each other. They introduce each other with a murmur and even exchange numbers. The conversation then shifts to a phone call, and they talk about their friends who are about to exchange vows. They don't believe in the institution of matrimony. In another scene, Tara asks does one need a certificate called marriage to stay with someone

CONCLUSION:

In summary women in the films are either absolutely pure wives or girlfriends, or self-sacrificing mothers and sisters, or they are immoral prostitutes, and vamps according to the characters they have performed. These are very clear-cut categories in films. If for any reason, the pure woman showed Eroticism on screen it was for the sake of the good and pure hero, and therefore it was alright. Other than Item numbers, Women are hardly doing anything in these mill-made stories, other than gracing a party, or any occasion, or a college fest, smiling sweetly with a bunch of flowers in their hand and artificial wind to flow their tresses. If women played the lead most of it was in horror genre. Some films have bold women characters in the lead, and they don't have equal opposite partner to play against.

When the hero takes up angry young man concepts with him, the lead ladies ended up with ‘stand by your man' concepts. Only a very few of these women were self-defining, powerful characters who decided for themselves and chose for themselves regarding characterization in mainstream Tamil films. But the changes in real life started reflected on reel too.

REFERENCES:

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3. Ganti, T. (2004). Bollywood. A Guidebook to Popular Hindi Cinema. New York.

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5. Kolappan (The Hindu, 2013, June 22). Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-limits-to-onscreen-affections/article4841198.ece

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Received on 24.10.2017 Modified on 03.12.2017

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2018; 9(1): 281-284.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2018.00051.7