Article

Rita Dutta

Female Gaze: A Paradigm Shift

Parched

2012 Cannes film festival witnessed massive protest by the attendants

especially the feminists as they found in their dismay that there are no
films from women directors. So, there is an absolute question of
sexism in the selection process. The website change.org came up with
the headline ‘Where are the Female Directors’ created quite a stir
among the festival goers. Cannes is a ‘popular’ festival besides being
overtly artistic. Its popularity is often intertwined by the ‘red carpet’
agenda. Women are all over but in a lesser & frivolous way. There is

1
 mostly no ‘brains’ involved. The problem
does not only lie in the conspicuous absence
of films by the women film makers in the
official competition of Cannes but also the
severe dearth of women film makers in the
whole world. This does raise an eye brow? It
is kind of difficult to believe that no films
from female directors was worthy of inclusion.
May be the festival does not want to see a
feminist point of view. Is not it sheer sexism
that the festival shuts aside the perspective of
half of the world? [Melissa Silverstein]. British director Andrea
Arnold pointed out ‘It’s true the world over that there are just not
many women directors. Cannes is small
pocket that represents how it is there in the
world.’ As the festival opened the news paper
‘Le Monde’ carried a protest letter from the
feminist collective ‘La Barbe’, which was
signed by notable French female film makers,
including Virginie Despentes, Coline Serrau
and Franny Cotlencon. ‘Men love their women
to have depth but only when it comes to their
cleavage’ the letter argued. Jane Campion who
won the Oscar awards back in spoke about the
need for women to have a mere prominent
voice in films also added ‘One of the betrayals of the females is that
they want to see themselves through male eyes’. Here comes the
notion of ‘male gaze’ propounded by famous scholar Laura Mulvey in
her ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' in the 70’s in terms of
classical Hollywood cinema. Though primarily ‘gaze’ the term had
been initiated by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, he proclaims that gaze
is a part of desire for completion of oneself through the others. Sartre
and Foucault also used the term in their own philosophical ways.
Sartre’s gaze has broader applications, it is not the actual eye he is
ashamed of, but suddenly believes an unexpected presence of the
other. For Foucault, gaze is a particular dynamic in power relations
which enable the distribution of power in various institutions of

2
society. For him, people modify their behaviour under the belief that
they are constantly being watched even if they cannot watch them.
Thus self regulation occurs under systems of surveillance.
Interestingly, Mulvey stated that films, especially in Hollywood,
follow the models of voyeurism and scopophilia. She also argues that
in a typical patriarchal order, a male gaze takes precedence over the
female gaze, reflecting an underlying power asymmetry. Mulvey also
said that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze. Male gaze, for
a feminist, is about following the norm of already existent inequality
between sexes. Women by their gaze actually use the existent
Directors’ chair to challenge the patriarchal order. So, it’s about the
tussle between the two categories of film making: as critic Suzan
Moore said. Many men have a ‘fear that the female gaze will soften
everything in its path’ a fear that is certainly born out with limp films
like ‘You’ve got mail’ by Nora Ephron or mere macho films like
‘Hurt Locker’ by Kathryn Bigelow which is certainly less critical of
Americans at war.

Woman film is a genre though not ‘pure’ as it is crossed by other

genres such as melodrama, film noir, horror film etc. Woman films
though designed to appeal to female audience it also expects to tag
along the whole family. Woman films usually adhere to the concept
that a woman’s job is that of being a woman [Jeanine Basinger:
Cinema Historian]. Basinger also notes that woman’s films were often
criticized for reinforcing conventional values. These women films are
films that are made for women predominantly by male screen writers
and directors whereas women’s cinema encompasses films that have
been made by women. Some of the most distinguished women
directors have tried to avoid the association with women’s cinema in
the fear of marginalization and ideology of controversies. Since the
beginning of sound cinema, with very few exceptions, the films of
women had been absent from the mainstream cinema. Most of them
made and are making independent films because ‘feminist’ issues are
passé and women with women centric issues are looked down upon as
an extension of their own political agenda loaded with no
entertainment. And even major success as an independent women
filmmaker may go unnoticed, making it difficult for them to make

3
films, let alone with big budget. To avoid these paraphernalia, female
directors now-a-days are venturing into mainstreams. Even then when
women filmmakers succeed, credit accrues to everyone but the
directors (Redding and Brownworth, 148). Probably the new women
directors don’t want to be defined or confined by ideological stances,
rather they want to spread their wings to understand what life is all
about.

The picture is not totally different in India. With an industry

producing nearly 2000 films per year, women directors are still
miniscule in number. Most of them either have a proven family
lineage in the industry or have been associated with films in some
capacity before they took direction. The trajectory of Indian female
film makers like their western counterparts are still finding it difficult
to make it big in the patriarchal social system where ‘one is not born
woman, rather becomes one.’ Now this socialization process is faulty.
Women are brought up to negotiate in a different way from men,
which is problematic in a male dominated environment. A lack of
female film maker also seems to have made it difficult for financers to
imagine women in charge. Film is a big business, filled with financial
risks and so ‘the whole industry is based on demonstrable success',
unless something has worked in the past, it is very rare that people
will take a risk. There is also a perception that, traditionally, it is a
man’s role so we won’t back a film of a woman and by the woman. In
India there has been an interesting paradigm shift in terms of women

4
film makers and psyche and it is some how associated with market
capitalism, globalisation and the fall of ideology . Before the 90’s
women film makers of India, be it regional or national, usually used
to harp on women related subjects. From 1947 to 2012 names of
female feature film directors are known to all. Makers like Sai
Paranjapee, Kalpana Lajmi (Rudali, Daman), Prema Karanth
(Phaniyamma), Aparna Sen (36 Chowringee Lane, Paroma, Yuganto
and others) Satarupa Sanyal (Anu), Urmi Chakraborty (Hementer
Pakhi), Revathi (Mitr My Friend, Phir Milenge) are women centric
films, some of them are also critically acclaimed & award winners.
Most of their association with film industry started much before as
actresses or associate directors/ film script writers/ theatre directors.
These directors started their careers at a juncture when second wave
feminism was in vogue and Indian Film
Finance Corporation and subsequently
NFDC started producing films just to
establish the newly independent ‘socialistic’
pattern of society. Vijaya Mehta’s Pestonjee
is a product of that hour. Arundhuti Devi in
Bengal was a powerful actress and wife of
legendary film maker Tapan Sinha. She
hoisted the flag of women film making by
her acclaimed Chuti (1967), Megh-o-
Roudra (1969), Podipishir Barmi Baksho
(1972) Deepar Prem (1983) all had women
of substance as the central character.

Aparna Sen’s Paroma (The Ultimate Woman, 1984) is a land mark in

Indian film history for questioning the middle class hypocrisy. All the
above mentioned films not only posit its women on the forefront but
enable the viewers to accept the various crisis faced by the women.
Interestingly with the fall of any overarching meta narratives in
history, market emerged as the new doyen in the world. Therefore,
women centric films were no more in the agenda, rather it became a
‘saleable’ product which can be actualized by anybody. Since 90’s, it
has found a place in the domain of male film makers. Astitva (2000) is
a complete women oriented film directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. Satta

5
(2003), Page3 (2003), Chandni Bar (2001), Fashion (2008) all had
strong female characters as lead roles. Therefore, women centric films
are no more the prerogative of women film makers. There is no more
any question of ideology. If the story is market friendly a female gaze
is not required especially in a country where patriarchal order is
everywhere. Even female film makers have gleefully accepted that.
Rather following the rule set by Kathryn Bigelow, who suffered
‘troubling authorial signature’ as she works with primarily male
driven narratives and traditionally masculine genres such as the action
film named Point Break (1991), the thriller Blue Steel (1990) and
most recently the war film The Hurt Locker (2008). One of the central
ideological strains in Bigelow’s work has been the privileging of
androgyny, they have also likewise embraced the patriarchy of
consumerism and focussed more on
showing ‘male six packs’ to collect big
dividends in the box office mullah. Farah
Khan’s Om Shanti Om (2007), Puja
Bhatt’s Jism 2 (2012) and Zoya Akhtar’s
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) are not
aimed to emancipate the world. Like
Ladies in Vengeance, they are hell bent
down to prove that they can wear their
men colleague’s hat as directors. Rather
they are experimenting on myriad themes
from action to wholesome family entertainment.

In Tamil film industry Soundarya Rajnikanth directed a period Film

Kochadaiyaan (2014) which is expected to be a 3D film. Her sister
Aishwarya Rajnikanth directed a chick flick called 3 (2012). Still
over in the bustling maiden of commercial Bollywood, women
directors are rare creatures. Making occasional minor splashes before
vanishing back in the shadows most of them remain ‘one film
wonders’! Om Shanti Om was a typical Bollywood masala film by
Farah Khan and another woman coming from the film industry clan is
Zoya Akhtar. Her Zindagi Na Milega Dobara grossed over 19 million
USD in three weeks proving the fact that women can handle big
budget films and the fate of their films are no lesser than their male

6
counterparts. Therefore, market is not determined by the gender of a
filmmaker. Kiran Rao, wife of Aamir khan did produce an arty film
called Dhobi Ghaat (2010) but still wishes to put a strong woman
character in her next project. Therefore, the whole issue of dearth of
women filmmakers in India vis-a vis international cinema can be
pinned down in a few cardinal points. The expected role performance
of a woman as a mother-daughter-wife is almost the same everywhere.
A lot of women with talents are still finding it’s difficult to make it
big in their battle against archaic perceptions and gender stereotypes.
Sometimes, filmmaking is accused of being a physically tasking job,
difficult for women to handle. Though to prove the people at large
wrong, women filmmakers are stepping into genres like action, sci-fi,
horror or psychological thrillers to tread on mainstreams. The female
gaze is
incorporated in
an amusing way.
Farah Khan
highlights on the
six pack abs of
SRK with a sweet
vengeance as
well as serves
Katrina Kaif’s
‘Sheila Ki
Jawani’ to titillate the male/female audiences quite unapologetically.
She also honestly rules out critics views as she found them useless
when it comes about her films doing great business.

Gender discrimination is still there in the film industry in its fullest

way. Zoya tells aspiring young woman filmmakers’ ‘We are big girls,
deal with it. If you can make a movie, you can also tell someone to,
ahem! Get lost’. Tanuja Chandra has directed films like Dusman
(1998) and Sangharsh (1999) revealed candidly ‘...the only currency
that has any significance in the film industry is the box office.
Commercial success is the main language of communication, so
anyone who brings that is sought after, whether male or female’. In
this way, the women point of crisis goes lost in the abysmal void of

7
market and issueless ness! Anu Menon who directed London-Paris-
New York (2012) says ‘There might be a section of people who feel
more comfortable to see men calling the shots, and that’s true for
most industries’. Chandra says ‘I do wish there are many more
women filmmakers in the industry. Unless and until half of the
directors are women, one won’t really be able to say there is absolute
gender equality in the movie business. She also added ‘at that time,
perhaps the pay structure will change too and women will earn as
much money as men, whether actresses or women directors.’

Margarita with a Straw

Nevertheless, the situation is not that bleak. Besides, women with

‘filmy’ background are there like Bela Sehgal, sister of acclaimed
filmmaker Sanjoy Leela Bhansali; Gauri Shinde, R.Balki’s wife;
Divya Kumar, wife of T-Series owner Bhusan Kumar and it’s easier
to break through any profession with right ‘connections’ and if it
comes from inside the family, nothing like that. Yet, there is also a
strong parallel new bred of women directors with no direct
connections with the industry started venturing into the foray with
their mostly quality films. Bhavna Talwar’s Dharma (2007) which
won the Nargis Dutta Award for Best Feature Film on National
Integration at the National Awards of India is based around the theme
of communal harmony which was premiered at the 60th Cannes Film
Festival as the closing film of the world cinema section. This is the
way the younger breed of female directors venturing out cutting
across the comfort zones of familiarity. Alankrita Srivastava’s
Lipstick under my Burqa (2016) and Leena Yadav’s Parched (2015)
8
turned our eye again to these obscure species. What a relief to watch
these films amongst the typical commercial hullaballo! Another
women director Shonali Bose, after her critically acclaimed Amu
(2005) delivered another gem with Kalki Koechilan Margarita with a
Straw (2014).

Similarly, Anusha Rizvi’s Peepli Live (2010) is a satirical take on

issues plaguing the countryside such as rural indebtedness and
farmer’s suicide. She is planning to make her next on Amitava’s
Ghosh’s ‘Sea of Poppies’. Sometimes, it does irk the filmmakers to be
clubbed in the league of female directors whose subject is women
oriented? They no more want to be associated with the feminist
agenda, they are more open to the other sides of the life. But also
successfully putting a distinctive female gaze into it and thereby
either submitting or
subverting the existing
patriarchal order of
every field. Jane
Campion rightly said
‘consequently I want to
enquire into how other
women live their
lives…..I think this is the
main reason why men
tell stories predominantly about men. I cannot imagine the story of a
man. I don’t know why I should either. Although I am curious about
their world….I still prefers to be in the centre of my imaginary world
myself’.

Although this view is still strongly making their presence felt in the
international arena, back home, every woman director is trying to
carve her own oeuvre to be distinctive. When Anjali Menon made
Manjadikury (Lucky Little Seeds, 2008), it won FIPRESCI award in
the Kerala International Film Festival and also the award in the South
Asian International Film Festival New York. She dealt with the story
of a 10 year old boy who returns to his village to attend the funeral of
his grandfather. She explored basic human conditions which go

9
beyond any cultural barriers. In Tamil Nadu Nandhini JS, V. Priya are
making blockbuster commercial films. Bengali cinema for the last
two decades has not witnessed any significant rise of women
filmmakers.

With their films and exploration of new horizons, new questions of

post feminism are coming up. While in general, direct political
references to feminism is rare, there are films by women filmmakers
which undermine our understanding of biologically ordained ‘natural
Category’. They are also addressing new family patterns that new
productive alternatives ensure and they are also conscious about
women friendship and transgender figures which destabilize the very
normative and essentialist definitions of gender.

References
• Brenda Austin-Smith and George Melnyk: Edited: The
Gendered Screen: WLU Press,2011
• Jasbir Jain and Sudha Rai: Films and Feminism: Essays in
Indian Cinema: Rawat Publications,2009
• Mulvey Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen,
Vol-16, No-3, London University Press, 1986
• Feminism at the Movies: Understanding Gender in
Contemporary Popular Cinema, Hilary Radner, Rebbeca
Stringer, Routledge,2011

Rita Dutta is a Member of the Fipresci-India.

10