The mid-20th century was a time of transition. Many countries in Asia and Africa were liberated from colonial rule. The axis of global power shifted from Western Europe to the United States and Russia. The pace of modernity and industrial development accelerated. And this also included newly independent India.
Most Indian intellectuals of this period, freshly liberated from years of brutal colonial rule, were products of this socialist period. This influence is clearly visible in Hindi cinema. Numerous socialist films influenced by Gandhi philosophy dominated the screen in the 50s and 60s.
Films like Do Bigha Zamin, Pyaasa, Boot Polish, Upkar and Naya Daur released during this period have become immortal. These films not only became an integral part of Indian popular culture but also left an indelible mark on the Soviet countries, largely due to the absence of American and Western European films there.
The Patriarchal Transformation of Socialist Hindi Cinema
In the 1970s, the emergence of a bourgeois middle class began to take shape in India. This class now wanted entertainment through films and not the sermons that most films of the time offered. Meanwhile, in the West, against the backdrop of the Cold War, characters like James Bond were created to convey thrills and a dramatic sense of moral superiority. As a result, “Masala Cinema” emerged in India. Yet socialism did not disappear from Indian screens; it merely changed shape. In place of Gandhianism, dramatic revenge became the primary tactic used to achieve social justice in films.
Films like Kaala Patthar (1979), Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974), Mard (1985), Coolie (1983), Pukar (1983), Manzil (1979), Pyar Jhukta Nahin (1985), Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973) and Hero (1983) were imbued with socialist ideas. They were stories about the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, the poor against the rich and the exploited against the exploiters. However, these films were different from those of previous decades. Songs were often filmed as romantic duets, and action, particularly man-on-man combat, became a central part of these films. The audience’s desire for entertainment had distanced these films from a realistic depiction of society.
A scene from Coolie. Image Source: Aasia Films Pvt. Ltd.
These films placed the socialist utopia against the feudal Indian backdrop and portrayed the hero as a champion of social justice. Typically, the hero was a day laborer or a poor laborer looking for revenge. What is notable, however, is that despite maintaining a socialist perspective, these films and their plots failed to free themselves from patriarchy.
What is notable is that despite maintaining a socialist perspective, these films and their storylines failed to free themselves from patriarchy.
These films showed the poor proletarian hero demonstrating moral superiority over wealthy bourgeois villains. The hero achieved this by damaging the villain’s property and ending his dominance, sending him to prison, or even killing him outright. Several films went a step further: the hero’s love interest often turned out to be the villain’s sister or daughter. Examples include Johny Mera Naam (1970) and Aakhree Raasta (1986). Even if the heroine was not related to the villain, there were many films in which she was portrayed as a woman of wealth, such as Kaala Patthar (1979).
Since the hero of these films was righteous despite lacking material comforts, the heroine was attracted to him. In this way, these films proved that the hero was not only a social justice victor, but also a sexual victor. And while on the one hand the consensual relationship between hero and heroine suggested an ideal utopia in which relationships were based on factors beyond wealth, on the other hand the films continued to portray the female figure as a commodity.
These films proved that the hero was not only a social justice victor, but also a sexual victor.
Historically, women have been viewed as the “property” of men and commodified. These films seem to reinforce that idea to some extent. “Male” characters were often portrayed as extremely masculine. They were attractive, serious characters who could endure great pain. Such characters not only claimed the dominance, glamor and power of the wealthy villains, but also brought their women under their rule. Ultimately, women in these stories remained merely objects to be conquered.
In the film Mard (1985) there is a scene in which the hero, a Tongan driver, is led away by soldiers. The heroine, the mayor’s daughter, whips him, but this has no effect on him. The hero announces: “The man felt no pain (A man feels no pain)’. In this sequence, the hero kidnaps the heroine and takes her to a salt pan. On the way she gets bloodied by bushes. The hero rubs salt into these wounds. In the following scene, the heroine is surprisingly depicted as sexually aroused.
A scene from Mard. Photo credit: Manmohan Desai Productions.
The fact that they had sex is suggested by the violent shaking of a nearby building. In this scene, the protagonist expressed his victory over the mayor by sleeping with his daughter. For the sake of the hero’s victory, the woman simply became an object of consumption.
Taming the independent woman
The other problem with these films was the character arc of the heroine. If the heroine were related to the villain, her loyalty and allegiance would shift to the hero by the end of the film. This loyalty was expressed by her becoming softer – reflecting her more “feminine” evolution – and supporting the hero’s quest for revenge.
If she wasn’t related to the villain but was simply rich, she would develop compassion towards the poor by the end of the film. But she also stopped wearing Western clothes and became “kind-hearted.” In the third scenario, if the heroine were a middle-class woman or a financially independent woman, she would only exist to provide moral support to the hero.
Since the story revolves around the protagonist, one could argue that all the characters exist to achieve his goals. However, these female characters, particularly those from the middle class, were initially portrayed as sharp, independent-minded, headstrong and self-reliant women. Showing them in this way was an attempt to show the hero as liberal, that he is attracted to women with characteristics that society frowns upon. But by the end of the film, these qualities would disappear. The heroines surprisingly abandoned their open manner, as if to demonstrate the hero’s ability to tame the impudent woman. Aakhree Raasta (1986) and Laadla (1994) are notable in this regard.
A scene from Aakhree Raasta. Image Source: Lakshmi Productions.
While the second wave of feminism was taking shape during this period, the figure of the “angry young man” was created in India. In this contradiction, an attempt was made to write stubborn female characters, but by the end of the film they were sacrificed on the altar of “gentleness” and “femininity”. The heroine remained only an emotional and moral support for the hero; Her own personality was lost somewhere in this conflict.
In conclusion, the socialist hero introduced with the emergence of Indian “masala cinema” remained one-dimensional and patriarchal. While he fanned the flames of class warfare and fought for social justice, the heroine of the rival class appeared merely as a trophy he had won. This socialist “angry young man” only accepted the gentle and devoted figure of the woman instead of her independence. This hero established himself as a new type of feudal lord. As revolutionary as these films may seem at first glance, they are hollow when it comes to gender equality.
Ashish Kumar Sharma holds a PhD from the Department of History, Banaras Hindu University. His research focus is on the religio-cultural history of South and Southeast Asia. His research interests include Indian miniature painting, temple architecture, Hindi literature and world cinema.