Representation
of Women Identity and Bodily Autonomy: A Case Study of Two Hindi Films Entitled
Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Double XL
Neton Mondal
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Department of English
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Abstract: Problem of women
identity has been historically a site of contesting attitudes and their
autonomy has been challenged in different forms in economic independence,
political representation and in domestic walls creating a necessity for dynamic
platforms for their empowerment and radical enchantments that got space in
different movements of feminism also. The paper is going to unpack these
complex scenarios and how transformation is possible through breaking the
stereotypical boundaries examining two Hindi films Dum Laga Ke Haisha and
Double XL where bodily fattiness of characters has been stigmatized as
culturally unfit actors in social settings. The heroines in both the films are
victims of what Laura Mulvey called ‘male gaze’. The women body has become docile
through repeated victimizatiation of societal performances reminding of
Beauvoir who stated how a woman is made through embracing normal patterns of a
society. Her observation is that gender is a social construct not biologically
determined and that is still relevant today. Their identification of fattiness
and slimness are not instinctual rather they are pathetically normalized
through consumption from time to time. At the same time there is no recognition
of the systematic resistance of women and choice of independent existences is
throttled bitterly and these two movies tried to restore a coherent balance and
inclusivity defying these arbitrary exercises of normative biases. Since these
issues are deeply embedded, it is very tough to negotiate these aspects but
through transformative steps of integration of these aspects of women is a
crucial for reclaiming women’s inclusive futures.
Keywords:
Gender, normative biases, identity, autonomy, bodily fattiness,
Introduction
Dwyer argues that “Hindi cinema is one of the best-known
and most widely appreciated features of contemporary Indian culture”
demonstrating people’s values, aspirations and movies like Dum Laga Ke
Haisha and Double XL
reflected changing patterns of behaviours about women’s beauty, body and the
autonomy of individual choices and how they are met with setbacks (12).
Bodily autonomy is one of most vital life sustaining identity that can be
expressed in different changes in the body of women. This is one identity that
evolves over time changing their growth and structural patterns. These need to
be celebrated (as in the selected Hindi movies promoted) instead of criticizing
it in harsh language or language already embedded in the Indian society.
Fattiness becomes destination of contempt and breeding ground of inferior
complex confronting societal laughter, hatred and taken for granted. The
identity of self-hood is contested space of negations. There are no universal
grounds of the acceptance only relative betrayal in their acceptance the way as
they are. Hindi cinema is continuously exposing these discrepancies and
dichotomies. This is a problem that arises of lack of common consensus among
the different stakeholders in a society promoting women’s struggles for better
space in society. Being too much fatty is a matter of grave concern but
unfortunately this is not determined by the girls’ will. This is dictated by a
society. Tragically the identity of self is submerged in male ideologies
through reshaping dominant priorities by common normative of being slim and
submissive girls. Bodies are not wholly exclusive phenomena. Different factors
are acted as denominators. As noted by DeMello “bodies are shaped in myriad
ways by culture, by society, and by the experiences that are shared within a
social and cultural context” and thereby, simply because of overweight, society
rejects the heroines as in movies overlooking good education, benevolent traits
are manifestations of otherwise deep rooted rotten society (05). Although substantial amount of time and
research has been devoted to unfurling the tragic condition of women yet there
is no sustainable outcome or more to come in favour of them. This is an
unresolved issue that expedited to look with new perspectives through these
Hindi films since films are manifestations of cultural biasness and
discrepancies. There is, moreover, implicit stigmatization of women bodies “in
the context of an economy of visibility, relies not only on the seen body but
also on how this body is seen, so nonwhite and white bodies are mobilized
differently” (Banet-Weiser 25). There are a number of books like The Second Sex, Sexual Politics that expressed the problematic issues around the
choice and bodily autonomy of women, undeniably reshaped the space of bodily
autonomy and representation. Not surprisingly, they have been given certain
autonomy and freedom of choices but private spheres of domestic life snatched
them away. These print cultures are limited to only book domain because they
are comprehensible to certain intellectual classes through which literary voice
got their expression about the plights of women. As observed by Banet-Weiser on
the values of body “constantly deliberated over, surveilled, evaluated, judged,
and scrutinized through media discourses, law, and policy” if certain
expectations are not met accordingly (Banet-Weiser 28). Moreover, the ‘MeToo’
movement was very instrumental in shaping the destiny of women especially
questioning the identity of bodily autonomy, self-dignity and identity against
different forms of sexual harassments and violence. However, in this modern era
people are left with less time for breezing through books. At the same time as
far as Indian perspective is concerned, it is not easily possible to read,
grasp and apply the meaning of every lines and make some positive impact in a
society. There is no denying that the language Hindi in India has a profound
contribution in hauling this move. According to The Indian Express India has
several languages but Hindi is the most common language (Gupta) 1.
Hindi movies of Indian production house took the momentum of demonstrating a
positive vibes though their critical roles in raising the various societal
injustices done to women. It has been playing an emancipatory role of breaking
the boundaries of shackles of societal normative. Women identity and its bodily
autonomy has been submerged in one sphere that is in a family spheres where no
respect is given to their voices, identity and this lack of serious
consideration is given fresh impetus through these two movies. The women
characters in the concerned movies like Bhumi Pedenekar, Huma Qureshi and
Sonakshi Sinha suffered humiliation every step because their agency of bodily
autonomy failed by societal norms. The
movies acted as torch bearer of this challenge in Indian spheres. The aim of
the research paper is to address these contesting sites with proper theoretical
arguments and critical inquiry, and the above mentioned movies are crucial for
analytical perspectives also. The research paper tried to inform significant
changes necessary in the ground level since without foundation the entire
spectrum of better future is impossible to achieve.
Research
Methodology:
This study is a part of two Hindi-language Indian films
namely Dum Laga Ke Haisha (transl. Give it all your force),
released internationally as My Big Fat Bride (2015). An Indian
film director Sharat Katariya has written and directed the film. Andrea Guerra
has composed the film’s background vibrancy. This is the primary text in the
form of digital visual media which has been closely watched and critically
analyzed from the perspective of Indian Women and their positioning in the
society in terms of merely their fattiness and slimness. What kind of response
and outcome they get when they get married and different reactions from men,
and how they have been treated and the level of confrontation they faced in the
society to sustain their identity through celebration of bodily autonomy in the
form of fattiness and abdominal exuberance. There are emergences of different
layers of meanings, and they have been redesigned and navigated from
ideological perspective of Indian sensibility, power-relation and its mode of
operation in a society which is deeply patriarchal in nature where forced
domination is naturalized, and normalization of heterogeneous stereotyping by
the diet of societal generation. While watching the films important lines have
been noted down, and interpreted to support the arguments raised in the paper
and the application of theory in the same for comprehensive understanding and
transparent synthesis.
Resisting
stereotypes of fattiness and slimness:
There is a long range of Hindi movies that deliberately
promoted deeply women and their body shaming that is a matter of discussion but
these two films are very meticulously challenging the very stereotypes of
slimness and fattiness that are not innate but navigated through the already
larger framework of a society. These become hurdles for their systematic
subjugation and space of exploitation. Another matter of importance is
especially from Indian perspective that if these challenges are not addressed,
they become neo-normal. The concept of being fat and slim is not a new
phenomenon. It has been common in modern life. That is why there is a necessity
of gym. It is clearly observed that when the heroines Bhumi Pednekar (Sandhya),
Huma Qureshi (Rajshri Trivedi) and Sonakshi Sinha (Saira Khanna) in both the
concerned movies are fatty confronting competitive environment, being insulted
in such a way that they would never be able to have enough courage for the next
move. These are socially manipulated scenario, and outcomes of passive
consumption of the fake doctrine that women are supposed to be naturally slim.
This is a problem which is addressed by these films aptly. “Fatness serves as a
powerful antidote to the dominant assumptions, prejudices, and stereotypes
surrounding the fat female body” of both the films where Sonakshi Sinha and
Bhumi Pednekar asserted their individuality, liveliness through positive
dialogues generating hope for life ahead (Singh 249). Is it that the people who
are really fat have no right for living or is it a curse to the society? These
are very critical questions that haunt every rational sensibility. These are
the propositions that the movies challenged. The definition of fat or fatty
according to Oxford Learner’s Dictionary “(of a person's or an animal's body)
having too much flesh on it and weighing too much”. It has been described in
various ways to denote stout, plump, chubby, heavy and overweight and many
other connotations. What OLD clarifies is that much flesh has on a woman body
occupies a problematic stance itself and what has been much expectation of
every Indian mind is the women must be devoid of that ‘flesh’ to get
happiness in a family. That extra flesh
has been a question of stigma to a society. It has no value for sensual
satisfaction of men like Prem who want slim figure and not fatty girl. These
heroines are objects of fun especially in the case of marriages also because
they are not slim figures. They are burden to a society and burden to a family
no doubt.
In the movie Dum Laga Ke Haisha when the
bride is introduced for the first time, the hero has directly said no the
family but due to economic factors and compelled by the hero’s father, Prem
readily married Sandhya. But this scenario has indicated the vulnerable
condition of women in a society. If somebody like Sandhya is fat or has a
rotund figure she would be immediately rejected. But paradoxically it is not in
the case of men even they are fatty; there would be no problem for them. Prem
like men always has some upperhand. Therefore, this binary of rejecting a girl
if she is fatty is a question of much probing. If the boy who is going to marry
is fat, there is no problem but in the case of a girl it matters a lot. But
curiously if the boy is fat still he wants a slim girl, thin hair, golden
cheeks and rosy lips. Ultimately the love goes with marriage is not love for
sustenance and livelihood but for choice over ‘flesh’. The central attention
has been drawn around the existence of independent bodily existence in the
concerned movie. What is different also is definitely flesh but the colour of
flesh is more important and whether this has been in reasonable amount not more
than that needed and less than what is expected. The entire life of the girls
from being a girl to be a slim figure to get better positive results is
exhausted gradually in the movie. Every moment the girl with much fatty is
betrayed in their expectation of their better life in in-laws house in the
movie. Here Sandhya’s existence has been shaped not by their individual
autonomy but their engagement in for the satisfaction of what Laura Maulavi
called ‘male gaze’. Her identity formations through bodily growth is challenged
and halted pathetically. They have been commodities in society for selling
values and involved in fake cultural bonds where expectation of new homes, new
life, new company instead of being loved they get betrayed in domestic
confinements by those disastrous choices for fulfillment of a societal
expectations.
In Double XL both the heroines Huma
Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha sacrificed their family to fulfill their dreams of
sports presenter and opening an xl size fashion starter. Fortunately their
accidental meeting in London helped them to motivate each other in their upcoming
journey of their life. They turned their so called societal barriers into space
of creative zones. They also demonstrated resilience in challenging the fixed
normative of a society, they are not vulnerable rather they are ready to take
any adventurous journey to reach their goals. What is more important for them
plus-size is not a barrier but matter of celebrations of their bodily autonomy.
Life has been tragic for them in different stages from being born to a baby
girl to embracing stereotyping of being slim and fatty or tall and short. They
are born once but die in metaphorical deaths many times while they grow into
maturity. As observed by Dhar “The looks of the girl (i.e., physical beauty),
played a very important role while getting a girl married in the Indian social
culture” and both the movies are stark manifestations of brutality the heroines
faced in their life due to their chubbiness, and their repeated failures to
cope up with familial pressures (571).
Challenging
Patriarchal Domination and Dominant Narrative through Women Body:
In both the films the binary of expectation and reality
is clearly visible. There is a strong influence of patriarchal domination
through the entire movies especially from meeting the obligations of a husband
to challenging hypocritical standards of plus size or xl or sports commentator.
The demands of a husband here are non-negotiable and final. Swamy argues that
“cinema becomes a means of construction and dissemination of established norms,
constructed ideologies, and stereotypes” (161) reinforcing patriarchal
expectations, create women identity and at the same time challenge the dominant
ideologies as in Dum Laga Ke Haisha
that negotiates why an overweight woman is not treated equally and Double XL about exaggerated beauty
standard and shallow implications.
In the beginning of the films it has shown that the girl
Sandhya who gets married is expected only of her husband who would marry her
not out of love but due to the family pressures. But in due course, the
scenario takes an unexpected turn. In the movies Bhumi Pedenekar, Huma Qureshi
or Sonakshi Singha they neither get love nor any kind of support from her
husband or close kin like mothers. What they receive instead is pain, torture,
constant humiliation and betrayal at every stage. When Bhumi Pedenekar tried to
mingle and grow with the new family. She tolerates them passively and without
any commendable form of protest. It is only demonstrated through her occasional
crying. But the question pushing all these phenomena is that she is a woman of
huge size not expected and preferred in male gaze. Although crying has a
purgatory effect for time being but there is no audience around her. This is a
kind of pain what has been learned from her in-laws parental home that she has
to tolerate. She could not say anything like her own mother. This is quite
normal and this normalization is stabilized through repetitive performance. Her
only dream in life is to become a school teacher. On the other hand Prem who
reluctantly marries the girl but does not love her. He does so under the
familial pressure especially the fearsome attitude of a father who only sees
that through marriage their economical condition may be improved. Prem has no
academic background still society treats Sandhya not him. This is inhuman
treatment that shattered women identity and bodily agency. There is no
integration of Sandhya’s choices either in the family or outside world. They
belonged to male hierarchical structure always struggling to reach their
demands at the cost of sacrifice of individual choices.
Parental nurturing of both the movies is peculiarly akin
to Austen’s Pride and Prejudice where
their Mrs Bennet’s family concern is to get their married anyhow. Like
commodity in the market they are introduced to the selling market of ball dance
in the concerned novel. The parents of both the families in the concerned
movies don’t respect about the preference of their children. Their only concern
is to get their children married anyhow. According to the parent’s
understanding that they will be manageable, and attractive to each other in due
course of time, not thinking of their future and its terrible repercussions. As
observed by “In this context, plus-size women encounter a dual marginalization:
first, due to their gender, and second, owing to their body weight” (Mishra and
Kumar 02).
In the movie the only thing that haunts Prem every moment
is the size and the big belly in the shape of bodily appearance. The boy is
equally trapped in the marriage since he respects his parents out of fear. His
parents forced him to marry her. They don’t think of Prem’s choice or what lies
in heart but what most important to them is the prospectus future with her
arrival as a bride. It is purely commercial world that Sandhya’s body has been
auctioned. Women identity has failed due to failure of the societal
stakeholders to recognize mismatched understanding. On the other hand, the hero
has no other option to turn to but to marry her since he must obey parents
respectfully. Another factor that compelled him to marry is he has no
satisfying job. Thereby, he must be obedient to his parents no matter what
decision they take for him. He accepted it without thinking for a moment
although pressures or unwillingness is not invisible on his face. This is
because of available norms or standards beyond which nothing happens. Prem is appellated
to it. Both of them got married but lead life like unmarried life. This is
because the collapse of expectation with each other.
Norms are action oriented. His preference of slim girl
over rotund figure of his wife is demonstrated in the market when he
passionately watches a bunch of slim girls passing by. He is feeling wonder at
that beauty but could say anything as Shelley’s words “a heavy weight of hours
chained” him through marriage. The question of what beauty constituted is
really questionable here. Simply because a girl is supposed to be undeniably
slim with golden hair, rosy lips of Elizabethan era to be fit for male
satisfaction in Indian perspective in the movie. The legality of the marriage
is more binding than his expectations. Prem could not approach the passing
girls due to restrictions of a society that after marriage it would be doing
injustice to a wife if a husband looks at other girl. His revealing outlook is
shattered by the presence of his wife.
But paradoxically
this same society did not pay any heed to the boy’s individual needs,
expectation and wants. Prem is not so educated like Sandhya but his
unwillingness to marry her simply because his blind trust on available codes of
behaviours in a society. This complex binary is consistent to both of them. On
the other hand, size, beauty and looks are important determinants of having a
beautiful husband. Lacking anyone of them would create problems for Sandhya.
Her only fault is that she is fatty or looking a girl of huge size. But this is
not her fault. It is because of her environment or hereditary factors or any
other biological issues; she has no part in it. These elements are not within her
control. Focus is less on addressing inclusive pattern of thinking, no policies
not only in Indian level but also to the global level. But the society’s
nomenclatures are obstacles for the smooth functioning of a happy marriage.
Instead, it has been systematically normalized at the cost of lives of others.
Automatically for Sandhya, Rajshri and Saira happiness has been sporadic moment
in their daily drama of self-fulfillment in their life.
At the same time it is quite embarrassing that although
Prem wants a girl of slender figure but is completely unable to bear with the
family pressures. This is to some extent a kind of injustice bored upon him who
is a weak person to follow all the norms and regulations of a society passively
simply because parents ordered them. Before the birth of a girl upto marriage
what kind of expectations are to be fulfilled demands some form of obligation
on the parts of female actors in Indian society but does not give individual
recognition to them because of fattiness.
Women in both the movies are manifestations of “how
cinema satisfies a primordial wish for pleasurable looking…developing
scopophilia in its narcissistic aspect” deriving from assumed objectified
bodies (Mulvey 09). Women in the society are not valued properly when they go
to their new homes. Although it is not surprising those new parents who take
time to adjust with the bride but curiously it is quite contrary in the film.
In the film it is also the husband who lost his identity through this marriage.
Equally this is misfortune for girls too also lost her identity through the
marriage. Violation of self-dignity is another matter of crucial probing. The
concept of dignity is very important in this respect. Before discussing further
this concept is closely associated and justified in the film.
In the same manner “Double
XL reveals how body politics exist in the media, fashion industry” creating
unequal space of derogatory remarks, contempt when Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi
Sinha in the movie repeatedly denied their opportunities of dreams being
fulfilled due to their outward appearances, there is no standard parameters
shown in the movies to judge their
internal qualities and it is simply rejections because they are oversized and,
thereby useless reflecting the shallow aspects of a society especially those
who are not slim girls their career end up in tragic turn (Kumari et al.
191).
Emancipation
through celebration of Women Body:
Observed by Garland-Thomson “how representation attaches
meaning to bodies” as in Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Sandhya's overweight body
becomes embodiment of extreme social judgement and criticism and in Double
XL, Rajshree and Saira faces backlash due to not having slender figures
indicating bodily differences are generated through fulfilling societal
obligations (05). The assertion of women identity is engineered through
aesthetic bodily autonomy and challenging this distinctiveness through the help
of social criteria. This repeated performances made over time crucially created
biases and these biases are celebrated as neo-normal as Judith Butler observes
in Gender Trouble that “gender is the
repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid
regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance,
of a natural sort of being” and the concerned movies demonstrated that how a
particular type of body is merchandized, a chubby face is not acceptable,
oversized is also a burden that becomes absolutely normal, because strict
‘regulatory frame’ controlled from behind the scene to pamper this perspective
(Butler 43-44).
Both the heroines from the movies trying hard to go
beyond the confinement of these stereotyping and creating self-independent
identify to elevate their bodily aesthetic. The heroines observations of the
world view is deeply shaken by these systematic regulations, and any innovative
approach to challenge is a matter of dissent although in a positive ways that
must be suppressed to continue this attitude. Their bodies become ‘docile’
sites where different nomenclatures and forms of oppressions in the society
absolutely obliterated their chances of independences and uniqueness belonging
to them that they are quite normal, and existed enthusiastically without any
intervention of a society. What Rajshri, Saira and Sandhya find most
embarrassing in their respective life is the lack of cooperation, love, respect
and dignity around their setting and no inclusive decision binding on males but
only imposed on females. This is a manifestation of how a society is directing
one sided decision or it can be termed as loss of unified patterns for all
irrespective of genders.
As observed by Beauvoir “one is not born, but rather
becomes, a woman” (273) indicating essentially repeated victimization and
brutal subjugation of the patriarchal systems that made them think they are not
essentially women in their births because certain behaviours are being
naturalized as correct and to do with any societal functionalities as in the
movies where the heroines are compromised on their choice of their selection of
their life partners, and their accommodation in the society as incompatible
simply because they follow their will and wisdom.
They demonstrated the powerful message that it is only
through resistance through revolution that bring reformative changes in the
mindset of people. For this purpose they chose sacrifice, one in the marriage
that any marriage’s happiness would not belong to either she is oversized or
too much bulky but real happiness dependent upon inclusivity of respect and
love towards their independent partner and normal bodily existence. The movies
also exposed that there is no need of body shaming. It is a social anomaly. In Dum Laga Kay Haisa, and in another movie
called Double XL the heroines chose
different lifestyles to explores actually what is happiness, and how life is to
be led for individual identity though different emancipatory ventures. Both the
movies are demonstrations of how specific cultural set up become barriers for
the upliftment of women identity and their bodily growth.
Body has become a major space of arguments. These
arguments are around the negotiating rigid patterns and, thereby building a new
version of seeking a place in harmonious ways. In the movie Dum Laga Kay Haisa the post marriage is
very constraint and no spontaneous response from bride due to the bulky figures
of the bridegroom but the movie raised a very powerful question why should her
identity and body become a place of indifference and disrespect simply because
of size. This haunts the entire movie. The question of self-manifestations is
totally annihilated by the new familial ties which is otherwise bearing the
prospectus of new happiness. This movie is a stark testament of practical day
to day problems that are more or less with the structure and beautification of
women body, and the crisis generated by inferior complex due to not having an
established identity even after marriage.
Conclusion:
By demonstrating the asymmetrical behavioural patterns of
a society the research paper tried in the best possible manner that being too
much fatty is no longer a barrier for inserting individual identity rather it
is a glorification of bodily representation. The bodies in the respected movies
are not merely objects. Their bodies are not vulnerable to any male gaze. It is
powerful sustaining traces that are not to be obliterated through male cultural
phenomena. These exist independently without any external authority to justify
their values and veracity. Their identity and representation are spontaneous
and not subject to rigidities of any particular chronotope. Dum Laga Ke Haisha dismantles the idea
of slim girls can be only suitable wives overlooking other benevolent
characteristics like education and similarly Double XL challenges the media, film industries, ads that only
promote how to become slim girls to have a respectable existence in a society.
Note
1.
This is written by Cherry Gupta
on The Indian Express
https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/top-10-listing/top-10-most-spoken-languages-globally-in-2025-5-indian-languages-ranked-9999661/
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