Women Directors in Indian Cinema

A lot has been written, talked and discussed these days about ‘status of women in India’. Much gender sensationalization has been happening. In this context it is interesting to have a look at the Hindi cinema.

What is the situation of women who are working in an industry which has more than thousands of crores of rupees of turn over? No, I am not talking about how on-screen women portrayal in Hindi cinema. This article deals with women who work behind the camera. What is the off-screen situation? This is more an attempt to raise some questions than to provide answers. But raising questions here is very important too, because cinema is not just any random industry but it is a very powerful and effective medium of cultural communication.

The famous film director Zoya Akhtar recounts a story from the time when she was directing her first film (Luck by Chance-2009). Whenever the shot was ready, one of her assistants used ask her brother Farhaan Akhar (who was an actor in that film) to check whether everything was ok or not. She ignored this a few times, but finally she had to tell him that ‘she’ was the director of the film. She asked him to accept it, or leave. This story reflects the mindset towards women, which is the same in many fields. In many fields, typical men cannot work under female boss.

There are a few female directors who are well known for their meaningful cinema. Aparna Sen, Meera Nair, Deepa Mehta, Sai Paranjape, Kalpana Lazmi are some of them.  They have created their own space. Their films were never typical Bollywood masala movies, but comments (I do not mean messages) on society. Most of their stories were on social issues, and unfortunately this stereotyped them. Female director means social issue or women centric films, this equation was formed in the industry.

The famous film critic Anupama Chopra says that the industry never cares for who is working behind the camera. An investor never thinks whether the director is a female or a male – he wants return on money.  Producers are interested only in stories. But no one will invest 80 crores in women centric films, because they do not get commercial success. It has been proved again and again. If Ms. Chopra has a point, then it is clear that why commercial success is very important for any movie. Most of the films directed by above mentioned female directors were critically acclaimed but hardly any of their movies were runaway hits. Not only above mentioned directors but new directors like Tanuja Chandra, Bhavna Talwar, Shonali Bose, Meghna Guljar also got good reviews, but not good collection at the box office. Commercial success is directly related to viewers’ choice. And common viewers do not look for the director’s name. So can we conclude that female directors have failed to satisfy common viewers? Do female directors miss the pulse of the common viewers?

                During the silent era, a female actor, who was not getting good roles, decided to make a film on her own. Fatima Begum was her name. She started her own ‘Fatima Film Corporation’ and directed a movie ‘Bulbul-e-Paristan’ in 1926. She is on record as India’s first female director. From 1926 to 2013, the number of female directors is not at all heartening. Like Fatima, there have been many actors who tried their luck in direction. The list includes Sadhana (Geeta Mera Naam),  Hema Malini (Dil Ashna Hai),  Deepa Sahi (Tere Mere Phere),  Deepti Naval (Do Paise ki Dhoop, Char Aane ki Barish)  and Nandita Das (Firaaq). This is not a comprehensive list, but we can get the idea that female directors have had to struggle a lot for commercial success.

The film industry is not a very attractive place to be in, because of its uncertainty of time, work, money and success. In any other field, if you work hard, without caring for money and time, you may get success. But in the film industry, the equation is never this simple. Is this a reason why there are less numbers of females behind the camera? A person who is not associated with this industry in any way finds it very hard to get a break; for a woman it is much harder. All the famous and successful women directors of these days have had associations with this industry for many years. Zoya Akhtar, Farha Khan, Pooja Bhatt have grown in this industry. It is like their family business. Bela Sehgal (Director of ‘Shirin Farhad ki to Nikal Padi) is the sister of the famous director Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is the producer of her film. But what is quite interesting here is that the big dads of the industry like Yash Raj, Dharma and Rajshri Productions have never introduced a female director. Mahesh Bhatt has been an an exception. He not only introduced Tanuja Chandra as a film director but produced many of her films like Dushman, Sangharsh, Yeh Zindagi ka Safar. His daughter Pooja Bhatt is also a famous film director.

Different websites give lists of female directors. These lists are dominated by directors from South Indian film industry. T. Rajlakshmi directed ‘Miss Kamala’, a Tamil movie in 1936. She opened the doors of direction for women. Today, there are many women like Prema Karanth, Revathi, Madhumitha, Saundarya, Nandini Reddy working behind the camera, and also doing well commercially. Vijaya Nirmala was honored by Guinness Book Records (in 2000) for being the ‘female directors with the biggest number of films’. She is from the south. Revathi has directed a movie ‘Mitr-My Friend’, which was an ‘all women’ experiment. Her films have received both appreciation as well as good collection. She is from the south. too The number of female directors, producers, technicians in the South Indian film industry is quite impressive. Does it have any connection with the education, awareness, the treatment given to women in this society? It is important to find the answer of this question.

So much for India. What is the scene in world cinema, or at least in Hollywood? Give it a search. IDMB gives you the top 100 directors of the world (the list was published in 2010), and amazingly there isn't a single woman there. The reputed English Daily Guardian gives you the top 40 directors of all time, the list has only two female names. In the history of 85 years of Oscar, only four women were nominated for ‘Best Director’, and there is only one winner till date. She is Kathryn Bigelow and the film was ‘The Hurt Locker’ in 2010. Does this mean that ‘movie making is not a field for women who want to work behind the camera? It is important to find out the answer to this question, because

The scenario in the Indian Film Industry, fortunately, is changing. The rate of change is slow but still considerable. In last two-three years lots of female directors have come forward. The list includes, Rajshri Ojha (Ayesha), Anusha Rizavi (Peepli Live), Kiran Rao (Dhobi Ghat), Anu Menon (London, Paris, New York), Barnali Ray Shukla (Kuchh Love Jaisa), Alankrita Shrivastava (Turning 30), Leena Yadav (Teen Patti), Reema Kagti (Talaash) and Gauri Shinde (English-Vinglish). Besides direction, the number of women is increasing in other areas of film making too. Sharmishta Roy (Art Direction), Aarti Bajaj (Editing), Sneha Khanwalkar (Music) and Ekta Kapoor (Production) are doing well in their fields. This is a change – a slow change, but a most welcome one.

Women have a different view of the world than men. They have their own perspectives on issues which are certain to be different from men’s. It is important that they get an opportunity to express themselves. Perhaps we need to wait for a new dawn in which the gender sensitivity gets transcended.