Are women writers and directors better at telling women’s stories?

The recently-released Darlings’sensitive treatment of domestic abuse at the hands of a woman director seems to be a step in the right direction for Bollywood

One of 2019’s biggest blockbusters wasKabir Singh. The Shahid Kapoor-starrer, a remake of the equally successful Telugu movie Arjun Reddy, went on to win accolades for its performances and soundtrack but the Sandeep Reddy Vanga-directorial also received a sound thrashing from critics who were not impressed with its portrayal of toxic romance. Kapoor’s justifications for the violence and aggression portrayed by his character towards the female lead (played by Kiara Advani), who he is supposed to be passionately in love with, were not lapped up by them either. But in the end, the hero of the movie–who is even shown slapping the girl in one scene–still walks away into the sunset holding the heroine’s hand.

Cut to 2022’s Darlings. Directed by first-time director Jasmeet K. Reen, the Alia Bhatt-starrer showed yet another toxic couple but in this case, the violent Hamza–played by a brilliant Vijay Verma–gets his just desserts. In a recent interview with Film Companion Local, Verma was asked if he ever felt apprehensive about taking on a character who was given to extreme violence and the actor responded by saying that it all boils down to the director’s perspective. “The magic lies in the gaze; it’s told by a woman,” he said, adding, “Nazariya bahot zaroori tha. Jasmeet ka nazariya bahot sahi tha aur jaayaz aur zaroori bhi tha. Uss nazariye mein ek tormentor ko humanize bhi kiya hai but woh bataya bhi hai ki woh monster hai. Isko hum celebrate nahi kar sakte. Aur cause aur effect dhyaan mein rakha hai; action aur consequences. Aapke karm aur uske jo phal honge, sab kuch dikhaya gaya hai. Therefore, the end of the character,” he said.

In recent years, women filmmakers such as Alankrita Shrivastava (Lipstick Under My Burkha, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamaktey Sitare, Bombay Begums), Renuka Shahane (Tribhanga), Leena Yadav (Parched), Anvita Dutt (Bulbbul), Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (Nil Battey Sannata, Panga), Meghna Gulzar (Raazi, Chhapaak), Shonali Bose (Margarita With a Straw, The Sky is Pink) and women screenwriters including Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku), Atika Chohan (Chhapaak), Gazal Dhaliwal (Lipstick Under My Burkha, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga), Bhavani Iyer (Lootera, Raazi) and Kanika Dhillon (Haseen Dilruba) among others, have created stories about women that have helped shift perspectives and made the audiences see their narratives in a new light.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that when a woman tells a woman’s story, it comes from a place of shared experiences and offers perspectives which may differ a lot from their male counterparts. But does that mean that women tell women’s stories better?

It’s all in the details

“Whenever you talk about a story which is led by a woman voice, whether it is as a director or as a writer, you are always looking beyond the superficial epidermis of a character or story. So when a woman writes about domestic abuse and a man writes about it, it’s going to be different,” believes Bhavani Iyer. The screenwriter of films such as Black, Lootera, Guzaarish and the critically-acclaimed Raazi, which was directed by Meghna Gulzar, recalls being appalled watching a movie years ago where the solution to domestic abuse was shown to be either castration or murder. “It is such a male solution–to fight violence with violence,” she says, before pointing to the way in which Reen has treated Darlings. “The movie so beautifully captured the plight of a woman undergoing domestic abuse. It was difficult for people to watch, including myself, because people have been in such situations. Only a woman could have lent that perspective,” adds Iyer.

Objectifying women and their bodies

Where the difference also lies, perhaps, is in the way male directors have often sexualised female characters on screen. Citing instances of dance numbers that have been choreographed by women as compared to those choreographed by men, film critic Anupama Chopra points to a basic difference in their portrayal. “Even if it’s something like ‘Sheila ki Jawani’ (choreographed by Farah Khan), the sexiness is of a certain type. The dancer, in this case Katrina Kaif, would have more agency; there is a certain sort of empowerment that’s taking place,” she says.

However, Chopra adds that she is wary of making sweeping statements that might be used against women. “I recall the DOP Priya Seth saying that when she was the cinematographer for Airlift, many people asked her how a woman can do an action movie, which is so reductive. What does that even mean? These are stereotypes that have been built in over decades and will take long to go but yes, when it comes to how women are portrayed and especially in scenes where bodies are being objectified or overtly sexual, I think women perhaps would come to it with more empathy,” she believes.

Gender-agnostic

It would be unfair to say that men have not played their part in depicting strong, real and relatable women characters on screen. Right from the doyen of Indian cinema Bimal Roy who made progressive films such as Bandini and Sujata to wordsmith Gulzar who gave us women characters made of flesh and bone in films such as Aandhi and Ijaazat, there have been male filmmakers who have stayed away from judging their female protagonists or sexualising them with the intent of titillating the male viewers.

Among contemporary filmmakers, directors such as Vishal Bhardwaj (Maqbool, Ishqiya), Neeraj Ghaywan (Juice, Geeli Pucchi) and Suresh Triveni (Tumhari Sulu, Jalsa) spring to mind when you talk about ‘women-oriented’ films, a term the latter has problems with. “When you have men in the film, you never say men-oriented films. So how does it matter?” Triveni questions. His depiction of women in both the films he directed and the way he brought out the nuances and layers of the female characters was lauded by critics. Triveni does not believe that women can write women’s stories better or men can write men’s stories better. “It’s about your individual sensibility, where you grew up, who the people who have influenced your life are and how closely you have observed human behavior,” he adds, crediting his mother, his wife and his wonderful female colleagues for being such strong influences on him.

The story comes first

Darlings may be in news currently for the beautifully-nuanced characters of Badrunissa and Shamshunissa–played by Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah respectively–but Reen, who also co-wrote the story with Parveez Sheikh, believes it is more to do with staying true to the story, rather than anything to with her gender. “Men and women are different, their gaze is different and the way we look at characters is different,” she admits, adding that she would love to create fascinating characters, both men and women, and be equally sensitive to both.

“I like well-rounded characters, whether men or women. Even Hamza is not black or white, he’s very grey. The message is clear in the film. We have tried to humanise Hamza and tell you where he’s coming from. You may feel sorry for him when you see him cleaning the toilets but none of this justifies his actions,” she elaborates, again emphasising on the need to stay true to the story. “Of course, what you believe in comes through in your story. Your value systems, your ethics, where you come from, how rooted you are–all that reflects in the story you choose to tell,” she adds.

Triveni seconds her opinion. “When you look at a Chashme Buddoor directed by Sai Paranjpye which is about three men living in a bachelor pad or Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara about three men on a bachelor trip, you don’t sit and analyse whether it is a man or a woman who has directed it. It’s just keen observation,” he says, adding that till the time you’re true to the human emotion, gender doesn’t matter.

More representation, better presentation

As mentioned earlier, there have always been strong women characters and narratives in Hindi cinema but never before have there been so many female storytellers. And that, everyone agrees, is something to cheer about. “With more and more women telling stories and telling stories of women, we are getting to see a lot more layers in our storytelling. You are no more bound by the notion that in order to tell the story, you have to make it in a particular way,” opines Iyer, who credits OTT platforms, film festivals and limited releases for helping them reach out to the audience.

The last word, perhaps belongs to Chopra, who is just glad to see more women telling stories, period. “I don’t think Zoya Akhtar has particularly made ‘women’s stories’ but all her stories feature women who are more layered, complex, who have more of an inner life and that’s frankly what we need. We need more women to tell stories because women, by design, will have a different perspective on the world than men and therefore, will bring a different perspective to all the characters they write or direct,” she says.

Chopra, who is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, believes it is too reductive to say that women will necessarily tell women’s stories better. “Obviously, there will be a shared experience but the truth is that one of the most striking women’s films of last year, The Great Indian Kitchen, was made by a man and so was Geeli Pucchi, another amazing film about two women. There should just be many, many more women telling stories,” she concludes.