Eminent actor and director Aparna Sen closed the two day long 4th International Women in Cinema Conference at the 16th Dhaka International Film Festival. She was also a discussant at the final session of the conference titled “The Perception of South Asian Women by Western Women through Cinema.”
The keynote speaker of the session was American film academician Sydney Levine, who talked about her perceptions of South Asian women through popular cinema like “The Big City” (1963), “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), “The Lunchbox” (2013), “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2011), “Umrao Jaan” (2006) and so on.
Aparna Sen talked about a few films that construct positive images of South Asian women. She commended the 2017 film “Lipstick under My Burkha” saying very few films discuss women’s sexuality in such a way. She mentioned her 1985 film “Parama,” which sent shockwaves throughout India, as it was about adultery. In this film, a married woman, mother of three grown up children, has an affair with a younger man.
“What is her name? Is it ‘Boudi’ or ‘Kakima’? She is defined by the social roles that she plays,” said Sen when explaining Parama’s identity in a patriarchal society.
When Parama’s relationship with her husband falls apart, she is no longer “Boudi” or “Kakima.” She loses her identity. In the end, things escalate to a stage when she even attempts suicide. Sen said she was almost attacked for portraying such a taboo story.
Sen said Satyajit Ray’s “The Big City” is still one of the most important films about women in South Asia. It not only shows a woman going out to work during the great depression after the Second World War, it shows the comradry and equality of men and women.
“There’s no intension to downplay the man or make him a villain or anything. It’s that being comrades, we’ll walk shoulder to shoulder,” said Sen about Ray’s film.
In “The Big City,” when the wife leaves her job protesting a wrong done to an Anglo Indian woman and her husband loses his job at the same time, he says, “It’s a big city. Won’t one of us find a job?”
Sen said this part of the movie still gives her goosebumps.
State Minister of information, Tarana Halim opened the conference on Saturday at Alliance Francaise Dhanmondi, Dhaka. State Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chief Patron of Dhaka International Film Festival, Md. Shahriar Alam was also present at the event.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
