How does the multiplicity of media in Bombay cinema contribute to the narrative and work of films?

Throughout this course, we have examined the medium of the film and how the stories relayed through film attempt to perform their work upon the audience that consumes them. We have not yet, however, discussed at length the presence of various media in the films we have consumed thus far, and how they work with people shown in the films, and how they drive the narrative forward. In this essay, I shall be examining the usage and placement of multiple genres of media, how they interact with people, and how they contribute to the narrative overall. 

Firstly, to dispel some preconceived notions. I am not taking “media” to be defined as its social definition i.e. “all forms of electronic media”. Rather I am taking “media” back to its linguistic root: “media” being the plural of “medium”, a method through which one may express themselves. This working definition of media expands the ambit of what can be considered media in these films. This is necessary because these various forms of media have been used in multiple ways to achieve the work of the people in the film, or in some cases, that of the director. 

First, let us examine the use of media in Lipstick Under My Burkha. The most prominent use of media in this film lies with the use of Usha ji’s voice as that of Rosy from the novel “Lipstick ke Sapne” (Lipstick Dreams). The narration of Rosy’s voice throughout the film enters at key points in each of the four women’s stories as they discover and explore their womanhood, providing context to each event. In many cases, they ascribe and reveal meaning in each scene, relating Rosy’s desires to their own. This brings out a sense of poignancy for many scenes depicted in the scene. One important distinction must be made. For the majority of the movie, Rosy’s story is something that we interact with in the background: a commentative soundtrack to the scenes depicted, scenes where we see Usha ji progressing deeper and deeper into the erotic tale, until the final scene of the movie. This is a pivotal moment for the use of media in the film as this is the first time Rosy’s story is read out loud in the movie, removing it as the narrative voice. The four women gather and listen as this story is read out, each voicing their own speculations about the end. This scene is pivotal for a few reasons. One, this is the scene where feminist solidarity is shared not just between the women in the film, but with Rosy as well. By exploring Rosy’s desires, Leela, Usha, Shirin, and Rehana discover an outlet to comment and reveal their own desires, predicaments and lives. This is the scene where a lesbian continuum is established not just between the real women of Hawaii Manzil, but the literary ones too. 

Rich’s idea of a lesbian continuum with the help of media is not limited to group settings, but individual ones as well. Rehana’s idolisation of Miley Cyrus is integral to her rebellion against her parents, as well as her breaking out of her shell. The use of media to expand the lesbian continuum can be seen where Rehana speaks directly to the camera at the protest, speaking directly to the audience, angrily questioning all the social frameworks women need to keep in line with. This display of anger earns her the friendship, which is albeit short-lived. 

Usha ji’s individual lesbian continuum occurs in two ways with media. One with her romance novels, and the second being her phone conversations with Jaspal. The novels, as already stated, act as an outlet, expression, and projection of her desires, living her life vicariously through them. The phone is an important form of media for Usha, as it allows her to experience and enact her desires with anonymity and safety. Her flirtatious and sexual conversations open up an avenue where Usha express her desires freely, without judgement. 

Being able to enact one’s desires without judgement, with freedom is one of the main themes of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga. The movie fittingly begins and ends with the same medium - a play. The device of the play serves to act as a meta-criticism of the same love story plotline being recycled over and over again in Bollywood cinema, and what one can do to break away from that cycle and present an original, ground-breaking love story. This is explicitly stated as the defence for the play “Ek Ladki” by Sahil. The play, as well as the movie, act as communicative and educative media, creating spaces for revelation for the both audiences - the ones watching the play in the movie, and the ones watching the movie in reality. 

The space for revelation is again not just one that exists in public, but exists in private as well. Sweety’s diaries of her childhood and her teenage years act as a space for grief and revelation for Balbir, her father. At truly being able to understand a fraction of the loneliness, bullying, and hurt that his daughter suffered, felt, and lived with for years, Balbir finally made the decision to love and support his daughter as she truly is, what the public thinks be damned. 

The diaries as a space for revelation are its secondary function. The primary function of the diaries is to be an outlet for Sweety and her feelings, again allowing her to express her feelings safely, without judgement, as was with Usha ji and the phone. The same happens again with Balbir and his viewership of cooking shows and cooking reality TV. 

The third form of media that I wish to examine are advertisements in Ek Ladki. The use of ads as a way of communication and bringing people together occurs in two instances. The first is the advertisements for Sahil’s and Chattro’s acting classes. The second is the ads for the play “Ek Ladki”. The power of ads is recognised in the movie when Babloo explicitly threatens to shut the play down and focuses his intent on tearing the posters of the play down around the city. However, we do not actually see the act of removal happening on screen, and considering the turnout of people at the first show of the play, we can agree that if this move of removal was executed, it failed to perform adequately i.e. to discourage people from attending the play through lack of information. 

Ads play a huge role in Father, Son, and Holy War. The constant showing of billboards with ads for movies and products for men explicitly focusing on what makes a man “manly” is integral to the film. This is because while these ads are shown, the audio of the person who is being interviewed is running alongside the film of these ads. One such scene is where people are talking about Shivaji’s composite identity as a ruler in India’s history and showing ads and scenes of a movie based off of his life alongside it. These two differing tracks of audio and video seek to offer criticism of what the other is saying/showing and this happens in multiple points in the film. One such important moment happens when there is the audio track of a man talking about rape gleefully in the context pornographic films on screen. While the man laughs and gleefully describes how he would rape other strange women but save those whom he knows, the video shifts to cuts of movie billboard advertisements where men are standing with a murderous stance and light in their eyes, weapons in their hand with a damsel in distress signalling distress in a tiny corner somewhere. This scene, for me, accomplishes two things. One, it provides examples of character in the popular media of the time whose masculinity would lead them to commit such violent acts of rape and being saviour, same as the man whose audio is running now. At the same time, it offers a powerfully clashing, jarring, and contradictory perspective: these same men whose manliness is idolised and exemplified through popular film and media are the same ones who want to murder those who speak of rape and honour in this way. Thus we have two contradictory perspectives occupying the same space: one which emboldens the manliness of both popular media and reality, and one where one stands against the other. 

Here what we see is an interruption of Nivedita Menon’s “nude make-up”. Described as “the faithful performance of prescribed rituals over and over again throughout one's lifetime.”, the nude make-up here takes the form of religious and political leaders giving speeches: how they go on to define “mardangi”, Hindu masculinity, Muslim masculinity, and how this same ideological hate has been fed to the masses over decades. The film takes care to show how these ideologies have their own industry by showing us the different forms of capitalist media that fuel them - books, photographs, and cassette tapes. It categorically showing how the development of ideology as an industry has taken hold in the public’s imagination through the scenes of street hawkers where he advertises Ayurvedic remedies for men’s sexual health and the applications to a religious function on how to obtain a boy-child are shown. mantras for getting a boy-child. This nude make-up is now entrenched so devastatingly deep is evident in the scene where the woman speaking regarding Sati truly believes that God has been photographed in the picture where a God is seen to have been lighting a Sati on fire. Not considering the possibility that the picture has been edited, or the fact that editing can happen, she remains adamant that God has been photographed where the naked human eye cannot see God. 

The nude make-up then takes on the form of the media that has created an echo chamber for its believers and consumers. Through its repeated consumption, media fulfils the purpose of the prescribed rituals through the sale and subscription of ideologies, and ensuring that the sale of ideology results in its spread, practice, and preaching. This move of showing contradictory realities in space is a beautiful execution of the interruption of nude make-up in the film. It shows the excellent use of the documentary as a medium, showing conflicting perspectives to the same practice, ideology back to back, side to side, creating a sensory experience jarring that unsettles the viewer and imperceptibly shifts something inside them. Not enough to create a change but enough to get them to think for themselves and to question themselves and the world. This happens throughout the film: the contradictory perspectives on the practice of Sati; the perspectives of Hindu and Muslim “mardangi”;  perspectives on the religious war being waged, and so on.

Through these three films, each diverse in the socio-political issues they tackle, I have demonstrated how media can be used and worked to accomplish multiple goals in each film. These forms of media that we take for granted, that we relegate to world-building when it comes to analysing film have more power than we would ascribe to them, and it is time that we recognise that like film, which is also a medium, these other forms of media are just as powerful and contribute greatly to the narratives of film.  

Works Cited:

Rich, A. (1980). Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Signs, 5(4), 631–660. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173834 

Menon N. (2012). Seeing Like A Feminist. Published by Zubaan in collaboration with Penguin Books.

Wickström, A., Lund, R.W.B., Meriläinen, S., Øyslebø Sørensen, S., Vachhani, S.J. and Pullen, A. (2021), Feminist solidarity: Practices, politics, and possibilities. Gender Work Organ, 28: 857-863. 

https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12689

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.) medium. In Cambridge Dictionary.com. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/medium

Filmography:

Shrivastava, A. (Director). (2017). Lipstick Under My Burkha [Film]. Prakash Jha Productions.

Dhar, S. (Director). (2019). Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga [Film]. Vinod Chopra Films.

Patwardhan, A. (Director). (1995). Father, Son, and Holy War [Film]. Anand Patwardhan.