It is heartbreaking how our Bollywood movies are full of the regressive and patriarchal mindset. And as you watch popular Bollywood movies from a feminist lens, it could be very troublesome. Because you can’t believe how millions of us tend to fall in love with the regressive thought process prevalent in these popular Bollywood movies.Â
Here are some of the popular Bollywood romantic movies, where the makers made the leading lady be with the man, who never deserved her in the first place. While many of us may have fallen in love with these movies and their characters, here’s my take on how our leading ladies ended up being with the wrong guy.
#1: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999):
This romantic drama by Sanjay Leela Bhansali was a super blockbuster of its time. But, as I watched it 100th time, I realized the perfect ending could be Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) staying on her own. It’s fine if she wasn’t in love with Sameer (Salman Khan) anymore. But, how could decide to be the man whom she was forcibly married to Vanraj (Ajay Devgan). Isn’t it what the patriarchal mindset has been teaching women for ages – to fall in love with your husband, even if you were forced to be in the relationship by your parent!
#2: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998):
The love triangle in this movie touched our hearts, but did you notice that Anjali (Kajol) who was in love with her best friend Rahul (Shahrukh Khan), never realized that her best friend was neither a good lover nor a good friend. He never understood her feelings. Even though a new girl Tina (Rani Mukherjee) on the campus understood Anjali’s feelings, but Rahul still remained blinded to them. But, suddenly, one fine day when he sees Anjali in an Indian outfit, he is in love with her!
Even though Rahul never understood her feelings, Anjali chose Rahul over Prem (Salmaan Khan). Why lady why?
ALSO READ: If I Was Anjali, Why I Would Have Never Chosen Rahul Over Aman As A Life Partner
#3: Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein (2001):
I don’t get why people find this movie romantic? Maddy (R. Madhavan) was basically a stalker who was behind Reena (Dia Mirza) since the time he saw her. He pretended to be someone else in the movie and lied to Reena throughout the movie. To top it, when he was caught telling lie, he started threatening Reena’s fiancé. In the end, we saw that Reena fell in love with Maddy. It is sad how, once again, our movie makers made our leading lady fall in love with her stalker!
#4: Salaam Namaste (2005):
The movie that introduced the concept of live-in relationship before it was a trend. In this movie, we saw Ambar (Preity Zinta) felling in love with Nick (Saif Ali Khan). When Ambar got pregnant with Nick’s child, Nick asked her to abort the child, to which Ambar refused and took care of her child all alone. Though Nick realizes his mistake towards the end of the movie and got married to Ambar.
But, why Ambar chose to marry a man, who wasn’t mature enough to handle the unexpected turn in their relationship! Why didn’t Ambar choose to raise the child all alone rather than raising the child with an irresponsible father?
ALSO READ: ‘Is Love Really Enough? Sir’ Is More Than A Love Story; Its Story Of Woman Becoming Her Own Hero
#5: Cocktail (2012):
We have seen two girls who were poles apart. One was Meera (Diana Penty) who never had alcohol, was religious, and never had a fling, she was a perfect Indian girl. On the other hand, there was a girl named Veronica (Deepika Padukone), who partied, slept with boys, had alcohol, and was living away from her parents. While Gautam (Saif Ali Khan) was with Veronica, he started getting attracted to Meera. And, then to be together, Gautam ditched Veronica and Meera betrayed her best friend Veronica.
Ideally, Gautam should have been dumped by both the girls as he never deserved any of the two!
#6: Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (2013):
Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor) left everyone just to follow his dreams. He never thought of Naina (Deepika Padukone) and about her love. When he came back to India to attend his friend’s wedding, he met Naina, and somehow Naina fell in love with him again and the two of them united on New Year’s Eve.
Why Naina chose to be with a man, who was selfish and self-centered? How Naina, in a conversation of few hours, decided that Bunny has changed for good? In real life, do people change? Do selfish people change their nature and become kind-hearted in a matter of few hours? I haven’t seen that happening in real life, have you?
#7: Happy New Year (2014):
Throughout the movie, we saw Charlie (Shahrukh Khan) insulting Mohini (Deepika Padukone) calling her cheap. Though she helped the group in winning the dance competition, Charlie never acknowledged that. Mohini was fluttered with Charlie’s English and adored him.
How could a multi-talented woman, like Mohini, attracted to a man like Charlie, who never saw her worth!
#8: Tamasha (2015):
While Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) was a confused guy, our leading lady Tara (Deepika Padukone) was an ambitious girl. When Ved and Tara parted their way at the restaurant, she was completely shattered. But, still, when she met Ved in Tokyo she forgot everything and got along with Ved.
Ideally, an independent woman like Tara should have told Ved that she is not interested in him anymore now.
Many of us are tired of Bollywood giving us women characters half good as women in real life. While we are surrounded by far many heroic women in our real life, we hope Bollywood will get their act together and start giving us more realistic and stronger women characters. The women characters – who chose themselves and their dignity over the men, who don’t deserve them!Â
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