The ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s were decades that saw movies gripped by the tentacles of chauvinism and misogyny. Back then, the formula for a heroic scene meant (apart from twirling one’s moustache, that is) side-lining women and boiling down machoism to insults and bawdy humour aimed at the whole of womankind. Here’s a follow-up list to the Malayalam movie scenes that reek of misogyny.
April 18
I’m pretty convinced that Balachandra Menon is the poster boy for chauvinism. Though in numerous interviews he has repeatedly mentioned his respect for women, I’m compelled to think otherwise after watching this scene. Could be the 80s mindset and all, but labelling a sleeveless blouse as indecent and setting the modesty bar for your wife’s wardrobe is so not cool.
Oru Maravathoor Kanavu
Here’s another dude who is overly concerned about women’s wardrobe woes. Vere aara, nammude Chaandi chayan. Not only is he all agog about the whereabouts of Divya Unni’s half saree, but he is generous enough to offer her (err, not a half saree) some free advice. Yes, now we know where the station master in Jab We Met borrowed his famous “akeli ladki” dialogue from! Also, don’t miss the pearls of wisdom flowing from Chaandi chayan as he correlates dressing of a woman to temptation experienced by men.
Also Read: MALAYALAM MOVIE THINGS WE’D LIKE TO TRY
Rakkilipattu
Misogyny is the last thing you would expect for an all-female (almost) cast. Strangely in Rakkilipattu, this scene where Tabu, a police officer, hurls bangles at men in a crowd who witnessed the horrifying harassment of a college student is a huge let-down. She goes on to say that if men don’t have the capacity to react or stand up against injustice, then they are cowards. Or in short, equal to a woman. So, take these bangles and wear them!
My Boss
The less mentioned about the amount of misogyny injected into Dileep’s movies the better. All this movie portrayed was the fragile ego of a man who could not handle female assertiveness manifested in the form of a domineering boss. When Dileep shares his plan of vengeance with Shajon, he casually tells him to ‘peedipikalfy’ the girl if he gets a chance. The fact that the theatre erupted into laughter at hearing this is what’s more troublesome. Ditto for the rape threat in Meesha Madhavan.
Nadan Pennum Natupramaniyum
In Mammooty’s popular movie “The King”, we saw him giving Vani Vishwanath, his subordinate the “You are just a woman. A mere woman” card. We don’t know why scriptwriters then were fixated with this dialogue that belittled women, but we see Jayaram mouthing exactly the same dialogue to Samyuktha Varma in the 2001 movie Nadan Pennum Natupramaniyum. Surely, gender sensitivity was an alien concept back then.
Inspector Garud
Marry a girl to get even with her. Oh yeah, wasn’t Mr Marumakan all about that? As if that awful movie wasn’t enough, here’s another Dileep movie wandering around the same “how to tame a girl with a progressive mindset” territory. This whole movie is a distasteful joke on how a police officer ties the (tight) knot with an IAS officer to settle scores with her.
Also Read: MALAYALAM CINEMA’S LOVE FOR VIRGINITY
Kaliveedu
It’s funny that the 90s movies talked a lot about how the ideal wife should be and never vice versa. She should be up by the crack of dawn with a fire to single-handedly indulge in all household chores. Of course, preparing her husband’s favourite meal is the numero uno and the quickest route to his heart. Want more such ridiculous advice? Mahesh of Kaliveedu tells you more!
Have we missed out on more Malayalam Movie Scenes that reek of misogyny? Let us know!
3 Responses
Superb list…i would perhaps also add Prithviraj’s role in Swapnakoodu too…it was just cringeworthy with dialogues like ‘thrill’ and all..i hated him in this movie…and the actions in the song ‘Ishthamallada’ just gets on my nerves!