Bollywood in the 1980s and ’90s fetishised rape. It was a morass of revenge-rape movies like Mera Jawab and Ankush where women were nothing more than vehicles to further the plot. It fell on the male protagonist(s) to avenge her and restore honour.
BR Chopra’s Insaf Ka Tarazu (1980) falls into this category of rape-revenge films, except the woman—who fails to get justice–becomes a vigilante.
Bharati (Zeenat Aman) is a popular model with a supportive boyfriend, Ashok (Deepak Parashar). After winning a beauty pageant, Bharati is approached by a millionaire, Ramesh Gupta (Raj Babbar), who hopes to have a sexual encounter with her. When she refuses his advances, Ramesh feels ‘insulted’ and brutally rapes her.
Bharati is unable to secure a conviction in court and decides to move to a different city with her younger sister Nita (Padmini Kolhapure), who witnessed the rape. Nita, answering a job advertisement, is also raped by Ramesh. Bharati shoots Ramesh dead and once again faces the legal process, presided over by the same judge and prosecuted by the lawyer who had earlier defended Ramesh.
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Titillation disguised as empowerment
Insaf Ka Tarazu was a remake of the 1976 rape and revenge thriller Lipstick, starring real-life sisters Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, along with Chris Sarandon, Perry King, and Anne Bancroft. The film received many negative reviews for its portrayal of rape scenes, which bordered on titillation.
“Lipstick is a nasty little item masquerading as a bold statement on the crime of rape. The statement would seem a little bolder if the movie didn’t linger in violent and graphic detail over the rape itself, and then handle the vengeance almost as an afterthought,” wrote Roger Ebert in his review of the movie.
Bollywood’s rape movies take this to a whole new level, and Insaf Ka Tarazu is no exception. The Indian version also relied on titillation to drive home the revenge drama. There are brutal rape scenes in the film, one featuring Bharati and Ramesh, and the other with Nita and Ramesh.
Kolhapure, who plays the sister, was a child actor, and her sequence in particular involves the use of a gun to snap open her bra. It is an extremely graphic depiction of sexual assault, which was defended under the guise of ‘women empowerment’ through revenge.
The ’80s and ’90s were not known for subtlety or mindfulness in the depiction of violence. Dialogues like “Mujhe bas tumhara haseen badan dekhna hai” (I just want to see your beautiful body) mouthed by Babbar in Insaf Ka Tarazu or “Arey mujhe laga Bulla ki behen koi bhangaar ki dukaan hogi, lekin maa kasam taang Raveena aankhein Karishma” (I thought Bulla’s sister would be ugly, but I swear her legs are like Raveena’s and eyes like Karishma’s) before raping a woman, are problematic. The dialogue not only objectifies the woman being raped but also two female actors, Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor.
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Kolhapure stole the show
Babbar’s motivation to accept the role of a serial rapist was the fate of his debut film Kissa Kursi Ka, and his stagnant career. The film was a satire on the politics of Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi and was banned by the Indian government during the Emergency period, with all prints confiscated. This meant Babbar had nothing to show for his hard work.
“For three years after Kissa Kursi Ka, I had to sit at home. Nothing happened. My career too would have gone up in flames if it was not for BR Chopra, who came forward to offer me Insaf Ka Tarazu. When he said it was the role of a rapist, I hesitated. The film proved godsent in my career,” said Babbar in an interview.
The film boosted the careers of all the lead actors. Chopra would eventually become Babbar’s godfather in the industry, and the duo collaborated on other successful projects like Nikaah (1982) and Aaj Ki Awaz (1984).
Babbar delivers a performance that can make one’s skin crawl in the way he pursues Bharati before raping her, or terrorises Nita before attacking her.
Zeenat Aman got a chance to showcase her acting mettle beyond the tag of a ‘glamorous’ actor and holds her own against Babbar’s performance as the woman wronged simply for being herself. But it is Kolhapure who steals the show as the young girl who is doubly victimised by witnessing the assault of her sister and being raped herself. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role.
The film might have had good intentions and powerful performances, but even for its own era, it just ended up packaging a problematic message.