Are Indian filmmakers capable of making truthful, empathetic biopics on sexually confident modern actresses? Zeenat Aman is right in not being too optimistic.
Either the biopics have shown the women as raunchy and racy or as pitiful victims.
That is why the actor’s recent Instagram post seeks ownership of her journey—to not be ‘celebrated’ as a sex symbol. Aman’s much-discussed entry into the world of social media in an era of biopics, has led to murmurs of a film on her life and journey. And her assertion of owning her story is testimony to how we have historically treated women who are bold and sexually confident. Of course, it goes without saying, that while censoring them, many have also reaped the monetary benefits off of their life choices.
In the 1970s and 80s, films were not glamorous if Zeenat Aman or Parveen Babi were not part of them. Be it the all-gold ensemble of Aman’s Aap Jaisa Koi from Qurbani (1980) or Babi’s Jawani Janeman of Namak Halal (1982), a hit song featured either of them. They were after all the ‘sex symbols’ of that decade.
But movies made on Praveen Babi, and Silk Smitha have shown them to be victims, who end up as emotional train wrecks in the end.
Even as the world of Bollywood later embraced leading actors performing ‘item songs’, the concept of sexualising a female actor has not really changed much. There is and has remained the idea of ‘bold actors’— women who have chosen to do certain kinds of roles. The label in itself shows that we have a unidimensional understanding of a female actor. When a man is called a bold actor, it is because of the experimental roles he performs that are out of the formulaic ones. When a woman is called a bold actress, it is because of her sex appeal.
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No credit, no representation
Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture (2011) was based on the life of Silk Smitha, but there were no credits given. Her brother even filed a writ petition asking for the release of the film to be stayed, but to no avail. The Vidya Balan starrer went on to make Rs 36 crores worldwide, nearly double its budget, and received rave reviews. The makers did not ever acknowledge that the movie was about the late actor.
Even though there were unmistakable similarities to Smitha’s life, the movie never made it ‘official’. It shows how credit works in movie making, especially when it comes to ‘controversial’ female figures. It was simply ‘inspired by’, one of the sneaky ways to not give credit or pay royalty.
This ambiguity about credit also allows the filmmaker to show the subject as a ‘dirty’ woman. One who is immoral in the eyes of society. But ‘bad’ boys don’t always get this treatment. Sanjay Dutt’s biopic Sanju (2018), directed by Rajkumar Hirani, is a case in point. Despite multiple controversial incidents in the actor’s life, the film proceeded to justify most of them. The message was that ‘bad boys’ are just victims of circumstance.
It’s the perfect illustration of a double standard—bad boys get redemption, ‘bad’ women do not. Women who own their sexuality end up with lives and careers that are unforgiving. Silk Smitha died by suicide and wrote about how she was exploited for her popularity, and never really received her due, be it in terms of money or her relationships. Even when a film used her story to make profits, she did not get her due.
Parveen Babi’s life found expression in three Mahesh Bhatt projects, Arth (1982), Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee (1993) and Woh Lamhe (2006). The latter also became a pivotal film in actor Kangana Ranaut’s career. But all the films were depictions of Bhatt’s relationship with Babi, not a biopic. Despite a sensitive lens, especially when looking at Babi’s struggle with mental health issues, one never gets a sense of her beyond the relationship. It is as if her life becomes condensed into these reductive aspects–her glamour, eventual struggles with mental health and her relationship with the director. We do not see a peek into her life beyond that.
Even Hollywood struggles to get the lives of these so-called ‘sex symbols’ right on screen. The industry’s latest misfires include the 2022 TV series Pam & Tommy about actor Pamela Anderson’s relationship with drummer Tommy Lee and the 2022 Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde.
Zeenat Aman’s life, from the films she did—Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978) is still regarded as one of the sexiest movies in Bollywood—to her relationships, have been splashed across gossip columns since the heyday of her career. It is now that she has truly taken charge of how she wants to appear in the public eye—grey hair, auto rides, candid posts about her life experiences. She truly deserves to decide how she is immortalised on celluloid and reap the monetary rewards.
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(Edited by Theres Sudeep)