That the word ‘pink’ is a slang term for a woman’s vagina is perhaps lost on many who have seen and applauded Indian director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s movie—Pink (Hindi). As the story revolves around an attempt to rape, the title seems apt.
The movie opens with a crime; a man is seen bleeding from his head—his friends in a hurry to get him to hospital—and as the story progresses, it winds its way through the culture of male entitlement that pervades India in a big way. The night turns into a nightmare for three young girls in New Delhi, as they flee a resort after one of them hits her attacker with a bottle that nearly takes his eye. Despite being stalked by the attacker’s friends and harassed by the police, they gather the courage to fight a patriarchal system—hell-bent on “showing women their place”—with the help of an elderly man. Amitabh Bachchan breathes grimness and intensity into lawyer Deepak Sehgal, who decides to stand with the girls as they struggle against the trauma of molestation and an apathetic society that questions their independence and spunk.
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Pink dives into a world that constantly humiliates women by judging them for everything—from how they dress to what they drink and the time they come home from work. As Minal Arora (Taapsee Pannu) struggles to defend herself in court, we sense that the prosecution’s queries are meant to make it look like “she asked for it”. Right from choosing to go to a disco to drinking and laughing with men, everything seems to “give the wrong signals”. There is a constant attempt at presenting the girls as prostitutes, particularly because they are independent and love a peg or two.
“It doesn’t matter what she is—an acquaintance, a friend, girlfriend, sex worker, or wife—no simply means no.”
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Apart from highlighting how young men with outdated mindsets could prove dangerous to the modern Indian woman, the movie touches on one aspect I find particularly liberating—the issue of consent. Towards the end, when Minal’s friend Falak Ali (Kirti Kulhari) turns the case on its head, it is obvious that she has stopped caring about what others might think or say about her. Her only aim then is to help the judge understand that no man has the right to touch her regardless of who she is to him. And Sehgal’s closing argument drives the point home. “It doesn’t matter what she is—an acquaintance, a friend, girlfriend, sex worker, or wife—no simply means no,” states Sehgal.
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The steel in Sehgal’s eyes conveys a strong message to a country that is yet to criminalize marital rape. A 2014 report by researcher Aashish Gupta of the Rice institute found that women are 40 times more likely to be sexually assaulted by their husband than a stranger. Gupta concluded that fewer than 1 percent of sexual assaults within marriage are reported to the police. Marital rape counsellor and lawyer Monica has rightly blamed India’s patriarchal conditioning for such crimes. She also cites lack of awareness among women regarding their rights. She says—in a 2016 story on NDTV this year—that men think marriage is a licence for sex. She stresses that men don’t even realise they need to ask for consent.
The safety manual of an Indian woman has many rules, including never to befriend men or spend time with them.
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Besides, the notion that “no means yes” or that women “secretly enjoy” being touched against their will still remain. The inability of many Indian men to befriend women for the people they are—to not judge them for the kind of clothes they wear or how open-minded they are—is starkly obvious in this movie. Men like Sehgal stand as the only hope for the ignorant Indian male. Sehgal bitterly reminds the court that the safety manual of an Indian woman has many rules, including never to befriend men or spend time with them, thus widening the rift between the sexes in a male-dominated society.
Pink forcefully underlines the need for women to own their sexuality and for men to understand that a friendly girl isn’t a slut, a girl who drinks isn’t “asking for it”, and that sex with a woman involves two very important elements—her choice and her consent.
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Photo: Wikipedia
I’ve read much of what you’ve written here, Sushi, and you’ve certainly shown your metal, especially speaking on behalf of men’s issues in India when dealing with what women in the country deal with. That’s big, and it begs me to take your words to heart on this subject, and this subject is why I often raise an eyebrow when those in the US call us a rape culture. We are not. We are a culture with too many sexual assaults, and Pink seems to demonstrate the glaring difference as to what a rape culture actually is. Even back in… Read more »
thanks, dj. you must see it. yes, that’s what i have been trying to tell my countrymen… they have always pointed out to me that rapes happen everywhere and most of the time, i tell them that it’s not about rapes happening…it’s about what happens after rapes happen. why is there such a big rush to shift the focus from the man to the woman? why is everyone so curious about women? why not see a rape as a crime in itself and stop talking about the whos and whats and whys. it’s because of all this that half the… Read more »
Thanks for this piece. I enjoyed reading it. I don’t know why rape remains so stubbornly high even here in the US. But, in say Japan, which is a very patriarchal AND a highly industrialize nation it is not. So, I am not so sure it is in and of itself patriarchy per se. I found a theater here in Maryland to that is showing the movie. I assume (and hope) it has English subtitling. Btw, I did read your short story “Bo and Goro.” Very nice. I love short stories. I grew in the South (US). So, I love… Read more »
Thank you, Jules. Do watch the movie. It’s not just about rapes, Jules. It’s also about shaming the victim, about making it look like she was asking for it. No one expects a man to stop; everyone is after the woman, trying to find out why she was there, who she is. The movie, in one single stroke, dismisses all such queries and places the blame on the man, and that’s exactly where it lies. Even if you are in bed with someone and she asks you to get off, you must. Else, it’s a rape, and a rape is… Read more »