We live in a time, where you need to be a feminist to ask for equality. Sexism is rampant in almost every aspect of our lives and movies are no exception. But then there are some online streaming services like ZEE5 that has been focussing on developing women-centric movies and TV shows which is a welcome change from the norm. On that note, let’s look at some of the fantastic movies that released on ZEE5 this March.
Simmba
This could have been yet another commercial movie by Bollywood but became different for the gist of the storyline. Simmba is about a dishonest police officer Sangram Bhalerao aka Simmba who lets bad things slide in exchange for bribes. But things turn around when Aakruti Dave, who he considers as a sister, gets raped by some goons. From this moment onwards, the movie brings the perspectives of women and the dangers they face. This is especially evident in the court scene, where Simmba (Ranveer Singh) reads out the statistics regarding rape cases in India which show no signs of slowing down. He points out how those in power need to take steps to instil the fear of law in the population around this heinous crime.
Uri: The Surgical Strike
This movie set the box office ablaze and made everyone proud of their mother country. However, while many raved about Vicky Kaushal’s performance, I especially loved the characterisation of Pallavi Sharma and Captain Seerat Kaur played by Yami Gautam and Kirti Kulhari respectively. Their characters were not just placeholders in the movie. Rather, they played an important part in the story. Be it the spy operations that Pallavi took charge of or the badass moment where Seerat rescued the soldiers from enemy fire, these characters in Uri: The Surgical Strike left many impressed.
The Sholay Girl
This is probably the one that got me most excited to write this article. We all know that for years Bollywood has been showing men as the face of anything that involves stunts. But did you know that there was a stuntwoman in Bollywood who used to execute stunt for all the leading actresses? There was one and her name was Reshma Pathan, she was acclaimed for being India’s first stuntwoman and her role is played by Bidita Bag in the movie. The story of this unsung superhero would have never been told if ZEE5 didn’t take efforts to make a movie about her. An insightful and motivational tale set against the backdrop of vintage Bollywood, I would recommend everyone to watch it.
377 Ab Normal
Everyone must have the right to love whoever they want and the decriminalisation of section 377 was a major step towards this vision in India. Shedding light on the journey behind this historic moment, 377 Ab Normal shows the struggle that people from a different section of society went through to eradicate this archaic law from existence.
These movies shows that the Bollywood is slowly heading in the right direction when it comes to the portrayal of women. We hope that filmmakers and actors continue to push the envelope in the years to come.
