Aswini Ashok

Anna Vetticad says in her review of Gunjan Saxena, that it is a story of one remarkable woman, but also a story of every remarkable woman that ever lived. This one line summarises everything the movie aims to portray. It is not about patriotism, not about ‘dushman-desh’ or not even about the IAF. It is just about an innocent girl aiming to soar high but put down by the society that leaves no stone unturned to say that she is not worth her dreams. But, who are they to say anyways? The Kargil girl disproves them in style. It is the story of every woman. Misogyny spares no woman. We all sail through it on a daily basis. It may be adrenaline charging to see women giving savage comebacks and dismantling patriarchy through powerful monologues on screen. But, honestly, we never do that on a regular basis. Sometimes yes. But, definitely not always. Most of the time we suck up and carry on with our work, believing our actions would speak up for itself. Gunjan Saxena is that kind. That doesn’t...

Shakuntala Devi premiered on Amazon prime, a day after her daughter, Ms. Anupama, officially received the Guinness record certification for her mother's record in 1980. Even this inordinate delay is not as flawed as the daughter's relationship with her mother in my opinion. Women are taken for granted even by their own daughters - And this movie shows how. Anu Menon, the director, said she wanted to showcase mother-daughter relationship which has never received as much attention as mother-son and father-daughter relationships. This answers people’s concern on why they had just went about in a touch-and-go manner about Devi’s genius. If not for the disclaimer that the movie is based on what Anupama shared, the storyline shall be brushed off as yet another insensitivity, to appease the ‘masala’-craving audience. But, this comes straight from the woman who shared that specific bond and post-release, she expressed gladness o...

Ever since mankind was born, men were at each other’s throats; invaded territories; indulged in wars that ripped the world into fragments; divided humans based on superficial hierarchies like race, sex, caste, etc.,; did not even spare splitting families over property disputes and others, yet, we never dare to label them as “men being men’s best enemies.” But, one woman talks against a woman, the society goes great lengths to ascertain that women hate each other. As Gloria Steinem says in the recent Disney + Hotstar miniseries, Mrs. America , “They have found the perfect smokescreen to hide their chauvinism-women.” It is true that women need to fight together to uproot patriarchy. But the unfair obligation to always be nice to each other, is yet another unreasonable expectation shoved down our throats. Mrs. America settles this once and for all, of how normal it is for women to dissent. After all, feminism has never been ONE supreme way of achieving equality. There are inroads that ...

“Put your thoughts to sleep, do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking.” - Rumi                For me “Love is madness” - a state of mind where we are ready to go to any lengths of madness. It doesn’t mean it is wrong but the willingness to accept anything in the pursuit of our own happiness. Deep down it is an egocentric state of mind. We say all kinds of things like we are selfless with the other person to let them mistreat us and still stick to them. But, we tolerate everything because a part of our mind is convinced that our happiness lies with them. It is more like we are addicted to the idea of being with them that other things don’t matter at all.                It is only fair that we usually associate our romantic ideas with what we see in fiction, our escape mechanism from reality. None of the things we see in movies may actually work out the same ...

                Lately, there is a surge in the movies centered on women. Don’t ask why there is no such thing as men-centric anything. Men are by default everything. However, the more relevant phrase to describe the so-called women-centric has to be “women-body-centric politics”. The politics around women’s body have been done to death by men (in real and reel), yet, there seems to be no end to their impositions. Women across the world are still fighting for political control over their own bodies. From anti-abortion laws to marital rapes the politics around women’s body has always been at the receiving end of the arrogance of predominantly men lawmakers than the plight of fighting women. Cinema in the form of pop culture has always been adamant in infusing regressive (mostly about women) thoughts so much so that it has become a norm. Three movies I watched this week brought into picture 3 different aspects ...

       Comedy is a tricky premise. You either win all guns blazing or fall flat. There is no in between. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one such experiment that fared well enough to receive so many accolades for its cast and storyline. However, as an Indian viewer, it is sometimes hard to interpret the jokes as we are unfamiliar with the socio-cultural background in which it is set. The late 1950s of New York City is something beyond our imagination of course. Maybe some of the jokes couldn’t have tickled our ribs, but the message they put across is always loud and clear. As an Indian woman, I have always believed that the emancipation of woman first comes through education and sexual liberation shall follow. This I found hard to understand in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, where the women seem to be sexually liberated, but for education, there is no due importance. Mrs. Weissman manipulating the women students in their post-graduate into believing that the Master’s degr...

What is feminism? Who is a feminist? For me anyone who is remotely annoyed by patriarchy is a feminist. If you are a woman and you feel you have been tactically or out rightly side lined because of your gender and you have the agitation to do something about it, you are a feminist. If you are a man and the fact that you have to work your ass off and always be in a seemingly never ending race and you totally hate this screwed up system, welcome aboard! You are a feminist. But the 'F' word scares us so much that we prefer being called anything but feminists. That includes bizarrely built up words such as Equalist, humanist and what not? Thanks to the patriarchs. The simple reason that equality is never served in a platter and it is the feminine population which is being in the receiving end for ages, hence a little emphasis in the naming would do no harm to human race is still a rocket science for so many to understand. Since the word itself scares...