Insaaf Ka Taraazu (Or why Bollywood & Indian Media are responsible for our rape)

PART 1 - The Role of Bollywood:

I was a very young child, when I watched Raj Babbar/ Zeenat Aman's titillator "Insaaf Ka Taraazu". (How a bunch of children were allowed into a cinema hall for a film like that, is another story altogether). 

I have two distinct memories of the film - 1) the audience really enjoying Zeenat getting violated and 2) the catcalls as Raj Babbar asked Padmini Kolhapure to start undressing to her bra. 

Since then, I have watched a number of such films - where each rape serves to perversely arouse the audience. Add to that "item songs", the misogynist protagonists whose male chauvanism is endorsed by the demure Sonakshi Sinha's, the portrayal of women as door-mats in almost every Hindi film, the vulgar lyrics of our biggest hits - ranging from "Munni Badnaam", to "Jalebi Baai", to countless others - and you have the perfect recipe for conditioning the attitudes of an entire population, on how women deserve to be treated. (The tool of choice for eve teasers is Bollywood songs of a certain kind.)

Today, it is evident to me that Bollywood is largely responsbible for the spate of gruesome rapes that have grown in alarming numbers. Since 1971 - when there were 7 rapes per day, today the number has touched a staggering 53 rapes per day. It does not take an an Einstein to put together the change in the portrayal of women in Bollywood over the last 40 years - and the 700% rise in rape. Our cinema TEACHES us to look at (and therefore treat) women in a certain way. Men feel entitled to abuse women, because our so called heroic icons do that on screen. And, with the increased, sexual objectification of women - this is only going to get worse. 

Why is no one psychoanalyzing the rapists and finding out what their mental profiles are? What is that Lowest Common Denominator? I can blindly bet that the common threads will be: a) Idolization of misogyny, b) Enjoying the on-screen humiliation of women and c) Sexual repression. One could argue that this is the composition of 90% of Indians - and which is my point exactly. Once you've irrevocably perverted/ conditioned the collective consciousness in a certain way, it is easier to tip and become the perpetrator of violence. Especially if you are frustrated 17 year old "have-not" seething with hatred against those who have a bite of "Shining India". Which brings me to the next tool that is being used to manipulate our society.

PART TWO: The Role of Mainstream Media.

I spent a large part of my childhood in the interiors of India - where two of the most popular journals were called "Manohar Kahaaniyan" and "Satya Katha". These publication were filled with gory details of crimes - like violent murders, brutal rapes et al. It was the preferred publication of the lower strata - who enjoyed the pornography. (One was "fiction" and the latter, "untouched truth"). 

Which is what today's mainstream media has become - a slightly more disguised version of Manohar Kahaaniyan. Today's journalists and publications are neither insightful, analytical or remotely interested in building the intellectual capability of the populace - they are merely into a sensationalization and provocation of an impotent mass. Titillation through "CRIME PORN", so that the deranged mind can masturbate at the extremely graphic manner in which these incidents are reported. (For example, today's Mumbai Mirror carried a subhead which read: 17 YEAR OLD'S BOYFRIEND INSERTS SCREWDRIVER INTO HER VAGINA TO BRING IN DELAYED PERIODS). What is the PURPOSE of such graphic and explicit stories? 

Surely it can't be justice! Because not a SINGLE NEWS ITEM GETS FOLLOWED THROUGH TILL ITS END. On an average there is coverage of a rape cases EVERYDAY. Which one of those, from two years ago, have been brought to closure by mainstream media? This alone indicates that the purpose is not CONCERN for the victims - but merely to stimulate the readers. Who, in turn, are savoring these juicy tidbits to feed their rapidly degenerating minds. Basic Instincts of the upper classes are being served - in the guise of social "reporting". One has to only read the tone/ choice of words of the print or television media, to know what emotions are being aroused. It is not to evoke compassion - but to give a mental hard on. Face it.  

And surely, it can't be results or call for action. I am a big fan of the New York Times (despite its shortcomings) - and that newspaper, does not go all out to sensationalize or titillate. For starters, it is not in COLOUR for crying out loud. It's in black and white - unlike the pink, purple, yellow or orange newspapers in India. The adding of "colour" to news, should say a lot about the NEEDS of our readers. We're not looking for information in black and white or grey, for that matter - but in full colour. Does this tell you something about our standards of  journalism? As also the mindset of the populace it serves? If action was the goal - we would know what happened to the rapist of that 7 year old who got brutalized three years ago. The delivery of justice does not sell (coz if it did, we would be asking ourselves why MORE THAN 65% of rapists were NOT convicted??? Yes, 2 in 3 rapists get acquitted in India). But, the colourization of gory crimes does. Manohar Kahaaniyan was an all colour porn magazine, way back then... It's the mastheads of our "mainsteam dailies" that have morphed into the same, today.

Add the two together - and you have a perfectly sound reasoning for why 1500 women getting raped per month - as against less than 200, a few decades ago.

PART THREE: What can be DONE?

The population of this country loves to feign activism and concern. But will not make a SINGLE CHANGE in their daily lives, to follow through that outrage. We are a country of perpetually enraged cynics who have resigned to our fate. And the knowledge of our own dead souls is so frightening to our sense of selves, that we counter it with WORDS or lip-service. Facebook's basic construct reveals the subtext of that.

"23 year old brutally raped and left naked! OMG" (283 people LIKE this.)

You see?

So, for all you out there - who want to see the change, become it.

The root of our society today, is undeniably money - and if you pay for the mayhem, you are part funding the rapists, murderers etc.

1. You want to stop that 17 year old rapist from becoming one? Stop watching films that are clearly misogynist and disrespectful towards women.

2. You want to see justice? Call your cable operator and stop paying for that TV channel whose anchors you love to berate.

3. You want to improve the moral standards of society? Stop paying for those newspapers that are clearly dishing out "Crime Porn". 

When the box-office for the misogynist protagonist evaporates, when the circulation figures of sensationalist journalism plummets and when the TRP's of the TV channels that you berate start tending towards zero - the funding for these will dry up. A friend of mine who holds an extremely senior position in a global FMCG posted against Arnab Goswami and his brand of journalism the other day. Alas! This very FMCG company is one of the largest advertisers on that channel. 

Cut off the money supply through boycott - and you'll see things starting to change. 

Problem is, many of you will "Like" this - and go back to catch the latest blockbuster that endorses female abuse this weekend - and then enjoy reading about another such crime tomorrow morning. 

We're all raping those 53 or more women, everyday.

With our impotent, inactive bodies. And perverted, active minds...