Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture Representation of Women in Indian Cinema and Beyond by Sharmila Tagore

Time and again, our films underline the supremacy of man. Modernity is reduced to a matter of packaging. A modern woman is defined by her westernized attire. She looks modern but when it comes to making informed choices, she chooses the conventional.

Shyam Benegal—one of the few Indian film-makers who has created strong, individualistic women in his films—has said,

‘Her virtue is in being the good mother, wife, sister—a set of essential roles a woman has to play—which is a terrible kind of oppression; a glorification not allowing the woman any choice.’