Male Gaze in Bollywood Movies Perpetuating Objectification of Women : Role of Cinema

in Sustainable Development

By

Tamanna Sharma

Panjab University Constituent College, Karyal( Moga)

Email: tamana142000@gmail.com , Phone No: 9780586030

Abstract: Male Gaze is an influential concept in Feminist Film Studies , introduced by Laura
Mulvey. This research paper purports to analyse the Indian cinema implying male gaze for the
success of movies which indirectly perpetuating the inequality of gender in the society and it
turns out to be the daunting challenge for Sustainable Development in formulating an
Egalitarian Society by expurgating Gender discrimination. Male Gaze refers to the heterosexual
representation of women in visual arts and literature which reduced them to a mere object
which propitiates the physiological needs of men or more appropriately the patriarchal society.
In this Connection, I will be taking some instances of Bollywood Heroines, Advertisements,
Movies conducive to my purpose pertaining cinema’s salient contribution in congealing this
objectification of women , by applying the theory of psychoanalysis my endeavour is to examine
the ubiquity of Male Gaze in Indian Cinema and how it is conditioning our collective
consciousness. . Untill, society halted to look at woman as an object this phenomenon of gender
equality is out of our reach and cinema plays a monumental part of the popular culture or
through male gaze it reinforces the deterimental stereotypes . So, in order to achieve the
Sustainability we have to pay a check on the movies also . This research paper aims at
identifying the dissemination of male gaze in Indian cinema and its indispensable role in
intensifying the gap between male and female. . This research paper seeks to answer that How
this implementation of male gaze is an Imperceptible hindrance in the path of Sustainability?.

Keywords: Sustainable Development , Male Gaze, Women Objectification, Bollywood Movies,

Female Gaze
Introduction : Sustainable Development acts as an important principal that aims at providing a
peaceful, prosperous lives to the human beings without compromising the needs of the prosterity
. Gender equality is one of the 17 goals of sustainable development aiming at the social well
being of ever human being irrespective of his or her gender. Too much challenges are harbouring
in the accomplishment of Sustainability from which gender discrimination is one. Movies plays a
dominant role in conditioning the psyche and shaping our perception of how we see the world. ,
so to say or reflecting the realities of society as well. Gaze refers to the way of looking at things
and when we talk about male gaze it refers to the viewing of female characters from the male
point of view. Indian cinema from ages is implying this phenomenon of male gaze which
portrayed women characters just as the object that satisfies the masculine socophilia and now in
21 century it needs to be exposed. Traditionally, in Indian cinema female characters is being
represented as the object of desire or inspiration of the hero or something which require the
rescue from the villain which destroys the individuality of female characters and confined them
to be dependant on the male. Invariably, showing the most female character as a home maker
or dependent on male counterparts for their survival. Nowadays , when we look through the
Indian cinema female characters are merely the object of sexual desire, the close ups on their
slender waist, perfectly shaped breasts, item numbers or vulgarity , nude scenes is somehow
limiting the view of the spectator just to their physical beauty. This objectification doesn’t only
shape our psyche however, it also conditions the way women perceive themselves to behave in
the society to be considered an ideal female. As laura Mulvey stated in her essay “ visual
pleasure and narratives” that females are bearer of meaning not the makers or they works like an
object to be looked at by the male character. There are numerous instances of Indian movies or
heroines who became the heart throbb just because of satisfying this male gaze for instance:
madhuri’s sensual performance of Dhak Dhak in yellow shree, Tripti Dimri’s nude scene in
Animal or Hema Malini’s epithet of Dream girl is indirectly divulging the pressure of male gaze
upon the heroines, if they wants to get recognition they need to satisfy the male audience
otherwise there talent is nor worth to bring them that recognition. Song Dream girl itself is just
praising just the physical beauty of a lady and dodging her individuality. These kind of song
infuse in the mind of a girl that they needs to be resplendent, pleasing to the male eyes otherwise
they will be unwanted. T.v serials depicting a feeble, timid, saccharine character of an ideal lady
who always sacrifice her own desires, dreams and invariably suffers in the hands of the society
with great stoicism is somehow solidifying the norms of the patriarchy and affects a lady’s
thinking that how they are perceived to behave in the certain situation to be considered as an
ideal female and if they refuse to follow the predetermined roles they will have to face the
hardships for their so called reprehensible attitude. Such kinds of representation of women
characters , too much screen time on their bodies or destroying their individuality is being
repeated frequently that it got normalized and we never feel concerned about their outcomes and
believed them to be true role a women yet it is a fallacy. Male gaze is not just prevalent in
cinema from ages it is being practiced even in art or literature. If we look back in renaissance ,
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of Mona Lisa is also the product of male gaze that reduced a
women’s role just to be an alluring picture who appeal to the male eyes. Then blazon poetry
profoundly praising the physical beauty of a lady is also the production of .ale gaze . Male Gaze
is not just limited to canvas or written words however it pervades in the other forms of
entertainmentsike advertisements, movies, songs etc. These kinds of representation is not just
shaping our perceptions , but in reality they are demonstrating the psyche of patriarchal society
which constitutes women as an object or something that should be beautiful. Celluloids which
doesn’t satisfies this male gaze or doesn’t portray any vulgarity flopped on the box office which
refers to an alarming state that where is society embarking. Women’s objectification creates an
imbalance between male and female which somehow powers the male. It invariably place male
as superior to female in every sphere by attributing female being emotional, dependent or
beautiful which slake male ego and on the other hand male being powerful, independent, rational
and the one who enjoy female’s beauty. Most of the scenes just designed targeting the male
audience. The depiction of women is centred around male’s point of view in which women just
have to stand aside in the Frame and it is the male who holds the power and women has nothing
to perform just needs to look pretty and appealing to the male audience. This manifestation of
male gaze is not just limited to Bollywood however ,in the advertisement ta we commonly
witnessed these sexualised depiction of women as an object , for instance in the imperial blue
print add of Indian whisky, male is showed glancing at a woman while helping a senior citizen ,
in another add of this brand a male patient’s hear beat increased when a nurse examined his
pulse showed while having the tagline “ men will be men” which is normalizing the staring o
females at female bodies and reduced the importance of female to just their bodily appearance
which is solidifying the sexist representation of women. So in these kinds of advertisements
women are being constantly portrayed just an object to be looked at by the male counterparts . In
this Research paper The exposition of Male Gaze in Indian cinema doesn’t attempt to denegrate
male however it tries to expose the way that Subvert women’s place in the society and enlarge
the difference between male and female . It recognizes that how male gaze works and its impact
on the Sustainable development by perpetuating gender inequality or the possibility of
transformation and change that requires our collective awareness and endeavours. For this
purpose in the coming pages we will be analysing indian movies, advertisements, serials
proclaiming male Gaze for the sake of publicity and how importantly they are subverting the
women and contributing to the gender discrimination or turning out to be the most common, yet
unnoticed barrier in the path of Sustainability.

Visual Language of Oppression : Nina Menkes is a first generation feminist filmmakers, who
studied throughly this phenomenon of male gaze and how visual representation nourished tis
deteriment sterotypes associated with the gender discrimination in her essay Visual Language of
Oppression : Harvey wasn’t working in vacuum.. This essay talks about the relationship between
the visual culture and the assault or harrasment imposed upon the females. she provided the
readers with six main points that can be applied to study throughly the difference between the
ways of male portrayal and female portrayal in movies. How women’s depiction is totally varies
from the heroes. This six points translated as The Menkes list. This list includes , The male point
of view: female as an object : fragmented body : camera movements : pans and tilts : Two
dimensional and other fantasy lighting : disconnected from the narrative space : slow motion
camera speed. By applying these six methods we can identify the partial ways through which
women get characterized in the movies . women’s portrayal as an object through the lens of
male gaze is something to be dealt with cautiously. Female character’s engagement in trivial
activities like conspiracies, fight over petty things decrease their value as an individual. With the
period of time the modes of Oppression got changed , visual objectification is just another way
of oppressing the community of female by stuffing their mind with inconsequential things. These
representations doesn’t let the female to think beyond their bodies, physical attractiveness. Their
whole life revolves around being concerned about their looks, or another trivial things. Male
Gaze is another mode of repressing the females visually. Camera closs ups on female
character’s face then moves towards their lower body and this is how a female characters get
introduced in the film. Before getting to know anything about them, their beauty get highlighted
only. Even in the f8ghting scenes, women’s body is focused , she wears tight jeans and has long
hair that also flow down as she fights along with her Male companion. Social media is another
prevailing instance of male gaze, female consumers for getting followers , Post photos In
revealing clothes and perform vulgar dance just to get the attraction. It has been found that as
compared to me. Women are more concerned about their bodily attraction and females post more
photos on social media than males. The increasing cases of depression, anxiety, body shaming,
Sucidal attempts among young girls and women are the ramifications of these objectification of
female. Being exposed to impeccable curvy bodies of female characters on screen, women feels
dissatisfied with their own selves. Media plays an important role in shaping our view about our
roles and these representations reinforces the traditional gender norms of the society that foster
the disparity between male and female. This constant exposure can have lasting impact on the
psyche of females regarding their own self and also it can lead to a kind of culture in which
women is judged on the basis of their appearance rather than their calibre or accomplishments.
This incessant demonstration of male gaze effects negatively the self worth , self esteem and self
confidence of women and disempower them mentally. The problem with this visual oppression
than it ingrained in the psyche of male that they are in the power and they can control the women
as they are an active agent of society. From the ages, being exposed to this male gaze in
everywhere around us females also begins normalizing their passivity. Catcalls, eve teasing and
sexual harrasment also got normalized by the both gender empowering the male. Parents too
started restraining the girls and this normalizing widens the gap between male and female all the
more.
Male Gaze : Gender Equality refers to a state in which both genders are equal and nobody is
harassing g or subverting the value of the other and in order to achieve this Equality we needs to
work upon the psyche of people. Cinema plays indispensable role in the lives of people as mean
if entertainment as well as in conditioning their perceptions and when Cinema itself is denying
the value of female it is implausible to uplift the role of women in society. Male Gaze as the
name suggests is referring to the way a male looked at things and here things is referring to the
women. In every sphere of cinema even it is Bollywood movies, serials or advertisements
women is always represented on the se contrary position to the male character. Laura Mulvey in
her influential essay “ visual pleasures and narrative” talks about the three kind of male gazes in
which first gaze refers to the Director , second refers to the Male characters and this refers to the
male audience. For male viewers, female is just an eye candy from which they can get pleasure.
Her role is just to look pretty on camera to get the attention of male audience or me characters.
There is enormous difference between the depiction of male and female . Male on the other side
depicted objectively, or camera focuses upon their human traits like doing charity or hard
working however females on the other hand no matter what they are doing the focus is always on
their perfectly shaped body, on their beauty that elucidate visually the importance of their
appearance that can attract the hero.
Let us take the example of Bollywood movie Sajaan , there is a scene in which Madhuri got
attacked by some hooligans and Sanjay dutt due to his limp incapable of rescuing her , there is a
statement by the policeman that how he will protect this girl when he can’t even stand on his leg
by himself saying that a women needs to be protected by the male . She can’t protect herself and
in every step of her life she needs the support of a strong man. Demonstrating the contention of
patriarchal society that woman is pathetic, feeble she is not capable of her own protection and
she is safe I. The sway of a man is the fundamental touchstone of male gaze which ignores the
individuality of a female and portrayed her as inferior to man. Similarly, In Indian serial
Anupama , when kavya and Dimpi , bear the abusive behaviour of Vanraj just because they need
financial support for the upbringing of their children. When educated women like them being
portrayed as dependent on an abusive male is being shown in every home this will never help in
reducing this imbalance between both. In both scenes male is on superior place who work like a
shell for a woman ti protect her from every adversities. How does this kind of representations
make the girl realize their self worth or importance of their efficiency rather than their bodily
attraction? Thus us how male gaze works and remained unnoticed because of their repetitive
depiction. Mulvey’s theory of male gaze unveils the dominance of males in the film industry
which helps us to delve more deeply to apprehend how gender inequality is an ardous situation
that needs to be fixed. Women’s presence in movies is so much significant that , the success of
movies depends upon the number of sexual scenes played by them. Like, web series on OTT
platform are the newly invented ways of entertainment that most importantly get success not
because of their storyline however by the number of nude scene they exhibits. . . Most of the
web series displays highly erotic scenes that became the cause of their publicity which reducing
a females a value just to be a sex object that satisfies the craving s of a male viewer.
One of the other significant area where male gaze prevails is the field of advertising.
Advertisements shapes our perceptions, desires and Even in the advertisement of male products ,
they frequently depicted a women as a commodity to attract the male customers for instance in
the advertisement of a male undergarments, or male perfume , face wash there is no need of a
women to be displayed. But all these advertisements portrays the character of a female as an
attraction for the males like in the advertisement of lux undergarments women get attracted , or
by using facewash female can easily be pleased so these advertisements are showing a female as
a things to be attracted the males. Why to use the female in all these male products
advertisements? The pervasiveness of Male Gaze tend to diminish the worth of female by
portraying them mere attractions for the males , they never get the opportunity they deserve to
show their talent in the plot there main purpose is just to feed the male gaze. These visualisation
of male centered advertisements are not just nourishing the dogmatic believes of the patriarchy
regarding women’s worth but also affects the mental state of both male and female profoundly.
Indian cinema is highly Influenced by male gaze and as long as movies are directed from the
male point of view , females have to suffer for their survival. In this allignment , we can take the
example of recently trended as Nation Crush Tripti Dimri for her intensely erotic scene in
Animal movie which is highly violent, wicked and misogynistic movies. It shown the female
characters in a very poignant situation whether is about the scene in which Tripti Dimri was
asked by Ranbir Kapoor to Lick her shoe and on the other hand just to vent out his vehemence
Bobby Deol raped his wife. While these kind of Misogynistic movies got blockbuster on Box
Office , we can assume how ardous is to improve the situation of women in our society. Tripti
Dimri despite of her commendable performance in movies with Amazing storyline without any
Vulgarity like Bulbul, Qala, and Laila Majnu she didn’t get that recognition that she deserved
however after indulging herself In an intimate scene she suddenly became the national crush.
This compell us to contemplate on the Tragedy of female heroines that they have to perform
intimate scenes on screen if they want themselves to be successful. These intimate scenes are not
the requirement fro plot development rather it is used only to satisfy the male audience. Too long
sex scenes in movies or web series doesn’t tend to focus upon females’ feeling but to just
emphasized upon their erotic moves for the sake of male . Their talent doesn’t matter untill they
perform sensual scenes to quench the thrust of male audience. It becomes necessary for there
survival in industry as females and when these things takes place in the cinematic field , the
situation of a common female can be imagined . Revelation of male gaze in movies are just the
reflection of what the society is going through in reality and when in the 21 century a women is
judged on the basis of her body, sexual scenes she performs and portrayed passively gender
equality seems as a dream to be achieved. In an interview , when it was asked to Bobby Deol
regarding the highly violent , disturbing , misogynist scenes of the movies he indignantly
answered : “ we are influenced by what is happening the society as filmmakers. What is written
as a story, is the influence of what is happening in the society. It exists in our society. We are not
promoting it”. This statement is something to be paid attention on to ameliorate the
circumstances of women and to provide her that platform which values her worth irrespective of
her body. To elevate their profits , filmmakers shows the audience what they want and by
analysing such films getting hit , we can assume the traumatic situation of society and how
difficult it is to achieve Sustainability without extracting male gaze from our psyche.

Consequences of Male Gaze and How can we Tackle this: Turning women’s bodies into
objects is to favour the violence and sexual harassment against them. The best way to torture
anybody is to dehumanize them and this is what happening with the women. These multimedia
representation have been manipulating the roles of women in society and devaluing them as an
individual. This growing menance of male gaze in the Cinematic field is expanding the void
between genders and making it implausible to change. This male gaze turns the things even
worse for other racially, financially marginalised women all the more. These women are doubly
marginalised and they have to bear the consequences of Male even more than the higher class
women. They are more exploited by the males and also remain silenced about it because of the
impact male gaze had upon them. Showing males as powerful on screen makes the young boys
think that they needs to be invulnerable and strong to confirm the norms of the society. Males
featuring as exploiting, harassing women. It impacts the women psyche by making them believe
that they are vulnerable, fragile and have to be in the company of male for their survival. The
increasing numbers of sexual scenes in movies tell us that sexuality is the most important aspect
of the life and to have a healthy sexual life you need to be beautiful and have a perfectly thin
body. This leads the young girls and women to eating disorders and less self confidence. They
starve to be perfectly thin at the risk of their life. Love is free from the beauty standards however
when in movies like kuch Kuch Hota Hai featuring Shahrukh, kajol and Rani Mukherjee
attached the love with the Feminine beauty standards. Shahrukh fall in love with the flamboyant
appearance of Rani Mukherjee and Completely avoid the unattractive kajol. Ludicrously, the act
of Linking love with beauty of a female can have profound effect upon the mentality of young
girls. Movies like this constraints women to their bodily appearance and force them to doubt
their own self like some object as if without meeting to the beauty standards they are useless of
anything or nobody will fall in love with them. In this respect, male gaze’s influence upon media
fosters the gender sterotypes and Waters the patriarchal values which look down on women.
Domestic violence, restrictions upon females, sexual harassment, eve teasing are some common
problems that every women has to face in their life and by the impact of media representations
when a women doesn’t realize her own worth and accept the culturally assigned roles this
become even more serious. In item numbers showing a women surrounded by the numbers of
males getting entertained by her dance or sexual moves place women as an entertaining device to
the males. This depiction of female diminishes her value and exempt her from any significance
by placing her as a toy to entrain the males. Males represented as a powerful or active agents
and on the other hand females are represented just as supplement to the male which is apparently
demonstrating the outdated ideas of patriarchy in which women has no significance than just
being a helper to the male. Deeply inflicted by the movies women tend yo believe that they are
the natural servers to the male physically, mentally and this role is assigned to them by nature
which is an obscure ideal got concreted deep in their nature. They endure the domination of
their male counterparts without any resistance because it has been showed to them from ages on
screens. They have been brainwashed by these representations of ideal lady who follow her
husband without marking any question to him. They accept these traditional roles which forms
a culture where women and men are not equal. A culture where women are expected to perform
their culturally assigned duties passively or stay silent against the sway of men. Presumably, it
is believed by all of us that these movies, advertisements doesn’t have any impact upon us
however we never observe how exceedingly they affects our perceptions . These conservative
depictions can have far reaching consequences upon not just male’s perception for female but
females perception of themselves also. For the formation of a sustained society proliferation of
male centric content and upliftment of women becomes essential .
Male gaze is a very complex phenomenon which not only affects the women but it also affects
the males. Males representation as a strong, dominating character can have profound impact
upon male’s psyche. . That is why the mostly men died of heart attack that is the result of
keeping their emotions to themselves only because from ages they have been showed
emotionally strong male as an ideal male. They are expected to be emotionally strong, embrace
the objectification of women that effects them negatively. It increases the pressure upon them to
be an ideal male they have to suppress their real self. Male gaze also destroy their vulnerability,
emotions , empathy, compassion as a human being . As every time in movies it bas been said
men don’t cry which is explicitly restraining them from their expression of emption. Rigid
depiction of male and female as per the traditional role forces them to be fit in . This is just like
cinema has created two frames for both the genders and it is anticipated from them to fit in their
frame and if not they have to face the odd circumstances. ow, this is a very complex problem
however not invincible . By applying various methods it can be solved and there is still hope for
change.
To create an equitable society which embraces the individual for who they are not how they
confirm to the sterotypes we have to call out the harmful effects of this male gaze . To empower
women it requires them to realize their worth and feel confidencce in their perfectly different
bodies , , proud of themselves. To bring this change the best way is to show their own potential
by presenting them as power equivalent to men not just sex objects or as a dependent being.
Movies like Raazi, Pink Mardaani employing female gaze and having a female lead should be
promoted who broke the traditional image of a tender, submissive female. Female gaze is an
influential concept introduced by French Journalist Iris Brey in her Revolutionary book The
Female Gaze : a Revolution on the screen. Now female gaze doesn’t refer to the objectification
of Male by taking close ups on their chest, Abs or other body parts rather it is a way to present
the movie through female perspective. It is the more justified way to show every aspect of
human life , it is more intense, emotional even the filming of sexual scenes doesn’t make it erotic
rather a kind of physical companionship .
Conclusion : To Sum Up, we can say Embracing the positive masculinity in the movies is
another way towards an equitable society. Character of helpful , respectful , vulnerable Male
should be shown in the movies which make them realize that it okay to be.vulnerablle. Males
also should join hands in this fights against male gaze. . By Educating the youth regarding the
dangerous effects of this objectification and making them aware of the mercenary purposes of
advertising agenst,or directors behind there male centric representation of women by Introducing
media literacy programs we can bring a change for women. This education can make them in
developing critical thinking skills which will help them to be more vigilant and capable of
deconstructing and analyzing deeply the movies, advertisements they consume it can turn them
into astute or discerning consumers. They can choose the better content to consume for a better
society. More inclusive approach should be applied in the movies to represent the genders . the
new social media platforms like you tube, Instagram provides everyone with unprecedented
equal opportunities to connect with the world and share their stories. Anyone with the help of
internet can connect with world . Movements like # Me Too should be promoted to display the
collective women power to the world against the sexual harrasment. We have to keep in mind
that future is not predetermined that to depend upon our collective actions and endeavours. By
providing everyone the equal number of opportunities and value everyone’s stories we can
challenge the male gaze. By challenging it we can create a society where male and female are
equivalent to each other . No one is superior or inferior , rather both are equally important for the
running of a society. Female directors, heroines and female crew members should be encouraged.
This is the high time to identify the factors of male gaze that inadvertently affecting our
subconscious and solidifying this gender discrimination and we all have to work collectively
towards the formation of an egalitarian society or cinema in which women should not be
identified from her beauty but from her diverse individuality. Will this Male gaze end? Or will
we get the society in which people will not be judged from their gender or in which we will not
have predetermined roles to play? Are there only two gazes limited to just male and female or are
there more? Will the women of colour get th3 chance to speak and fight against the fetishization
upheld by white man? Will the lower caste women get there deserved place and society?
Although women are now speaking for their rights. Movies led the female protagonist are hitting
the box office well but still there is a long way to go in term of empowering the women and to
achieve Sustainable society regardless of any kind of discrimination.

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