Dil Dhadakne Do: Promoting Gender Equality
- Leena Mustafa 25020392
- Nov 30, 2022
- 2 min read
In a film industry accustomed to producing stereotypical content portraying gender norms, we get relief when we see scenes like the one in "Dil Dhadakne Do," which is an effort to advocate for gender equality. In one of the scenes from the movie, there is a casual conversation between Ayesha Mehra's (Priyanka Chopra) husband and Farhan Akhtar, a journalist. In the middle of the conversation, Ayesha's husband casually points out how he has checked all the boxes of being a woke husband who, unlike his forefathers, has "allowed" his wife to pursue her business as her career.
To this, Farhan Akhtar snaps at him and makes it clear that Ayesha's husband does not have the authority to give his wife permission to achieve her dreams. She has free will if she wants to invest in building her career as a successful businesswoman. The idea of allowing his wife is similar to him placing himself at an authoritative rank on a higher pedestal, which is problematic.
Farhan Akhtar was not among the main characters in the movie. Still, the power of his words gave his character perhaps the greatest significance in the film, which made this impactful clip popular among advocates for women's empowerment and emancipation.
The message of the film is something Farhan strongly believes in because of which he was keen to be part of the film," said Farhan's spokesperson in a statement. (Ians, 2015)
An empowering character like Ayesha's held great power in the film, thus representing a woman's ability to reach greater heights within herself. However, although Ayesha is a very successful businesswoman, her family constantly tells her that she has no value except as a wife and mother despite being very accomplished at her job. Unfortunately, she gets suppressed under pressure and faces difficulty standing up for herself. Ayesha's character should have been shown full vigor and determination to fight for her rights in front of her parents.
Link to the video clip: https://youtu.be/zsn2vuO8x-Y
I agree with the idea that Ayesha does not have to get Manav's "permission" to be able to do anything that she wants to, and that the statement itself, infantilizes Ayesha since she is a mature woman very much capable of making her own decisions. It also highlights how men like Manav are able to pat themselves on the back for doing the bare minimum, resting comfortably with the notion that they are good husbands, who are unlike "other" conservative and narrow-minded men. I will disagree, however, with the idea that that makes Farhan Akhtar's character better. I think by placing him on a pedestal for stating what we all know to be true, falls into the same pattern of…
The scene was powerful in a sense that it uncovered the ugly patriarchal practises in South Asia. The film questioned the notion that the ultimate aim of women were to bear and raise children. Their education and inclusion in business practises was highly shunned upon. In the movie, even though Ayesha planned the whole cruise trip for her parents wedding anniversary, she was unsuccessful in getting her name on the guest invitation just because her father thought that this would lead his guests to think that Ayesha's husband Manav helped him pay for the cruise trip. This scene resounds the fact that Ayesha's contributions were discredited by her father just because she was married and her identity as an accomplished…
Ayesha's character is undeniably strong in this scene, and the fact that she was running her own business despite her unsupportive family adds to her strength. Her husband said he was allowing her to manage the business, but in reality he was resentful of her; he always wanted her to be a typical housewife who could bear him children and help with domestic chores. The most disturbing aspect of this film was that, although being shown as a very successful businesswoman, her father did not view her as competent enough for his own firm and did not want her to be a part of it. She subsequently began her own business from the ground up, and her success rate surpassed…
Dill dadhakne do is a perfect balance of entertainment and empowering story. This scene at particular raises an important point. It could have been possible to end the scene at Ayesha's husband allowing her to run a business and the audience might have taken it as a positive thing and praise his husband. However, it raised an important but very subtle issue where spouses have to take permission from their male partner to follow their passions or career. There has been a need to raise such questions in our society , who is giving men the authority to control their female partners life? Why do they think they have inherited this right? The film was directed by Zoya Akhta…
I love this movie because at the end, Ayesha’s father finally realises her true potential. The movie stems around the idea of how women cannot get divorced and despite the fact that Ayesha was unhappy in her marriage, her mother refused even consider the option for divorce when she was in conversation with her daughter. Other than Farhan Akhtar, Ranveer Singh who was Priyanka Chopras brother in the movie, also stands up for her. He tells his dad how Ayesha deserves his business far more than he did. Agreeing with Myras point about how Ayesha didn’t suppress under pressure because at the end she got what she wanted.