Objectification Of Women in Bollywood Songs

Objectification of women in Bollywood songs is not an ancient concept. It has not only existed since we can remember, but it is surprising how it has been accepted by us. Until this time, even I could not pinpoint what was wrong with these songs because I have been listening to them since childhood and have become immune to them. Bollywood has played an integral part in building our image of women, yet limiting it to, in most cases, an “intem/cheez/maal,” which men use as their source of entertainment. In most songs, like “Fevicol Sae,” which has around two fifty million views on youtube, lyrics such as “…Main to tandoori murgi hu yaar, Gatka le saiyyan alcohol se..” sexualizes women by limiting them to being” sexy” that man can “sexually desire/eat” reflecting that women are objectified through being excessively preoccupied with their appearance. Martha Nussbaum (1995, 257) has identified seven features involved in treating a person as an object. In this case, one that fits perfectly is an instrumentality, which is “the treatment of a person as a tool for the objectifier’s purposes.” And many Bollywood songs reflect this by limiting women to sexual beings whose only purpose is to be desired by men.

The following blog from Instagram reiterates this concept. The caption is: How conveniently we use these terms to define a woman in a song, which actually are derogatory and humiliating when said in reality. What’s more on the list? #SheThePeople.