Screening the Experiences of Indian Older Woman: A Study of Five Hindi Short Films (original) (raw)

In recent two decades, short film has emerged as a powerful medium for representing gerontological issues. In short films, short time and a sincere focus on a single issue combine with the audiovisual effect, and they together try to create a representation, highly impactful. In India, films like Kheer, The End, Rishton Ka Bojh, Purana Pyaar, and Teaspoon feature the lives of elder men in India. Pinni, Aaji, Maa Nahi Bhoolti, Dadi, and Nano So Phobia are short films that chiefly explore the experiences of Indian older women. Pinni is the story of Sudha, a middle-class lonely Panjabi woman who has just entered third age and feels neglected by his family. Nano So Phobia is a short film about a Parsi older woman who lives alone in her apartment. Her married daughter lives in Boston and calls her occasionally for very brief talks. The older woman suffers from the fear of little people or midgets (in psychology, the condition is called nonosophobia). Aaji is about an older maid who is the sole bread-earner of her family. Due to physical aging, she fails to do her job properly and fast. Her employer plans to fire her and hire a new younger maid. Maa Nahi Bhoolti tells the story of a woman in fourth age. Her son admits her to an old age home with an assurance that he will keep visiting her. While the son “abandons” his mother, the mother keeps remembering the pleasant memories she shares with her son. Dadi is the story of a grandmother. “Dadi” is Hindi word for “grandmother.” The old woman’s son comes home with medicines for her and samosas for the rest of the family. Dadi desires to taste the delicious samosas. Her son scolds her for showing interest in samosas citing her health condition. The present chapter is chiefly about representations of female aging in Pinni, Nano So Phobia, Aaji, Maa Nahi Bhoolti, and Dadi. This chapter has two purposes: (i) to explore short film as a genre of social change and (ii) to critically study five Hindi short films in order to contemplate the various problems and issues faced by Indian older women. Unlike Hindi feature length films which have mostly stereotyped or caricatured elders, the five Hindi short films aim at enlightening viewers with the fact that there can be diverse manifestations of female aging. Also, in these short films, the excessive medium, wherein the style exceeds the function of thematic interpretation and rather impacts the very materiality of the screen performance, and authentic slices of life collaborate to make possible bold (and many times, subversive) representations of the continued sociocultural marginalization of Indian older females.