There is no doubt that a majority of Hindi films were sexist or had certain elements of sexism in them until recently. Several films glorified stalking and harassment, wrote female roles which in no way contributed to the plot and included songs that were downright offensive to women.
Actor Dia Mirza recently opened up about the “rampant sexism” that existed in the film industry, reports Hindustan Times.
Her statements highlight how she experienced sexism not just in scripts but also while working with the crew. She even went on to call ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’, an extremely loved film, ‘sexist’.
“People were writing, thinking and making sexist cinema and I was a part of these stories. ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’ has sexism in it. I was acting with these people. I was working with these people. It’s crazy. I will give you small examples. A makeup artist could only be a man, could not be a woman. A hairdresser only had to be a woman. When I started working in films there were at best about four or five women on any given crew with a unit strength of over 120, sometimes 180 people.”
Dia Mirza adds how the writers, directors, actors, etc. who were mostly men weren’t even “conscious” of the sexism that was being projected on screen.
“We live in a patriarchal society and it is an industry largely led by men. So there is rampant sexism. And I think for a large part it is not even conscious sexism because there are so many men who are writers, who are directors, who are actors, who are not even aware of their sexist thinking.”
What do you think of her statements? Tell us.