Independence Day Special: Forgotten 'Heroes'; Women Freedom Fighters Get Close To No Screen Space

Our history books, which sparingly chronicled the struggle for freedom led by Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, rarely reserved any room for the women.

A man's image is glorified while the female is devalued in warfare films.

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New Delhi: Name a few people who fought for independence. At the very least, you could have counted five of them on your fingertips. I can also tell with certainty that they are all male freedom fighters. In that brief list of notable bravehearts, perhaps a few people would have thought of including Rani Laxmibai. Well, it's possible that it's not totally your fault that the majority of the people on your list are men. Our history books, which sparingly chronicled the struggle for freedom led by Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, rarely reserved any room for the women who played an indispensable part in the war of independence. In light of this, historical figures like Begum Hazrat Mahal and Aruna Asaf Ali remain to exist in shadows.

In a similar vein, whether it is regional or mainstream cinema, our films have largely taken inspiration from these historical events to craft cinematic masterpieces about the struggle for liberation that feature only men in the forefront. The absence of women who played major roles and made valuable contributions to the movement becomes glaringly noticeable in Hindi films about patriotism, whether they are war films or historical tales about freedom fighters. 

A man's image is glorified while the female is devalued in warfare films. Women typically only make an appearance in patriotic biopics as mothers, spouses, or minor supporting characters who play minimally relevant roles. Even in fictional films about the quest for independence, women are only given a few episodic parts or perhaps a dance sequence. It is alarming that when there is no space for dispute regarding the facts, makers fall back on the stereotype that only men wield the sword or are the ones who come up with the strategies.

Flipping through the pages of history and making the effort to identify the women who dedicated their lives to their country is an uphill task for the film industry, which has only just begun to acknowledge the contribution of today's women achievers and bring their stories to the screen. However, it's probable that this endeavour won't be particularly hard. Meghna Gulzar found the heroic tale of Sehmat Khan, an Indian spy in the 1970s, and turned it into the fantastic movie 'Raazi'.

We do have some accounts of the fight for freedom in which women were the heroes, even though their number was not equal to that of men. It took Bollywood decades to even consider crafting a movie on Rani Laxmi Bai, a woman whose bravery-filled tales influenced history. It wasn't until 2019 that the prominent figure associated with India's freedom movement was the focus of a full-fledged Hindi feature film. 

The predominant male narrative constantly seems to underestimate the contributions of women. We are also eliminating any traces of realistic role models for women to aspire to as an outcome of this approach, which diminishes their accomplishments. n fact, Rang De Basanti (2006) is the only film that explores the complete abilities of this underappreciated freedom fighter, in which Soha Ali Khan is rightfully portrayed as an equal among men. The majority of violence depicted in war films is indiscriminate rape, and women are typically represented in this genre as powerless victims. Even though that has been documented to occur in the past, is there just one way to depict a woman's role? 

Films like 'Neerja', 'Mary Kom', 'Gunjan Saxena', 'Naam Shabana', 'Sherni', and many others have challenged the stigma that female characters can only appear in supporting parts. Both audiences and critics have given glowing reviews to these popular films, showing their economic viability. The time is now to go into the past and unearth the tales of the true unsung heroes.