Bollywood Needs To Embrace Female Characters Who Enjoy Polyamory. Why Should Men Have All The Fun?

It's about time!

I recently watched the trailer for the upcoming movie Govinda Naam Mera. The film is about a man named Govinda played by Vicky Kaushal who has both, a wife (played by Bhumi Pednekar) and a girlfriend (played by Kiara Advani). What’s more, they’re both not only aware but alright with each other’s existence. Doesn’t that sound really familiar? Throughout the history of Bollywood, we have seen so many movies which have followed this general theme of polyamory and polygamy with various on-screen couples, where the men have multiple partners and somehow it’s all okay in the end.

Take your pick: Patni, Patni Aur Woh with Ananya Panday, Kartik Aaryan, and Bhumi Pednekar (and of course, the original version of the film starring Sanjeev Kumar); Kis Kis Ko Pyaar Karoon with Varun Sharma, Kapil Sharma, Elli Avrram, Simran Kaur Mundi, Sai Lokur; Sajan Chale Sasural with Govinda, Karisma Kapoor, and Tabu; Gharwali Baharwali with Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, and Rambha, Sandwich with Govinda, Raveena Tandon, and Mahima Chaudhry, and the list goes on. 

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But, can you think of a movie where the wife has an extramarital affair or practices polygamy, and at the end of the movie, everything just works out for the best like it did for the men in movies like Sandwich? I bet not. Doesn’t seem very fair, does it? Why is it okay for the husband to cheat? Why is it normalised or even considered a great, funny plot? But for the same to be done by the wife is so unthinkable that there isn’t even a movie on it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAGEW9LZP4A

Furthermore, even in movies where the woman does decide to try out polygamy or cheat on her partner, they end up with utter chaos in their lives where they get hurt, are shunned by society, seen as vamps and promiscuous characters who are bound to either get deserted by all their partners and end up alone or have to crawl back to their husbands and apologise. Why is this fair? Why can’t female characters have a ‘happy’ ending like Kis Kis Ko Pyaar Karu? 

In our society, a wife is supposed to be like ‘Sita’, always faithful to her husband, no matter the situation. So it wouldn’t be at all funny or even acceptable for the audience to like a character of an unfaithful wife. If there is a woman who is, in fact, cheating, then she will be the villain of the movie and something bad that befalls her would be considered justified because, hey, she was cheating, wasn’t she? But, isn’t it about time to change the narrative? Women deserve to have some control over the things that matter in their lives including their own pleasure like they did in Veere Di Wedding, don’t they? 

In the past, we have seen such plots, like in Biwi No. 1, where Karishma Kapoor asks Salman Khan if it would be alright for her to cheat as easily as he did. After this, he ends up slapping her because she is, of course, supposed to be the innocent wife, the mother of his kids, and the daughter-in-law of his mother, isn’t she? But has this mindset changed now? It is still unfathomable that a woman enjoys promiscuity without her character being questioned. She doesn’t deserve the easy nonchalance or the backslapping that men offer other men who get away with such behaviour. They are considered alpha males.

 

Also Read: The Era Of Ethical Non-Monogamy Is Here. But Are We Just Blindly Following A Fad?

These double standards need to be changed. Filmmakers need to be more aware of the ideas they are propagating. If they do make a movie on adultery with happy endings, then the scales should tip equally in both directions, shouldn’t they? After all, why should women choose to be hurt victims and why should men have all the fun?

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