Madhuri Dixit Took To Instagram To Celebrate The 19th Anniversary Of Lajja. Many Years Later, The Same Issues Continue To Plague Women

Madhuri Dixit Took To Instagram To Celebrate The 19th Anniversary Of Lajja. Many Years Later, The Same Issues Continue To Plague Women

It’s no secret that Bollywood is fueled by misogyny, chauvinism and the patriarchy. Even though things are much different today than they were 10 or 20 years ago, that is the foundation. Of course, we never realised this but all movies portrayed women as these docile and helpless characters who needed to be saved and supported by the men. The heroes were treated like kings while actresses were considered replaceable and forced to bend over backwards to meet outrageous demands. It was a testosterone-fuelled environment and the movies that were produced back then were a reflection of that. 

However, in the midst of all those misogynistic movies that glorified the manchild and horrid behaviour was a movie called Lajja. Released in 2001, Lajja was an incredible movie that correctly portrayed the plight of the women living in our society. And did I mention that the central cast was all female? Oh yeah, it starred Manisha Koirala, Mahima Choudhary, Rekha and of course, Madhuri Dixit. 

The reason I am suddenly talking about the movie Lajja is that it completed 19 years today. And that is shocking since even now, we don’t have very many movies that represent women in the way that this movie did. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEj1RRGF934/

To celebrate Lajja’s 19th anniversary, Madhuri took to her social media to post a mashup video of fans dancing to the infamous song from the movie- Badi Mushkil. She captioned the post, “I really enjoy seeing the artworks & videos that you guys keep sharing with me. So today, I’m celebrating #19YearsOfLajja with a mashup of your videos on one of my favourite songs #BadiMushkil. Working on #Lajja was such a delight, with a wonderful team & a great storyline”.

I think it’s time to watch the movie again!

Aso Read: Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa Completed 26 Years And It Schools People About The Concept Of Friendzone

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEiugBiBzvJ/

The story goes- Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala) is living with her abusive husband Raghu (Jackie Shroff). When she finally decides to take a stand for herself, she is thrown out of the house and she is forced to go back to her parent’s house. Her parents refuse to take her in as well and she later finds out that she is pregnant. Throughout Vaidehi’s journey of trying to get away from Raghu, she meets some amazing women who help and support her. From Maithali (Mahima Choudhary), a bride-to-be whose family is being harassed for a dowry to Janki (Madhuri Dixit), a pregnant actress who does not care about societal norms. And of course, there is Rekha who plays the role of Ramdulaari, a midwife bravely opposes the village leaders who exploit innocent women, young and old. She helps Vaidehi deliver her baby and also aids her escape from the village. 

Although the ending is a happy one, it’s the journey that these women share that creates the essence of the movie. While all the movies around this time focused on stories that glorified and justified the bad behaviour of men, Lajja, bravely called it out. The women characters in the movie form a support system and help each other out. We don’t see movies like this enough. It touches upon topics like domestic abuse, rape, dowry and exploitation of women. Of course, it is a hard-hitting movie but it’s special because it dared to call out all the rubbish that men, in real life, usually get away with. And they did it so well!  

I think this was one of the first movies that correctly portrayed what it meant to be a woman with options and a spine in society. It was really way beyond its time.  Three women all in the central roles, supporting each other and fighting their oppressors. It was a brilliant movie!

We really need to see more movies like Lajja.

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Mitali Shah

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