Shabana Azmi speaks about womens position at Women Of Worth conclave

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…We all know that, the legendary actress Shabana Azmi is someone who minces no words when it comes to 'calling a spade a spade'. And this is something that has always set her apart from all others. Recently, the audience got a (yet another) gist of her upfront nature at the recently held 'Women Of Worth' conclave, wherein she was one of the panellists.

When told that the women have always been considered as 'devi' (goddess), she quickly retorted stating, "We do not consider ourselves as 'devi' at all. We just want to be treated equally. You please make a 'devi' out of someone else. By all means, you remain a 'devtaa', but, we (the women) do not wish to be 'devi' at all."

She also spoke her heart about the positioning of women in today's world. She said that, right from the time of Shammi Kapoor's films, whenever the girl said no, that was always considered to be a yes, which was not given that much of importance. But, during the present times, when there are talks about item numbers, she has her own reservations. Citing an apt example, she said, "When a topmost heroine sings the song 'Main Tandoori Murg Hoon, Mujhe Ghatka Le, Alcohol Ke Saath", there is nothing to laugh about. It's a very intense thing, that's she is inviting this thing. But, at the same time, the song has been penned by a human being, was composed by another human being and was presented by 8- 10 people. But, crores of people saw the song and crores of people liked the song and crores of people saw that their 6 year old were singing and dancing to the tunes of this song. The same is done is schools and weddings as well. Isn't that your responsibility?"

In the same breath, she added that, we just should not shrug off such stuff as 'only fun' as it was just not fun. She emphasised on the fact that one really had to take it seriously. She also added that, the thing that really bothered her a lot was the very thought as to why cannot the women celebrate their sensuality. She reasoned it stating while it was a good thing that the women should celebrate their sensuality, but, the fact remained that they (the women) were surrendering themselves to the male gaze and were commodifying and objectifying themselves.

She also intensified the above sentiments by stating, "It all depends upon the way the camera captures you and not because you have worn less clothes or more clothes. The camera has taken away the woman totally from her autonomy, and she (the woman) has absolutely no control over it."

Article written by staff at Bollywood Hungama. Read more