Women are displayed as passive receivers of the ordersof the male hegemon. Rajan argues that the Masculine identity we often find isa hetero-normative identity, which is frequently visible in the clichédboy-loves-girl story. The ‘hetero normativity’ thus defines the norm for Indiancinema, where the ‘man’ or the ‘hero’ remains the hegemonic power.1 This is similar toLollywood love stories and even films such as Bol. The linguistic change of thecinema from Urdu to Punjabi, introduced newer nuances of dance, sexuality inthe cinema, though still in the undertones.
That is the film did show some poweror the female having the power to decide for example in Aina, Rita choses tomarry the one who she loves even after her father has refused. We even see herfitting the police diverting attention from the sensitive, chooi mooi image ofa woman. Actors such as Sultan Rahi, worked on the hyper-masculine model, wherethe female had become an object of the male gaze.2 Changes in the filmindustry meant that Women were objectified as an object to fulfill masculinedesires, this can be linked to voyeurism where the female body is to gratifymasculine desires. This further be linked to Hollywood with movies such asVertigo and Psycho where the man completely aims to change the personalityaccording to his desires and the female depicted as passive.
The preference of Punjabi meant that close to twodecades later than the Feminist new wave, films with different genderrepresentations, rather different femininity representations, were beingproduced with movies such as ‘Aurat Raj’ represented a society where women werein charge. This can be considered one of the first films from Pakistani cinemawhere the women were shown in the place of hegemony. The Pakistani filmindustry couldn’t stay strong, leading to a decline and ‘shutdown’ period offifteen years.3The changes in femalerepresentations reflect the departure and the replacement of the real women:the chhooi- mooi girls of the past.4 That is diversion frompleasure narratives depicting the government attempts and the changing needs ofsociety.
