Just watched this film and really enjoyed it. I don't have much knowledge of the traditional Hindu culture or its fashion/modelling/pageant. This documentary depicts two very contrasting and opposing worlds existing for the women in the Indian society of today:
1. There is the world of the nationalist and Hindu extremists. They run fundamentalist schools in which they teach the young women that Hinduism is the only way and that they should do (even kill) to defend their values against the evil enemy, notably Christians and Muslims. They take girls between 15-25 years of age, when they are most easily influenced by this sort of brainwashing. According to the teaching of these schools, women have a "duty" to marry and reproduce, they should not attend regular schools (except for learning to read and write) but they should know how to use a gun to fight for their religion. These schools are often called "terrorist schools" for their support of violence. Their students take pride in having no Muslim friends. The girl who was interviewed along with her family as the one representing this group of women, admitted that she likes being scared of, and that if she had the authority she would have very much liked to be able to physically hit the girls in her group (she was now a group leader). When you hear the fact that her father has been hitting her "a lot", you can imagine where all that anger comes from... The same anger that would eventually be ventilated as violence towards the "evil" ones, the ones opposing their Hindu "values". As these women are not allowed outside the home much, this may be an outlet for their frustrations, boredom and/or anger.
2. On the other hand, you see a totally different group of women, who, in my opinion, are also victims of a sexist society. According to the film, there aren't many opportunities for most women to gain independence and have a career, and beauty business is one of the few available. Many Indian girls aspire to become models, Bollywood actresses and ultimately Miss India. The problem lies not in what they want, but in the way in which these are achieved: They would have to shed the sari and many traditional values and even their own comfort level. They often have to receive Botox treatments to look "perfect", and this is done by actually measuring their facial features to the tenth of cm. Excuse me, but isn't that an insult to one's natural beauty? Doesn't it mean that if you remained yourself, you probably wouldn't stand a chance of ever competing there? Who's winning the crown? The Botox treatment of the girls themselves? And perfect according to whom? What's the standard? Are these people out of their minds? Can't they see that this sort of criteria and propaganda is putting enormous pressure on most average Indian girls and even flattens the self-esteem of the pageants themselves? Their legs were so skinny and shapeless I wanted to puke. What's this sort of pageant trying to achieve? Are there any intellectual criteria in this, like whether she has attended university or not? Like if she can speak up for herself, etc.? No. It's purely physical. These girls have a lot of physical and emotional stress during a whole month of beauty boot camp, only to learn that a woman is most valued by her looks and not even her natural looks, but what other people want from her. She is valued if she has an unnaturally skinny body. As an Indian woman, she learns that she doesn't need education or a career other than doesn't use her external beauty. (I believe that the film doesn't portray the atrocities of the pageant world enough... or is it intentional? I doubt that they are trying to glorify this, although it's shown under a more positive light than the so-called terrorist camps!)
In short, both groups are slaves to their sex and to the abuse of the society. Very saddening.
I'm sure that there must be women in India who are not necessarily part of either group, who have careers that need training and education and have nothing to do with their gender, who take pride in their Indian ancestry and at the same time do not give in to any fundamentalist thinking, who are striving to build a better world, where women are respected and elevated in status, by their many many many abilities rather than by the size of their legs and breasts!
1. There is the world of the nationalist and Hindu extremists. They run fundamentalist schools in which they teach the young women that Hinduism is the only way and that they should do (even kill) to defend their values against the evil enemy, notably Christians and Muslims. They take girls between 15-25 years of age, when they are most easily influenced by this sort of brainwashing. According to the teaching of these schools, women have a "duty" to marry and reproduce, they should not attend regular schools (except for learning to read and write) but they should know how to use a gun to fight for their religion. These schools are often called "terrorist schools" for their support of violence. Their students take pride in having no Muslim friends. The girl who was interviewed along with her family as the one representing this group of women, admitted that she likes being scared of, and that if she had the authority she would have very much liked to be able to physically hit the girls in her group (she was now a group leader). When you hear the fact that her father has been hitting her "a lot", you can imagine where all that anger comes from... The same anger that would eventually be ventilated as violence towards the "evil" ones, the ones opposing their Hindu "values". As these women are not allowed outside the home much, this may be an outlet for their frustrations, boredom and/or anger.
2. On the other hand, you see a totally different group of women, who, in my opinion, are also victims of a sexist society. According to the film, there aren't many opportunities for most women to gain independence and have a career, and beauty business is one of the few available. Many Indian girls aspire to become models, Bollywood actresses and ultimately Miss India. The problem lies not in what they want, but in the way in which these are achieved: They would have to shed the sari and many traditional values and even their own comfort level. They often have to receive Botox treatments to look "perfect", and this is done by actually measuring their facial features to the tenth of cm. Excuse me, but isn't that an insult to one's natural beauty? Doesn't it mean that if you remained yourself, you probably wouldn't stand a chance of ever competing there? Who's winning the crown? The Botox treatment of the girls themselves? And perfect according to whom? What's the standard? Are these people out of their minds? Can't they see that this sort of criteria and propaganda is putting enormous pressure on most average Indian girls and even flattens the self-esteem of the pageants themselves? Their legs were so skinny and shapeless I wanted to puke. What's this sort of pageant trying to achieve? Are there any intellectual criteria in this, like whether she has attended university or not? Like if she can speak up for herself, etc.? No. It's purely physical. These girls have a lot of physical and emotional stress during a whole month of beauty boot camp, only to learn that a woman is most valued by her looks and not even her natural looks, but what other people want from her. She is valued if she has an unnaturally skinny body. As an Indian woman, she learns that she doesn't need education or a career other than doesn't use her external beauty. (I believe that the film doesn't portray the atrocities of the pageant world enough... or is it intentional? I doubt that they are trying to glorify this, although it's shown under a more positive light than the so-called terrorist camps!)
In short, both groups are slaves to their sex and to the abuse of the society. Very saddening.
I'm sure that there must be women in India who are not necessarily part of either group, who have careers that need training and education and have nothing to do with their gender, who take pride in their Indian ancestry and at the same time do not give in to any fundamentalist thinking, who are striving to build a better world, where women are respected and elevated in status, by their many many many abilities rather than by the size of their legs and breasts!
