In South Asian culture, boys are revered; patriarchy rules. My mother was widowed at a young age, and I saw her struggle daily. With bravery, tenacity and strength, she brought up her boys to be allies and understand what it’s like for women.
The influence of the patriarchy is a huge cultural issue. For example, when a boy is born, people hand out sweets - when a girl is born, people sometimes come to give their condolences. We may think this has changed in modern society, but it hasn’t - and it is seeping into so many parts of our lives. As the father of a young daughter, I feel it’s my duty to fight for a world where women are equal. Just like my White peers and friends should be allies in the fight against racism, men should be allies in the fight for gender equality.
Bollywood has a huge issue regarding sexism. Like the country, the film industry in India is run by men and for men. When watching commercial Indian films, you can often tell that they have forgotten that half of the audience could be women. Women are relegated to being arm candy for middle-aged men. Often, these women are less than half the age of their male co-stars, they are given songs that focus on the male characters, they are objectified and sexualised.
This has huge implications in a society that has one of the worst domestic violence records against women in the world. How can a society change if the most popular media depicts women this way?
Even as a British Asian, there is still massive inequality in our society. Women are expected to work out of the home like men do but also look after the house and be domestic goddesses. This is not expected of men. Some people would argue that things are better in the UK, but I often find that argument relatively weak.
I was brought up in a culturally challenging climate in 80s Britain; racism was rife, and I found it hard to belong. In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, I went to Mumbai and worked in Film and TV - I still have a direct connection with friends who work in Bollywood. When I arrived in India, everyone looked like me. I hoped that this could be my cultural home, but people often made fun of me the moment I opened my mouth and they heard my British accent. I was an “NRI”, which stands for Non-Resident Indian - I was considered a foreigner. Even in this place, which could’ve been a home and a place of belonging, I felt like an outsider. If you look at the representation of British Asians in Bollywood Cinema, we are often characters like buffoons that have no cultural understanding and speak Hindi with a terrible accent. So that begs the question: where do we belong? I returned to England and started my theatre company to tell authentic British South Asian stories that felt like home - this has been hugely successful over the years. Frankie Goes to Bollywood is the latest of these stories.
Don’t get me wrong - I love India. It is my second home, and a lot is beautiful there. But the same goes for the UK - both places are home for me, and that’s a great thing, which influences all my work.
India is moving ahead both culturally and financially. I have seen the areas of the city of Mumbai go from shanty towns to look like New York. It’s now one of the most expensive places in the world to live. My parents arrived here in cold, wet Britain 50 years ago and made this place their home. However, immigrants often stay stuck in the value systems they brought with them; when we return to India, we often find ourselves looking for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.
Frankie Goes to Bollywood will open at the Southbank Centre, London, on 31st July, running until 18th August.
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