10 - Self-made vs Self-respect: The Politics of Belonging in Zoya Akhtar's Films

Summary

Bollywood has had a steady preoccupation with the hero's journey towards his self-realisation. Over the years, the idea of the male Bildungsroman as seen in Maine Pyar Kiya (Sooraj R. Barjatya 1989) up to Lakshya (Farhan Akhtar 2004) has not evolved and it is rare that the hero arrives at his ‘self ‘ on his own. There is usually a female lead, as in Wake up Sid (Ayan Mukherjee 2009), or a parent, as seen in Waqt (Yash Chopra 1965), to guide him through this journey. In these films, the hero is already rich because his father is, so to become successful is not the objective. The goal, rather, is to achieve some sense of self-sufficiency and an emotional emancipation from paternal authority.

In these cases, even the self-realising act of obtaining a job and the identity and dignity that comes with it is not the main focus, as what is highlighted is rather the new, freer way of seeing themselves after they get a job. Unlike the strong identity or self-realisation place that the job holds for women characters in films, the heroes’ job doesn't draw much attention to itself because there are very few jobs in the ‘outside’ world that are considered ‘not for men’ and therefore their obtainment represents less self-actualisation and struggle. The heroes have a clear sense that ‘rich’ does not mean self-made and they take time to arrive at the realisation that, unlike their fathers, they are not self-made. In contrast, rarely do we see a woman in Bollywood on the quest of finding herself. Beyond biopics, the woman heroine either knows what she is good at and must deal with traditional obstacles to continue doing it, as occurs in films like Dil Bole Hadippa (Anurag Singh 2009) or Tumhari Sulu (Suresh Triveni 2017), where ‘the self ‘ is tied to the women's jobs as professional, or she finds that she has nothing left to do but discover her ‘self ‘ after a partner has left her, seen in Queen (Vikas Bahl 2013) or Dear Zindagi (Gauri Shinde 2016). The question remains: Where does that leave women who cannot or do not lose themselves in work or sport? How often do we come close to watching a woman's discovery of herself in Bollywood without the notion of her ‘self ‘ attached to the job?