How have Parvati and Lakshmi's myths dominated mainstream cinematic plots for over five decades? Why do Kali and the Matrkas figure so often in horror films? Who is the most enduring manifestation of Saraswati in Bollywood cinema? How is the female cop almost always the Durga archetype? How do Claire Underwood of the House of Cards and Olivia Pope of Scandal make such convincing Lakshmis? These are a few of the many questions this book raises and answers.
This book is for every reader who loves films and all those who take an interest in mythology. It dwells on Indian goddess archetypes which reveal themselves through their many myths and suggests how these archetypes can be worked with for more empowering projections of women in the media. It traces the Goddess in human form and her many manifestations and tales in contemporary cinema and television web series.
Shyaonti Talwar is an academician, writer and columnist. An Assistant Professor of English, her areas of research interest include gender studies, women's writing, myths, archetypes and cultural studies.
In my decades spent understanding consumers across India, the only definite conclusion which one can derive about them is their ability to infuse their lives with a magnitude of contradictions. As Indians, we feel that we are all set to reclaim our position of glory in the centre stage of the world, yet we are so easily reconciled to our fate and our everyday struggles to make ends meet with an almost meditative fortitude.
A lot of this ability to grind along and live out our existence with forbearance comes from the deep-rooted sense of fate, influenced by the canons of religion which influence and strengthen this cosmic fortitude. After all, religion and its tenets have always been of paramount importance and which have gained increasing significance in recent times. The 2015 Pew Research Centre survey cites, eight-in-ten Indians said religion is very important in their lives and even millennials are strongly influenced by religion today (YouGov-Mint Millennial Survey).
When it comes to religion, particularly Hinduism which is practiced by a sizeable section of the Indian population, the mother Goddess worship and her manifestations through time and space is an important facet and is of striking significance. No other modern civilisation has such a profound influence of the Goddess manifested in its culture, its social fabric and in its everyday mundane life.
HAVE YOU EVER wondered while watching a film or a web series that you might be actually witnessing an ancient myth unfolding? Or regarded the actors as gods and goddesses in the midst of epic action? Did Rani Mukherjee ever remind you of a serene and understated Saraswati or the chirpy, bubbly Perlite Zinta of a deep-in-love Radha? Would you believe me if I told you that Alia Bhatt in Gully Boy is a lot like Parvati or Vidya Balan in Begum Jaan, like Kali? That in DDLJ, Simran falling in love with a man of her choosing is a lot like Sati's love for Shiva?
And what would your response be if I told you that Rishi Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan actually in many ways embody Krishna? Or for that matter the marriage crises in Thappad or Tanu weds Manu could exactly be like the ones Shiva and Parvati's marriage may have gone through? And that much of our Hindi film song-and-dance sequences borrow from the tradition of the Radha-Krishna rasleela? Would you be able to imagine that Sholay could actually be a remake of the Ramayana and Lagaan might have the Mahabharata embedded in it? That most of what you watch on screen, whether it is a film or a web series or even the short narrative of an advertisement, is already a part of our epics and Puranas?
Mind you, I am not only talking of on-screen representation of stories from India. I know, it is not very easy to equate films with myths and even more difficult to see gods and goddesses in filmic characters but what if I told you, that is exactly what it is, at least most of the time? That is the secret of blockbusters and the timeless appeal of some actors who you would like to see playing the same kind of person over and over and over in film after film after film.
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