A few months ago, I published a post on the most celebrated and annoying Bollywood clichés. Before anyone jumps to conclusions about my publishing yet another post on the very annoying and very jaded ways of Bollywood, let me say in my defence, that I find the Hindi movie industry hilarious in its stupidity, when I don’t feel saddened by its mediocrity, that is. Anyway, this time I have come up with a list of the most typical female characters in Hindi movies. Believe me, you will be hard pressed to find many characters that break away from these moulds.
1) The dumb and petulant eye candy
She inevitably adorns every second Bollywood ‘masala’ movie, as they say, wherein you are supposed to leave your brain at home. She has no other role in the movie except to annoy the audience with her senseless antics, senseless dialogues, all delivered in the voice of a shrill seven-year old. Oh and she also has to look pretty. And glamorous. Of course the hero has to have the hots for her, because the story of the movie usually revolves around the stalker-ish hero trying to woo the girl.
2) The traditional selfless ‘Bhartiya nari”
She is the epitome of all things sweet, all things nice and no, there is no spice! Her ultimate aim is to marry and have a happy, fulfilling domestic life. She will keenly and selflessly do whatever her parents/husband/in-laws desire and hence, she is the darling of everyone’s eyes. Why would you ever hate someone who refuses to think for herself anyway?
3) The high-end babe
Similar to the eye candy in the sense that she is dumb and meant only to look glamorous. However, she is a tad more sophisticated and she knows her Gucci and Prada so she looks glamorous in expensive designer clothes! Also, she is the most popular girl in college, every guy dreams about dating her and even the trees burst into songs upon her arrival. She is the diva who deserves a royal welcome, you see.
4) The feisty rebel
She is the ultimate rebel. Unfortunately, for Bollywood that means she is a typical party-hard, drink hard, flirty and carefree girl who just can’t seem to commit to any one thing. She does not give a damn about what others think about her, or how they want her to be. Alas! She is ultimately tamed by ‘real love’. She ends up getting dumped though, for the traditional selfless ‘Bhartiya nari.’
