Bollywood – the epitome of influence – is not so responsible when it comes to scripting of dialogues and lyrics. As a matter of fact, our ‘heroes’ and ‘heroines’ themselves do not seem very heroic when they spit out extremely sexist and misogynistic dialogues without the slightest thought.

Let us start with a movie that stole the hearts of the critics and viewers alike.

• Dabangg

  

  So the next time you offer someone something and the person refuses, always remember Salman Khan, the super cop, threatened Sonakshi Sinha’s character with “Pyar se de rahe hain, rakh lo, varna thappad maar ke bhi de sakte hain”. Because apparently a woman isn’t even at liberty to refuse a male gift, beyond the wider woes of patriarchy itself. Not even one loaded with bound-to-break-the-surface innuendo.

  But kudos to Sinha’s comeback “Thapad se darr nahi lagta saab…pyaar se lagta hai”

• Phata Poster Nikla Hero

  Keeping in mind Shahid Kapoor’s image as an ‘adorable chocolate boy’, I am so relieved that this movie did not do well at the box office. Reason?

  A very famous song from this movie has the lyrics that every creepy stalker would appreciate.

“Khaali-peeli, khaali-peeli rokne ka nahi,

Tera peechha karoon to tokne kanahi,

Hai tujhpe right mera,

Tu head light mera,

Tera rasta jo rokoon,

Chaunkane ka nahi.”

Blatantly, this song justifies the fact that if a woman is getting stalked even without her consent, she is not allowed to get surprised or oppose. Because…Bollywood.

• Dabangg 2

  No, I do not have a personal grudge against this movie franchise, but even actresses are just as irresponsible. With Kareena Kapoor dancing her heart away to the lyrics of…

“Main to tanduri murgi hoon yaar
Gatkale saiyan alcohol se oh yeah.”

…lectures of Jean Kilbourne against sexual-objectification of women fall on deaf ears, as the female body becomes the subject of the same surfeit as a meat dish. “Oh yeah” indeed.

• Masti

Yes, I know, everyone has watched this movie once at least and laughed at all its jokes (sexist and non-sexist) but don’t dialogues like “Balatkar se yaad aaya meri biwi kahan hai?” take it too far in a country where marital rape is a widespread issue?
Oh, I completely forgot, no matter how serious an issue, it isn’t illegal as yet!

• 3 Idiots

A very surprising name in this list, but the sexist undertones caught the eyes of quite a few viewers. In a country where education for females has always been a subject for debate, where a woman is deemed as ‘uncultured’ if she tries to ‘act like a man’, dialogues like “Ladka hua toh engineer aur ladki hui toh doctor” adds fuel to the fire.
Girl, you better put that scalpel to better use other than ripping dead bodies apart!

– Oishani