The father-daughter relationship in Monsoon Wedding represents the changes in attitude concerning gender. Like other Asian countries, India is plagued with the “son’s syndrome” (Gprasad, R, Vidya, K.I., and Sriramya, V.). The birth of a son is celebrated, because sons will carry on the legacies of the family’s name. On the other hand, daughters are burdens to their family due to their social and economic cost. Therefore, parents often hope for a son who will add wealth and fame to the family’s name instead of a daughter who will take money away from the family once she takes another man’s surname. Aditi’s dad, Latit, on the other hand, organizes an expensive wedding that he cannot afford for Aditi. He struggles financially and even resorts to asking his family and friends to help him out all because he wants his precious daughter to have a sensational wedding. Also, a woman usually does not have a choice once her parents agree on an arranged marriage, however Aditi did have a say in her arranged marriage. Even though Aditi agrees to the arranged marriage, the consideration of her choice marks the independence that many women did not have in the past. Therefore, the love and independence showered on Aditi show how fusion films are liberating women from their traditional setbacks. In Monsoon Wedding, Latit’s support of Ria shows the importance of kinship in fusion films and how it can conquer the prejudices of the traditional society against women. Ria is the older, unmarried cousin of Aditi and she is sometimes the center of attention and subject of humiliation at father gatherings. Being a woman is hard enough, being an old, unmarried woman is being worse. Her unwed status is the basis of discussion when all of the Vermas reunite for the wedding. When Ria notice Tej Puri’s intimate interactions with a ten-year-old relative, she confronted Tej Puri in front of everybody. It is then reveal that he sexually molested her when she was a pre-adolescent. Unfortunately, Ria’s truth and confrontation earns her a slap from Tej Puri’s wife. Some of the older women even doubts Ria and refers to her revelation as a fantasy of an old virgin. Disregarding the fact that Tej Puri is their family’s life saver , Latit is the only one who stands up and sides with Ria. When he demands that Tej Puri and his wife leave the wedding and never come back, the old molester’s wife exclaims, “For such a little thing!”. Tej Puri’s wife’s attitude mirrors the traditional prejudice and bias against unmarried women. Latit values family more than traditions thus he chooses to protect Ria from the abuse of traditional bias. The Indian diaspora often uses cinema to reflect the changes in Indian gender roles and stereotypes, because movies reflect the attitude of the people.
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After decades of globalization and modernization, the Indian diaspora has westernized their attitudes concerning gender roles while still retaining some distinctive Indian customs. Certain aspects of Indian culture are still visible in fusion films such as the theme of arranged marriage in Monsoon Wedding. Back in the days, an actress’ career is often short, because once she gets married and has kids, her acting opportunities will be limited to older, mature roles. Women now are slowly released from their chains of traditional roles and they are thus allowed more freedom and flexibility (Mehta, R and Rajeshwar, B). In the early days of Indian cinema, physical contact such as kissing and sex were major taboos. Even the breadwinner of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan, until this day refuses to film any kiss scene. The omission of such scenes are unique to true Bollywood films. As Indians migrate to other regions, this attitude is slowly disintegrating. In Monsoon Wedding, Aditi has an affair with a married man and they are caught kissing passionately in an intimate position by the police. Aditi’s cousins, Rahul and Ayesha, are also shown to be sexually attracted to each other. In Bollywood, women are not encouraged to wear revealing or erotic clothes thus the tolerance of previously prohibited taboos reflects how fusion films are moving away from traditional Bollywood to Hollywood. In response to the change in gender roles, the Indian diaspora uses cinema to portray
After decades of globalization and modernization, the Indian diaspora has westernized their attitudes concerning gender roles while still retaining some distinctive Indian customs. Certain aspects of Indian culture are still visible in fusion films such as the theme of arranged marriage in Monsoon Wedding. Back in the days, an actress’ career is often short, because once she gets married and has kids, her acting opportunities will be limited to older, mature roles. Women now are slowly released from their chains of traditional roles and they are thus allowed more freedom and flexibility (Mehta, R and Rajeshwar, B). In the early days of Indian cinema, physical contact such as kissing and sex were major taboos. Even the breadwinner of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan, until this day refuses to film any kiss scene. The omission of such scenes are unique to true Bollywood films. As Indians migrate to other regions, this attitude is slowly disintegrating. In Monsoon Wedding, Aditi has an affair with a married man and they are caught kissing passionately in an intimate position by the police. Aditi’s cousins, Rahul and Ayesha, are also shown to be sexually attracted to each other. In Bollywood, women are not encouraged to wear revealing or erotic clothes thus the tolerance of previously prohibited taboos reflects how fusion films are moving away from traditional Bollywood to Hollywood. In response to the change in gender roles, the Indian diaspora uses cinema to portray