Shabana Azmi: Don't fragment women's body with camera angles

Veteran actress and activist Shabana Azmi says filmmakers should be more responsible in depiction of women's body on screen, because the business of cinema is of images

Shabana Azmi

Veteran actress and activist Shabana Azmi says filmmakers should be more responsible in depiction of women's body on screen, because the business of cinema is of images. The actress, who was present here on Monday on a panel discussion at "Ficci Frames 2018", was asked about her opinion on actresses who practise their right of "my body, my choice", especially in item numbers in Bollywood films.

Azmi said: "When a leading lady says that 'it's alright, I want to celebrate my sensuality in those songs', I have no problem with that. But under the pretence of 'celebrating your sensuality' what you are actually doing is surrendering to the male gaze and objectifying yourselves because the business of cinema is of images." "When you see the fragmented bits of a woman's body, you see heaving bosom, swinging navel, shaking hips... you are robbing the woman of all autonomy, completely," she explained.

Citing an example, the actress said: "In Zoya's film 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara', a scene shows leading lady Katrina Kaif coming out of the water wearing a bikini and wear her bathrobe. The camera does not go close to her, does not show her bosom. But on that very shot, if the director had decided to go over the top, it would have been objectification. So the intention needs to be clear." The actress was present alongside CBFC member Vani Tripathi Tikoo, filmmaker Divya Khosla, well-known journalist and author Tavleen Singh and BTVI COO Meha Tata, among others.

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