Back when I had watched The Great Indian Kitchen, I ended up writing a review with mixed views because as important and well-made as the movie was, there was a diversion that I could not ignore so I made a mention of it. [Review attached below.] Now, however, when The Great Indian Kitchen has been adapted into a Hindi film titled ‘Mrs’, I can certainly overlook the diversion because the film has brought to the surface the disgusting existence of India’s latent patriarchy on a platform as supposedly ‘modern’ as social media.
Men on the internet are baffled by how a woman (in the film Mrs.) can be exhausted of the task of cooking food for two men in her new household. There are blasphemous comparisons drawn to misinterpreted anecdotes of feminism, an admiring hype created around movie/daily soap characters who have been portrayed as the ‘ideal’ daughter-in-law, ‘Mrs.’ being called a propaganda movie against Indian men and what not. A category of men in this country simply cannot digest the idea that a woman can be exhausted to the point of frustration for being confined into a kitchen, with walls manned by passive-aggressive patriarchy.
How wonderful it must be for them, to be so rooted in entitlement that a woman’s lack of freedom of choice to pursue a career feels like a natural, and even justified thing. After all, a ‘home’ is made beautiful by a ‘homemaker’ who must always be a woman and she MUST enjoy the role, they say. She couldn’t possibly be frustrated by cooking and washing and cleaning day in and day out because after all, it’s a privilege to be serving her family; and by serving them she’s playing a facilitative role in society because these men go out and ‘serve the world’. And oh, they toil day and night at their offices and its so reasonable for them to want a wife at home whose only job is to cater to their needs and their parents’ (not her’s). The men truly and deeply believe this and when the notion is challenged by a film like ‘Mrs’ or ‘Thappad’ or any feministic movie for that matter, the threat pulls the misogynistic ones out of their rat holes on to social media platforms where they show their ugly colours.
I wonder if these men showcasing the misogyny online know if their general perception of women is a projected reflection of how their fathers treated their mothers. Way to tell the world they’re a ‘pure’ product of fundamentalist patriarchy. If only the women in their lives took the hint and ran a few miles away from them.
Thank God for the ones that do understand feminism and are capable of advocating for what’s actually right. After all, both The Great Indian Kitchen and Mrs. have had men playing key roles in making and knowing they’re voicing a highly marginalized section of the Indian society. There is always a good side doing its best and a triggered end putting up a circus out of desperation. This is more a review of the circus on social media than the movie, and a response to it. Keep the misogyny under wraps because the modern woman knows better than to fall prey to the ‘ideal housewife’ trap and make space for herself. Get on board with it or stay away from women, thanks.
[Review of The Great Indian Kitchen, written back when the film was released.]
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