Bad Girls of Hindi Popular Cinema

Many histories have been written about Indian Cinema especially, almost obsessively focused on the Stars mainly the actors and actresses of popular Hindi films. Iconization of stars as demi-gods and goddesses is obvious in every nook or corner in every street in every village, town or city, every television set, in every haircut or dress, every colloquial lingo, in every emotion of an Indian. But somewhere in this star-mania we seem to miss/ignore those as much loved as hated characters creating magic on the margins that play just as much a vital role in making the filmic experience complete. In this essay, I will attempt to trace a sort of a shadow history of Indian Cinema through the Bad Girls of popular Hindi cinema.

The influence of India’s rich traditions of popular folk theatre and oral performances on Indian popular films is palpable. This can be observed in the stage-like quality of acting, stereotypical characterization and the use of conventional tools of sentimentality like songs and dance sequences. Indian Cinema incorporated these features in its form of melodrama, which served to magnify the moral oppositions between good and evil, the righteous and the fallen, and imparted an intensity to the representation of emotional experiences. The staging of the melodrama entailed a Hero (the Good) - inevitably a conventionally good-looking young man, who is moral; a Villain (the Evil) who contrasted the hero in being immoral and feeling no guilt about it; then followed the Heroine (the supporter of the Good) an ally of the hero; and, of course, the exact opposite of the Heroine, the Vamp (the supporter of the Evil), the ally of the villain. This representative composition of opposites striking a balance of good and evil became a norm in almost all the popular films. And over the years this plot of conflict between the good and the evil became the tried-and-tested-formula at the box office.

The two women were products of patriarchy- both modeled to serve the men. The dominant forms of patriarchal ideology can be seen in how women are seen subjugated- as the nurturing mother, the chaste wife, or the promiscuous vamp. As mentioned earlier, the representation of the two women were diametrically opposite in their characters and so to say in their functions. The exaggerated qualities of one would bring out the qualities of the other. There would be distinguishing identifiers like the extreme behaviors and attitudes, contrasting costumes, distinctive hairdos, typical make-up and their widely divergent environments.

The sari-clad traditional good woman, who is a forgiving wife, a sacrificing mother, a dutiful daughter had identifiers like her head to toe sari1, round red bindi2, long black hair, subdued make-up and the usual stepping in or out of a mandir3 with the symbolic ‘pooja ki thaali’4 in hand. Patriarchy placed her on a convenient pedestal where the woman was expected to be “perfect”. She was modeled on The Devi5 – with no imperfections and flaws and consequently making her un-human. This woman was an asexualized entity whose sole purpose was to serve the men in the narrative. She was an embodiment of the concept of the Bhartiya Nari6.

The other was of course the vamp, a morally degraded woman. She could be recognized by social taboos like smoking, drinking, and wearing clothes that only the not-so-proper girls would wear, loud make-up, exaggerated Western hair-styles and dancing in public for entertaining men- all of which set the tone for the perfect setting of immorality- ‘the pub’. Unlike the heroine who was denied the expression of desire the vamp was exploding of it. She was allowed to explore her sexuality by various means. She was the intruder in the well-defined space of the heroine. The function of a vamp was varied but never really inconsequential because they did serve a purpose no matter how frivolous. At times they were part of the plot as an accomplice (like in those innumerable songs where the vamp is seen winking or gesturing so as to help the villain). Though, sometimes she was just there to play arm candy to the villain. And many a times it was just time of a song and the presence of the vamp gave the film an excuse to squeeze in a cabaret number. The song was the defining moment for the vamp because it gave her the desirable setting of a nightclub or a gambling den, Western costume, the outlandish hair-do and her blatant dance of seduction, all of which labeled her as the morally degraded ‘other’ woman of the film. All the identifiers were part of the whole package and worked either way -- ‘whoever smoked was usually a vamp, a vamp usually smoked’.

This degradation was associated with everything unwholesome about the Western world. The concept of the West as the cultural other being ugly and corrupt emerges from India’s colonial past. The West and the evil began to mean one and the same thing and they both could be substituted for the other. Thus, is reflected in the depiction of the evil as westernized and vice-versa. The sharp divide between what is Indian and what is not was portrayed by the two women. The vamp, who is interestingly usually called Mona or Lily smokes, drinks, wears westernized clothes. The marks of decadence were challenged and contrasted by the signs of Indian-ness. Suddenly the conflict between the good and evil was superimposed by the conflict between nationalism and colonialism.

Film scholar Ranjani Mazumdar suggests that the vamps in popular Hindi films can be likened to the femme fatale of the noir films who were characterized by revealing clothes, stilettos, blonde hair and invariably dark and mysterious character. These women were an epitome of power, seduction and evil. However stereotypical, the figure of the vamp permitted films to explore a different mise en scène where desire, wealth, sexuality, indeed urban modernity could be represented. Insofar as they were parts of Indian life, popular cinema could not ignore their presence. But by framing of the signs of modernity as Western, it offered a melodramatic critique that was as much aimed at the West as at the urban experience.

The History of Vamps

The lineage of dancing girls in popular Hindi films can be traced back to Kuldeep Kaur and a dancer named, Azoori. It is said that it was Azoori who influenced the one next in line, Cuckoo, an Anglo- Indian girl who made her appearance in two films of the time Pehli Nazar and Mujrim. In the credits of the film the name of the girl simply said, “Cuckoo”, her real name remains unknown. Considering the body of work and its impact, Cuckoo would definitely be the first ‘other woman’. In the year 1945, established actresses were far from playing roles of leading lady; the role of a vamp was unthinkable. Cuckoo captivated the audiences for almost 20 years. She had appeared in 49 films within five years after her debut in 1945. Though in most of her films she only appeared for a song, distributors considered her as important as the heroine.

But one of my earliest and most favourite memories of a vamp would definitely be the classic Nadira in Raj Kapoor’s Shree 420 where a small town boy, Raju gets trapped into the big-city world of dishonesty by a woman called Maya (played by Nadira). She lures him into cheating the poor and Raju is caught between two worlds, and two women -- Vidya, (which means ‘knowledge’), the heroine, and Maya (which means‘illusion’), the vamp. Maya plays a pivotal role in taking the story forward and by her crafty plans almost achieves her goal. The unforgettable song from the film picturised on Nadira “Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh” has Maya dancing in her typical ``Ek haath mein jaam, doosre haath mein dhooaan”7 vamp form in celebration of diwali8. The mise-en-scene of the club, an indoor space with lighting that played with shadows creating a dark and murky mood was accentuated by the contrast in the openness of the setting of Vidya’s school under a tree, on a bright day, shot with developmentalist photography that shared the aesthetics of the government’s development propaganda films of Films Division.

In 1958 a film called Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi had a mujra9 number ``Hum Tumhare Hai Zara, Ghar se Nikal Kar Dekh Lo" where Cuckoo, thirteen years after her debut was still going strong. She was accompanied by a young foreign looking girl. The credits said “Dancers- Cuckoo and Helen”. Helen though started her career as a part of Cuckoo’s troupe with a film called Shabistan (1951) had started performing solo in films like Alif Laila (1953) and Hoor-e-Arab (1955), but it was in 1958 that people knew she had arrived. Helen is probably one of the most celebrated dancing girls of Bollywood, with her career spanning over 500 films, stretching over 25 years. An Anglo-Indian refugee from Burma, the young Helen, accompanied by her mother, escaped to India from the Second World War generated life-threatening situation in Burma. Helen quit school to work in films, since her mother’s income, as a nurse did not seem adequate. It was while leaning Kathak that she discovered she had a flair for dancing.

The club dance numbers through the 50s till the 70s established her as a dancer with expertise in Western dance forms. But Helen proved her competence in Indian semi-classical forms as well, for example in songs like Tora Man Bada Paapi (Ganga Jumna) and Ghungarwa Mora Chham Chham Baaje (Zindagi).

Helen’s Anglicized looks were exploited in making her an icon of Occidental cabaret numbers and also for accentuating the distinction between the Westernized vamp and the traditional Indian heroine. Her looks kept her away from taking the leap into playing main leads, though there are a few unsuccessful films where she was attempted to be cast as the leading lady in films like Cha Cha Cha and Imaan Dharam.

But her golden period was definitely the 70s and 80s with the new revolution in the field of Hindi film music. Celebrated music composer R. D. Burman made singer Asha Bhosle sing to his new westernized tunes. Both masters in their respective fields, this collaboration became a phenomenon. The time was right for the Dancing Queen to spread her wings and conquer her domain- The Cabaret! An interesting trivia that I can’t help but add is that in spite of Helen oozing with sexuality; she always made it a point to wear skin-coloured body stockings in her cabaret numbers like Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan), Aa Jaane Jaa (Inteqam),Aaona Gale Lagaona (Mere Jeevan Saathi), Mehbooba Mehbooba (Sholay), Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar Ka Diwaanaa(Don). Luckily for Helen, she has been called from graceful to dignified and was never categorized as vulgar or indecent. She made the titillation look aesthetic.

Around the 70s Helen’s monopoly was broken by other bad girls like Bindu, Padma Khanna and Aruna Irani. Her increasing age and decreasing number of roles made the situation worse causing financial problems. It was at this point when she was involved with scriptwriter Salim Khan who was instrumental in getting her roles in films like Inaam Dharam, Don and Dostana, which he was co-writing with Javed Akhtar. It was only by the end of her career that she did roles, which appropriately exploited her acting skills. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Lahu Ke Do Rang in 1979. But soon Helen accepted her fate and much to the audiences’ surprise she played Zeenat Aman’s mother in a 1980 film called Ram Balram. After she married Salim she took a long break from films only to be seen much later in films like Khamoshi and the recent release Mohabbatein.

The next to step in the world of dancing girls cum vamp was Bindu seen in a famous song “Mera naam hain Shabnam” from the film Kati Patang. In this film Bindu plays Shabnam who is a cabaret dancer in a club and helps the villain of the movie in his devious plans. With no so-called social stigma or moral responsibility attached to the vamp, Shabnam in this film is seen smoking, drinking, dancing to entertain men, wearing the clothes the heroines wouldn’t dare to wear, engages in pre-marital sex, tells lies, impersonates as somebody else; contrasting her counterpart- the heroine - an epitome of dignity and morality. Shabnam with the villain attempts to blackmail the heroine in order to win a large amount of money but of course “Jeet Hamesha Sacchai Ki Hoti Hai”10 (or that’s at least what we like to believe!).

Bindu, the daughter of a film producer Nanubhai Desai and a stage actress, Jyotsana, started her career in 1969 with a film called Do Raaste. But little did she know she was to be re-christened to Mona Darling. After her father’s death, this 13-year old being the eldest daughter took up the responsibility to support her family. She started with modeling assignments and graduated to films only after her marriage to Champaklal Zaveri. After the success of Kati Patang, she made waves with mesmerizing performances in Itefaaq (1969), Zanjeer (1973), Hawas (1974), Imtihaan (1974). Bindu appeared in over 150 films, her roles ranging from playing the vamp, the other woman, the side-kick, to the mean mother-in-law/sister-in-law. It was Bindu who made Mona Darling a household almost a synonym of a vamp. But where Helen challenged the stereotype of a bad girl with her innate grace who was incapable of looking sleazy Bindu broke out the myth of that married actresses couldn’t be sex symbols.

Bindu was given almost like a chance for redemption with a role in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Abhimaan starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan (then Bhaduri). At the height of her career she played the character of a socialite friend of the main male lead, who fawns over him. This serious role changed her image as the classic Mona Darling. This opened the doors to more challenging roles like the one in the film Arjun Pandit where she plays a deglamourized wife of actor Ashok Kumar and in Chaitali where she plays the role of a crippled woman. Her career as the glamorous vamp was soon ended due an unfortunate miscarriage when she was advised by the doctors that she should keep away from dancing. But Bindu couldn’t stay away from films and returned with quasi-vampish roles and comic character roles in films like Biwi Ho To Aisi, Hum Apke Hain Koun and Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai.

Bindu’s successor was Aruna Irani who started her career as a child artiste in a 1961 film called Ganga Jamuna. By mid-sixties Irani had taken that leap from a child-artiste to a dancing girl. With films like Caravan (1971), where Irani plays an iterant-gypsy woman who is part of an entertainment troupe, gave her enough scope to prove her mettle both as a seductive dancer as well as her histrionics. In this film Irani is in love with the main male lead played by Jeetendra and goes to all extents to keep him away from the main female lead played by Asha Parekh. Like Bindu, Irani was also offered a supporting role in a Raj Kapoor film called Bobby (1973) that altered her image. Aruna Irani ‘s most memorable characters is her role as a dance instructor in Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). Irani is now busy acting, directing as well as producing for both film and television.

Aruna Irani was followed by divas like Padma Khanna, and Kalpana Iyer. Both of whom were acclaimed for their works but had short-lived careers. Padma Khanna after a few forgettable cabaret numbers resigned to Bhojpuri films, Kalpana Iyer shifted to television. Another music composer-singer combination of Bappi Lahiri and Usha Uthup gave Kalpana Iyer the opportunity to be a part of the prevalent disco fever with the ultimate disco song Koi Yahaan Aahaa Naache Naache.

Metamorphosis

Vamps and Villains were metaphors of stark reality in white and black. But this idiom took an interesting turn around the 70s. Gradually films began to question both these patterns of the clash between good and evil and therefore the existence of the characters on account of it. Only recently there has been an attempt to break these distinct boundaries. The spaces were no longer restricted; with the hero experimentally depicted with subtle shades of grey and the heroines serving the functions of the vamp. It probably began with India’s favorite Bollywood phenomenon “The Angry Young Man”, when the hero had shades of grey – he was no longer the moral hero who could do no wrong. Somehow now his actions could be justified by circumstances like torture by an evil father as a child or bad company. There was no longer simply right or wrong-and it is this chaos between pure good and pure evil and the somewhat convenient shift in morals that led to the acceptability of what we’d grown up to be known as wrong thus dissolving of one into another. As film scholar Rashmi Doraiswamy says that, “Now the heroes, heroines, villains, vamps display the ability to contain within themselves more than one- if not many stereotyped selves”. 11

During this time India was facing a general discontent. Films of this time demonstrated the urge and need of the generation to break away from the norms of the society. And in this period of crisis entered, actress Zeenat Aman singing “Dum Maro Dum”, in the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna. With all her freshness and charm, she naturalized the Western other. This non-conformist attitude became a general desire. Aman’s character in the film leaves her family behind in search of herself. The film attempted to mirror the outside world where the Flower-Power age was at its peak. And this acknowledgement of the happenings of the outside world led to an acceptance, opening new avenues of perception for the Indian film industry.

With the popularity of ‘Westernized’ heroines like Parveen Babi (Deewar) and Zeenat Aman (Hare Rama Hare Krishna), challenging the two stereo-typical female characters, the existence of the vamps was questioned. These heroines with characteristic high slit skirts, fur lined halter blouses and colored glasses were soon substituting the place of the vamp as the seductress. The functions of the heroines were extended to include things that only the vamps were licensed to do. The 80s also marked the disco age therefore the need to insert disco songs centered around the leads. While there are some who argue that it was the male domination that led to this kind of change where vamps became redundant with the one female character, the heroine fulfilling the functions of the vamps as well. Now one character had the ability to accommodate both.

Late 80s and 90s exploded with leading ladies like Sridevi (“Kaatey nahi kate yeh din yeh raat”), in the film Mr. India and Madhuri Dixit (“Choli ke peeche kya hai”) in the film Khalnayak. In this song, the character played by Madhuri Dixit impersonates as a prostitute therefore momentarily stepping into the domain of the vamp which sort of legitimatized her new look and her dancing to one of the most controversial songs in popular Hindi films. The heroines seemed to have become a full package of entertainment that was self-sufficient. All barriers of costume, setting, hair-do and make-up were crossed by the heroine and she leaped into the world of the vamps. The vamps were no longer required for sensational songs of seduction. She faded away! Or as the creator of Mona Darling (a popular, almost iconic vamp from a 70s film), Javed Akhtar says, “She got swallowed up by the heroine”.

This transformation liberated the heroine from being judged and scrutinized by the public eye. She was no longer the social yardstick for the perfect “Bhartiya Nari”. There was no longer a concern of Log Kya Kahenge12.

But this liberation for the heroine proved disastrous in being stereotyped again in violent and the so called ‘feminist’ films of the 80s and 90s. The characters from films like, Pratighat, Sherni, Khoon Bhari Mang, Khoon Bahaa Ganga Mein, Commando, Bhraschtachar, and Kali Ganga which primarily focused on hardened, cynical, strong (both physically and emotionally but rarely mentally), almost man-eating super women. Luckily, for them such films did not somehow appeal to the Indian masses. It is only recently that the heroines are being given their legitimate position in popular Hindi cinema without having to oscillate between two extremes.

But our poor vamps did dissolve into a bigger whole- the heroine. Let us try and deconstruct the composition of the vamp: a). The sensuous part, which is now being, fulfilled by our new age heroines with their song and dance of seduction b). The evil element, which has been taken up by the villain completely exterminating the vamp. Though in some films we also see a trend of quasi-vamp where the vamp is not wholly present but we get a glimpse of her evilness by a lesser important, almost insignificant evil aunt, mother or mother-in-law. So the poor vamp has been shredded into parts and has been distributed primarily amongst the heroine and the villain.

It has already been established that the bad girl of Hindi popular cinema was largely a male invention but it is due to the redefinition of the image of the heroine by herself that has led to the extinction of the vamps. The song and dance role of the vamps is now becoming some kind of a specialization with actresses. “Item numbers” as these songs have come to be called have become an integral part of any film, where an actress appears just for that one song. Established actresses like Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, and Shilpa Shetty are making an alternative career out of it. These actresses, paid well for their expertise, definitely match up to the skill of the earlier vamps; lack a little something- the thrill, the charisma and the same kind of glamour. They were an embodiment of both somebody you would love to hate but at the same time be so enthralled by.

This phenomenon, a product of globalization, with the explosion of the popular cinematic images into the “global village”, is no longer an anomaly but a trend. A cornucopia of images, both in cinema as well as television while serving as carriers of a glimpse of the outside world, also make it more accessible. Commodity circulation and images, fashion and shopping provided news ways to dress the heroine, thus eroding the sharp divide between the vamp and the heroine. Mazumdar makes an interesting comment about the elimination of vamps in this context:

Popular song and dance sequences of Indian cinema have become the medium through which spectators are offered a virtual, novel and innovative form of ‘window shopping’ experience. The sheer phantasmagoria of contemporary consumption brings about the demise of the former Westernized vamp whose gestures and performances are now required for the erotic display of women’s fashion….13

Though fashion is only one of the aspects of globalization that fostered the elimination of the vamps, the growing exposure to the outside world now made a few things to be socially acceptable. The lines between what was considered wrong and what is right began blurring. Social taboos were reconsidered and amended. And this acceptance was best exhibited in the popular films that were made to reach the common people.

Though it is difficult to say what comes first and with the ever-evolving world it would be difficult to takes sides with neither the Platonic view of art imitating life nor the post-modern view of the domination of images over absent/numbed audiences, though one can definitely draw a parallel between cinema and life. Indian cinema has always portrayed even if it has been typically melodramatic social issues, sociological changes and shifts in society in terms of everything – values, family systems, condition of women etc. Films by auteurs like Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy and Ritwik Ghatak are representative of this argument. But popular Hindi films, like Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke based on the famous Nanavati case, in which a Parsi naval officer finds his English wife having an extra marital affair and finally kills her lover, also delved into social issues. Another popular film that comes to my mind is the B.R. Chopra film, Dharmaputra which in spite of keeping all the elements of popular cinema raised the sensitive issue of communalism. The gradual acceptance of widow remarriage is shown in a film like Prem Rog (1982) where the protagonist questions the acceptance of widow remarriage only in theory but not in practice. Path breaking films like Lamhe that deals with a difficult issue of age difference between lovers also represents the changing face of our society. Another film in popular genre that deals with relevant feminist issues is Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja in spite of being flawed by clichés and stereotypes.

Lives of people at the same time are influenced by cinema a great deal as well: fashion, styles, social customs etc. The annual trips with family or just a honeymoon to places like Switzerland was inspired by Yash Chopra movies. A sudden fancy to rather culturally restricted festivals like Karva Chauth14 making them national festivals crossing all cultures after its constant depiction in all family movies starting from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). And here it’s important to note the undeniable power of an image realistically as in, in real life and unrealistically as seen on the screen and the relationship between these images.

Another factor that is instrumental in such a marginalization is the economics of the film industry. Now a single heroine offering an array of emotions, characters, images, dancing styles and fashion statements seemed like a better option for the producers.

Real Life bad girls from Indian Cinema

Talking of financing, due to the high risks involved banks and other financial institutions avoided the film industry, an attitude that is now gradually changing. But due to the uncertainty of financing, money matters have always been a fishy business in the industry. After the studio system collapsed and with the increasing fees of the growing stars there was a greater need of finances. It is around this time that the gangsters started taking interest in the film industry, which meant regular extortion as well as financing films. Around 2000-2001 incidents like the murder of producer Gulshan Kumar and the alleged links of a financier Bharat Shah with the dreaded gangster confirmed the existence of such a nexus. Interestingly, these gangsters much like the ones in Hindi popular films in return of financing these films, demanded their girlfriends given a role in the film. Much like in the film Bombay Boys where the character of Nasiruddin Shah invests his black money in a C-grade film and insists his girlfriend is given the role of main female lead. It is interesting to see, how actresses like Mandakini (girlfriend of Dawood Ibrahim) and Monica Bedi (girlfriend of Abu Salem) brought to life the reel life of Mona Darling!

Therefore, it can be argued that the character of vamps can provide us with a counter history of popular Hindi cinema: to reflect on experiences of modern life- wealth, crime, fashion, sexuality, status/identity etc. Even if the films use the melodramatic form to cast them in an unfavorable light, their presence on the screen provides a contrapuntal as Edward Said would say, “commentary on the narrative drive”. The focus on vamps can be extended to other bad girls- the evil sister-in-law or mother-in-law, so as to explore the popular cinema from its margins.

Note: I would like to thank Ms. Ratna Rajaiah for letting me use information from her article ‘Whatever Happened to Mona Darling’ in The Hindu. 

Bibliography

1. Rajaiah, Ratna : Whatever Happened to Mona Darling, www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu

2. Mazumdar Ranjani and Jhingan Shikha (1998): ‘Whatever Happened to the Vamps’ episode in The Power of the Image, A 12-part television series on Mumbai Cinema, BITV.

3. Berger, John: Ways of Seeing, Penguin, 1977.

4. Vasudevan, Ravi, ‘Shifting Codes, Dissolving Identities: The Hindi Social Film of the 1950s as Popular Culture’ in Making Meaning in Indian Cinema ed. Ravi Vasudevan, Oxford University Press, 2000

5. Gopalan, Lalitha, ‘Avenging Women in Indian Cinema’ in Making Meaning in Indian Cinema ed. Ravi Vasudevan, Oxford University Press, 2000

6. Mazumdar, Ranjani, ‘Women and the City: Fashion, Desire and Dance in Popular Bombay Cinema’ in, Kapital& Karma: Recent Positions in Indian Art: Ed. Angelika Fitz, Gerald Matt, Michael Wörgötter. - Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2002

7. Ghosh, Shohini, ‘The Troubled Existence of Sex and Sexuality: Feminists Engage with Censorship’ in, Image Journeys: Audio Visual Media & Cultural Change in India. Ed. Christiane Brosius & Melissa Butcher, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, U.S.A., 1999

8. Hood, John W., ‘ The Essential Mystery: The Major Filmmakers of Indian Art Cinema’, Orient Longman, 2000.