Are Mollywood Superstars Mammooty and Mohanlal Misogynistic?

Following the attack on the leading Malayalam actress by a gang in Kochi  led by her former car driver, the Mollywood film industry have unitedly condemned the attack and expressed support and solidarity for the actor. Leading stars Mammooty, Mohanlal, Manju Warrier described the incident as unfortunate and said the culprits should be brought before law.

Meanwhile, my friend G Pramod Kumar, a senior journalist shared an article he wrote sometime back in Huffington Post criticising the misogynistic roles portrayed by our superstars Mammooty and Mohanal.  He especially refers to Kerala State Women’s Commission serving notice to Mammooty for his insulting dialogues in the movie Kasaba.  He notes that many of the roles done by Mohanlal and Mammooty denigrated women and hence it was sheer hypocrisy now that they were crying over the assault on the actress.

Mammooty in Kasaba

The Artist and the Individual
Superstars have dual identities before us- one is the roles they play on the screen and the other is their real personality. Most of us have only access to the screen identity and not to their real identity except through interviews in TV, newspapers and magazines when they reveal their views on life, family etc.

There is no reason to believe that superstar Mammooty or Mohanlal share the same attitudes towards women as the characters they depict on screen. In public life, they have been seen to behave responsibly. We shouldn’t confuse their screen identity with their real identity.

The role dialogues, attitudes of a character in a story are all created by film makers to appeal to the audience and also with an eye on the box office. No film is made to make it a loss for the producer.  If the superstar plays the role of a goonda, or a rapist or a corrupt politician he needs to do justice to the role. In such cases, the actors become successful when people hate the character in the movie.

All the films that Mammooty acted in misogynistic ways were cleared by the Censor Board who are the gate keepers in the film industry.  They are bound to examine the moral, ethical and social implications of a movie before clearing them for viewing by the public. Now films display statutory warning messages on screen whenever a scene showing smoking or drinking is displayed. This is to tell the audience that the film is not being produced to promote smoking or alcohol use.

The commercial side of cinema and attitude of society

The cinema has a commercial element and an artistic element to it. Considering the huge cost in involved in its production most often the commercial weighs more than the ethical, moral or artistic dimensions. However, that doesn’t deter Mammooty or Mohanlal fans to keep rushing every time a new movie of theirs is released.

Secondly, we must not forget the fact that women from different walks of life are harassed in Kerala not necessarily physically but by words, gestures, looks and unwanted gossip to malign. Mollyood films partly are a reflection of this attitude and there is nothing alarming about it.

First and foremost we must stop taking double standards in society—what is applicable to men is not so for women. Men and women are not equal but unique in their own ways-each having their strengths and weaknesses. Once we realise this much of the problems that we see around will disappear and perhaps the dream of women travelling safely anywhere at any time can become a reality. Where this should this learning begin- at home, at school, at workplace….?

Tailpiece
There is lot of talk about revealing the identity of the leading actress who was assaulted in Kochi. However, what was quite painful was the way Times of India reported the incident as rape. How could they sit in judgement on the issue just because police had registered a case against the culprits quoting sections of the law which is against rape. Ultimately, the choice of news, articles in newspapers, news, visuals on television and themes for film are guided by popular appeal and commercial interests. Sometimes, sensationalism can go to extremes flouting all media ethics. After all they also need to sell and be ahead of their competition.

Chicken Puffs for Rs 250, the Economics Actor Anusree doesn't know

Some news sites reported about Actor Anusree’s shock and anguish over paying Rs 250 for chicken puffs, black tea Rs 80 and Rs 100 for Coffee at a restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. When she posted this on her Facebook, several netizens protested against the Kitchen Restaurant that charged such high rates for snacks and beverages.

A Member of Parliament (MP) from Kerala is expected to raise the issue of this fleecing at the airport in Loksabha.

Actress Anusree's profile pix in FB and below her post related to Chicken Puffs

Those who have read Freakonomics, the best seller by Stephen J Dubner and Steven Levitt will understand that such premium pricing in some locations is not unusual and is quite universal. The places where you may have to shell out such premium prices for mineral water, food, beverages  are in cinema theatres, railway stations, airports, on flights,  beaches, tourist centres and five star hotels.

In these places, the seller has a monopoly, there won’t be any other seller offering at a competitive rate and the nearest seller may be a few kilometres away. Those who are thirsty or hungry need to pay higher rate at such places but if they can hold on and take the trouble to go a few kilometres they’ll get more variety fare at cheaper rates. It’s your choice.

There may be other factors behind the higher prices. The vendor who runs the restaurant at airports or railway stations may have paid a huge license fee to get a space there and may be paying higher rent compared to a similar place in the town or city. Remember, not many people will buy huge quantities of snacks or beverages in airports or five star hotels or inside flights.

In a flight you may have to shell out Rs 500 for a sandwich supplemented with ketchup or assortments whose actual value may be hardly Rs 50 or 75/-. Once a co-passenger in a Kingfisher flight from Bangalore told me he never thought food is not given free in budget flights but he chose not to buy despite being hungry as he was not willing to shell out Rs 500 for a small pack of food.

In Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, if the particular restaurant sells 100 pieces of puffs daily (quite unlikely), their earnings would Rs 25000 and sells hundred 100 cups of coffee(Rs 10000).  A business outlet in such a place needs to have atleast such volumes to justify their existence there – after all they need to meet A/c, higher rental, employee costs, raw material costs and their potential is limited to number of passengers who may choose to buy at this rate.

My wife who checked in at Taj Hotel in Chennai the other day said Idli, Vada and Tea for breakfast costs Rs 500 and she chose to go to a nearby local restaurant and got it for less than Rs 100. In fact, many people who stay in five star hotels don't eat from there unless it is sponsored by their company or somebody else.Why pay more if you can get better quality at very reasonable price from a way side dhaba?

Price is not cost + reasonable profit

Many people think, price of a product is just cost plus reasonable profit. But most often that is not the case. It is basically about how much the customer will be willing to bear and uniqueness of the product. Value rests in the mind of the buyer. You are the king, not the seller. 

Pricing (Price theory)  is an important topic in micro-economics and it is difficult to go into the nuances of it all in this blog.  I don’t expect Anusree , a talented actress of Diamond Necklace, Mahashinte Prathikaram and Oppam fame to know all these things related to economic theory but going by the huge number of shocked people who reacted to her FB post, I am worried a large majority doesn’t understand it at all- despite the fact that we are all consumers in one way or the other. 

Tailpiece: Anusree comes from film industry where super stars get crores of rupees from a single film and ordinary people who earn below Rs 500 per day queue up to watch them do all sort of stunts and drama!