Film/Series Analysis Essay

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Film/Series Analysis Essay

Toilet Hero

Toilet Hero is an Indian film that was released in 2017 and supports the government’s campaign of improving sanitation conditions in Indian dwellings. The story is about a male character named Keshav. His daily activity involves helping his brother Naru in running their father’s cycle business. Just like any young man, Keshav has a dream of one day meeting the girl of his dreams whom he would eventually marry. However, he is still a bachelor since his superstitious father still believes that he should marry a woman who has two thumbs on her left hand. Eventually, he managed to find a woman named Jaya whom he fell in love with and later married her. Keshav and her wife are both from villages near Mathura, where at least 80% of households are without any access to lavatories. on the first day of their marriage, when Jaya leaves Keshav’s house for good, after discovering that there is no toilet in the home. Distraught and desperate, Keshav sets out on a mission to win back the love of his life by battling against the age-old traditions, mind-set and value system of his society. Discrimination against women is a pervasive phenomenon that has lasted in Indian history for a long time and it cuts across all fields as showcased in the film. However, there are females in society who have taken the responsibility within themselves to take a stand against these standards and influence changes in their societies.

The safety of Indian women has been on the spotlight for a very long time now. Cases of rapes have been on the rise and the country has experienced various incidences of protests by women who have tried to stand up to the ills that they go through in the society. In India, rape cases continue to rise. In 2012 alone, at least 25, 000 rape cases were reported (Suri & Khan, 2013). In the film, women have to walk long distances to areas where they defecate in the open. This norm has been in existence for years in the Indian culture, and it represents the risks that Indian women go through. When walking these long distances, women are at risk of being raped by male predators in society, especially young girls. However, the approach taken by Jaya to have her husband build her a private toilet reflects on the issues that the government ought to do for the safety of the women to be assured. The prime minister of India promised that he would ensure that the Indian society, at last, would have access to toilets, however, this has not come to play. While the country struggles with an issue such as sanitation, other issues are directly associated with the issue such as rape and women safety.

Despite article 21 of the Indian constitution requiring education to be free and accessible to each gender, a large population of the Indians have got no access to education, especially females (Saryal, 2007). This feature can be depicted in the film in how Jaya is portrayed as an educated girl and for her to be educated it reflects the issue to be quite a statement. Various individuals, for instance, Sarva Shiksya Abhiyan have taken measures to ensure that the girl child has access to education. However, this seems still a distant dream. Currently, the retention of girl child is lower than that of their male counterparts (Saryal, 2007). As a matter of fact, the level at which girls are dropping out of school seems to increase as they proceed up the education level (Roy, 2015). The higher number of dropouts are particularly experienced in rural areas. The main reasons that have been associated with this phenomenon are that girls are forced by their parents to look after their siblings while the parents are working. Based on this assessment, it shows that society has made even women compliant. Education is a crucial empowerment tool for any society and if these cases of dropouts are not dealt with, Indian women would continue to face inequality in the society (Roy, 2015). Besides, Jaya in the film plays a critical role in trying to influence change in society.

Indian women are also faced with societal violence against women (Sharma, 2005). Both natural and artificial communities have failed to act as the embodiment in promoting inequality that women face in society. Actually, religious leaders, lead members in the society, and other professional bodies have impeded the prosperity of the female gender in India. In the film, after Keshav manages to set up a foundation to build a toilet for his wife, his father orders other male members in the society to bring down the toilet. This actions made Keshav very angry that he has to fight a group of males which consist of at least 200 individuals.

Apart from the film highlighting the infringements of women wellbeing, it also shows the lack of dignity that women are shown in society. Jaya and her fellow women had to walk for long distances to find venues besides roadsides in bushes where they could defecate in the open. Also, Keshav has to intervene to give his wife several options, for instance, at the train station. However, Keshav has to be there to supervise the action and this not only lack of dignity but also the invasion of privacy. Women are not provided with the privacy that they require and this is what prompted Jaya to leave her husband and also file for a mutiny. The irony in the film is that despite Jaya calling for her husband to build her a toilet, where she is from, people still do defecate in the open.

The gender inferiority in the film can also be showcased by the main role that the female characters play within the society, which is to stay at home and take care of their families. One of the issues that women in India have struggled with is the gap that exists between them and their male counterparts in terms of employment (Salagare, 2015). A huge majority of the female population in India faces discrimination in both informal and formal labour. They not only have low employment opportunities but also the wage gap between them and their male counterpart is quite large. In 2013 alone, the wage gap was found to be at 24.81%. The disparity in the level of education between males and females in India may also explain why a majority of the female population are not employed. However, there is a need for countries like India to promote equality in genders in all fields. The portrayal of Jaya as educated and brave provides the ability that females have in improving our societies.

While the film showcases the injustices that Indian women go through in their daily lives, it also shows the roles of women in influencing social changes in society. Jaya influences other women to stand up to the deplorable life that they live with their husbands. Women play a huge role in building families and marriage. At the start, Jaya started the protest for her wellbeing but later she discovers that the fight is also for the other women. Jaya rallies her fellow women and she is quoted saying “men can do it right in their backyard. But we are women, we have to work harder for everything.” Jaya influences her husband to do all it takes for him to build her a toilet so that she could come home. In the end, other women, who are mostly the same age as Jaya (newly married females) join her in filing for a divorce in support of her protest. In reality, Indian women should not have to live under these deplorable conditions and it should be the responsibility of the husbands to provide them with a toilet so that they cannot only have their privacy but also have their dignity upheld.

In conclusion, despite the film primarily supporting the governments’ campaigns of promoting sanitation, the film highlights the realism in the inequality and discrimination that the women have to undergo in Indian society. Women have to walk for long distances to defecate in the open while their husband can do that in their backyards. Their levels of education are also low compare to their female counterparts. However, there are brave and confident women in the society who can join hands in influencing changes in their societies.

References

Roy, S. (2015). Empowering women? Inheritance rights, female education and dowry payments in India. Journal of Development Economics, 114, 233-251.

Salagare, M. (2015). Status of women’s rights in India. KAAV International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Status, 1-6.

Saryal, S. (2007). Women’s rights in India: Problems and prospects. International Research Journal of Social Science, 3(7), 49-53.

Sharma, B. R. (2005). Social etiology of violence against women in India. The Social Science Journal, 42(3), 375-389.

Suri, S., & Khan, S. (2013). An analytical study of rape in Delhi. International Journal of Education and Psychological Research, 2, 60-68.