At the 70th National Film Awards Ceremony, President Draupadi Murmu honoured many celebrities with the prestigious award. The award ceremony was held on Tuesday at Vigyan Bhawan where 85 awardees were honoured with the prestigious award. On the occasion, President Murmu shed light over the low participation and success of women in the field of art and cinema and regarding its upliftment.
She spoke about how the Indian cinema is the largest film industry with most films made in a year and the huge variety of languages coming under it. After that she emphasised on the fact that out of the 85 award winners of the day, only 15 were women, which becomes concerning. (We should also not forget that some awards are designed specifically for females like Best Actress, which is also included in the 15). She also said how in most of the institutions and convocations, women are the ones who excel more than the men. But the same is not being able to reciprocate in the professional space.
She stated that in most of the places the number of women awardees exceed that of male awardees, and this should be applied in employment and industry as well. Regarding the film industry she stated, “More efforts can be made by the film industry towards women-led development.” She also stated how social media can be a big tool for this change. Regarding social media she said, “The impact these mediums have on creating awareness among people is not possible through any other medium.”
True enough, the Indian film industry, despite having talented female actresses, has mostly used them to either bring glamour in the film or to provide a romantic relief. A very few films hail women as the chief character (which is seeing a significant shift now with multiple female-centric films. One can name only a handful of female directors, filmmakers, musicians who have been successful in their career.
Murmu pointed to this issue where women should be included in the sensible or quality cinema of the country. This will allow more women participation in the cinema that actually represents the country. Also more involvement of women will further encourage many other women in the country to enter the industry.
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