Bechdel Test on Indian Movies
The Bechdel Test was devised by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel in 1985. It tries to ascertain whether a work of fiction does or does not conform to gender biases. A work is said to have passed the Bechdel Test if it
- Has atleast two female characters
- Who talk to each other
- About something other than a man
Here , we present some Indian movies and run them through this test
Dhoom 3- FAILS
a. Has only one female character played by Katrina Kaif
Chennai Express - FAILS
a. Only one major female character played by Deepika Padukone
Ek Tha Tiger – FAILS
a. Single female character
3 Idiots - FAILS
a. More than one female character
b. Mona Singh and Kareena Kapoor’s characters do talk to each other
c. No actual scene where they talk about something else than a man
Dabangg - FAILS
a. More than one female character
b. Characters played by Dimple Kapadia, Sonakshi Sinha and Mahie Gill never talk to each other
Agneepath – FAILS
a. More than one female character
b. They talk to each other
c. Conversations are only about the central male character
Lagaan – FAILS
a. More than one female character
b. They do talk to each other
c. The conversation always revolves around male characters
Taare Zameen Par – FAILS
a. Only one noteworthy female character
Life in A Metro – PASSES
a. More than one female character
b. They talk to each other
c. About something apart from a man
Rang De Basanti – PASSES
a. More than one female character
b. They talk to each other
c. About making a documentary film
Monsoon Wedding – PASSES
a. Multiple female characters
b. They talk to each other
c. Conversations are about life in general
Dedh Ishqiya - PASSES
a. Two female characters
b. They talk to each other
c. Conversations are about themselves
Ra.One – FAILS
a. Multiple female characters
b. Two of them are introduced at a party but do not talk
Yeh Jawaani Hai Diwaani – PASSES
a. Two major characters
b. They talk to each other
c. Kalki Koechlin and Deepika Padukone’s characters talk about their lives
Chak De India – PASSES
a. Multiple female characters
b. They talk to each other
c. Conversations are about , among other things, hockey
Barfi – FAILS
a. Multiple female characters
b. They talk to each other
c. Conversations are only about the main character and the men in their lives
Raajneeti – FAILS
a. Multiple female characters
b. Most of them don’t talk to each other, but for one scene
c. That scene revolves around the male characters
As you can see, most of the movies of the past few years, miserably fail this test for gender sensitivity. Many films have only a single female character. This is one indicator of how male-centric our Indian movies are and maybe, something needs to be done to change that.