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Sooraj Barjatya is a well-known filmmaker who is lauded for his ‘clean, made for the entire family’ films. He is also known for his penchant for the name ‘Prem’, which he bestows upon all his heroes. He has not only directed, but also edited and written the stories and screenplays of his four movies – ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ (1989), ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..!’(1994), ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ (1999), and ‘Main Prem ki Diwani Hoon’ (2003). All have been produced under his family banner, ‘Rajshri’. ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ (MPK) is a typical story of rich boy falling in love with poor girl, facing parental opposition, at the end overcoming the opposition and living happily ever after. It stars Salman Khan and Bhagyashree. ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’ (HAHK) stars Madhuri Dixit, Salman Khan and a galaxy of supporting actors. It is based on an old ‘Rajshri movie – ‘Nadiya Ke Paar’. It is about the relationship between two families that are joined by friendship and marriage. Tragedy strikes in the form of the death of the daughter-in-law, Pooja (Renuka Shahane), after which follows a saga of sacrifice. But everything gets sorted out towards the end and everyone lives happily ever after. ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ (HSSH) stars Tabu, Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan and Mohnish Behl. It is about a joint family whose head, that is, the father and husband believes that “the family that eats together and plays together, stays together.” This view is challenged by as assorted bunch of vengeful characters, which eventually results in a split in the family. But ultimately the family reunites and everyone lives happily ever after. ‘Main Prem ki Diwani Hoon’ (MPKDH) stars Kareena Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan. It is about a supposedly modern day girl, Sanjana (Kareena Kapoor) who wants to live life on her terms, but more often than not, it is dictated to her by her mother (Himani Shivpuri). She falls in love with a man, who is not up to her mother’s standards (read: he is not rich enough). Her mother forces her to accept a proposal from a rich family. But in the end all tensions are resolved and everyone lives happily ever after. There are many factors that are common to all four of Barjatya’s movies, which are degrading towards women. There is always a vamp or vamps, who have nothing better to do than plot and plan against the typically ‘happy family’. In MPK, a woman called Seema, along with her uncle (Ajit Vachchani) schemes to take over the rich family’s money, by seducing the son of the family, Prem (Salman Khan). She wears only western clothes that are revealing. According to Prem’s mother (Rima), girls who wears short skirts and pants do not know how to respect elders or how to “look after the house.” Here, a woman herself is shown as being biased against other women who wear untraditional clothes. What has clothes got to do with one’s ability to respect elders? The mother probably sees such a woman as an independent thinker who would challenge her views, ideas and authority, and of course that would never do. Barjatya portrays a typical mother-in-law as wanting a daughter-in-law who would always toe her line and never answer back. That is why Rima’s character prefers the shy and cloyingly sweet Suman (Bhagyashree), who would never cross her. In HAHK, there is a shrewish woman played by Bindu who is only concerned with beautifying herself and is very mercenary. She is loud, in manner as well as in dress. She propagates dowry and always berates her brother for not getting his nephew, Rajesh, married to a girl of her choice, who would have got loads of jewelry and money as her dowry. The worst thing that a filmmaker could show in his or her movie is a woman propagating dowry, and this is just what Barjatya has done. In HSSH there are not one but three vamps played by Kalpana Iyer, Kunika, and Jayshree T. they are the best friends of the mother, Mamta (Rima). It is established right at the beginning that they are ‘bad’ women because they stay up till late in the night gambling and get up late in the morning. Other than this they seem to have nothing better to do than instigate people against each other.
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