“Meeting mein red lipstick lagayegi? Are you mad?”
“Mummy ji ki roti gol, papa ji ka paisa gol!”
“Bas yaar one more year of work and then marriage and settle down.”
These aren’t just statements, they are the deeply ingrained prejudices in our society that hold women back from realizing their full potential. For centuries, women have been put under the pressure to look and behave in a certain way as if her entire individuality revolves around her physicality. And so, to seek acceptance, we try hard to be the best version of ourselves in every field. This treatment grossly undermines our potential and unfortunately, even the most educated ones practice it.
Resolving to break free from all these silly stereotypes that lead to women compromising their freedom, this video by Blush’s UnBlushed series featuring Amitabh Bachchan sends out a powerful message:
What if we were to eavesdrop on snippets of regular, everyday statements that a modern Indian makes in a day.
#AbSamjhautaNahin shows the effect on our words, on our choices, on our decisions and reactions, that women today are a victim of judgement, of gender stereotyping, of subconscious body shaming and moral policing, more so today, than ever. So much so, we believe we’re speaking out of our own volition, backed with absolute neutrality with no shades of gender bias. But the truth is, the most harmless and functional words and sentences in our lives are the biggest testament of how a society, a dominant ideology, is forcing us to think, and speak, sometimes without our knowledge. And women, are speaking that language. Can we hear it?
In this Blush and Pink association the voice of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan is a ventriloquist, it is the voice of our society. This voice also comes back in the end to show us a mirror and to reveal the hard hitting reality.
