Miscarriage Vs Abortion: How Hindi Films Treat The Two Subjects

Important subjects such as abortion and miscarriage like many others demand a certain sensitivity in their on-screen depiction. Over the years, Hindi films have mostly shown women turn into evil characters as soon as they choose abortion or show support for it. It is the way the characters are written, making it impossible for people to see them choosing abortion as anything less evil. The film narratives on abortion are barely close to reality, the dilemma, the aftermath, the complications of the procedure, and most importantly the relief of not having an unwanted child is hardly ever shown.

When it comes to miscarriage, the treatment is almost the same. Female characters are seen screaming with pain, crying, the news of the unborn child's death makes everyone sad and that is it. The inner turmoil of the women is never shown. A Lancet study showed that 20 percent of women who experience miscarriage suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which can also lead to depression and or/anxiety. Such symptoms stay for one to three years heavily impacting the lives of such women and the pregnancy that comes after that. Why are such realities hidden in Hindi films?

Hindi Films On Miscarriage And Abortion

Things seem to be changing. Recently released film Gehraiyaan directed by Shakun Batra showed actor Deepika Padukone's character Alisha bleeding in the shower. She is also seen seeking for a company to go to the clinic to get an abortion. The dilemma might not have furthered the plot of the film but it displayed an ounce of authenticity. The film did not make a hue and cry about the woman trying to keep the baby and not wanting to "kill" it out of moral obligations. Padukone's Alisha could keep the baby but she was open to options.

Thinking of miscarriage, one of the many Hindi films Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001) also comes to mind. Needless to say that the film was unsuccessful in handling any subject properly. Whether it was surrogacy, pregnancy or miscarriage, all of them were ridiculed to a point. When Rani Mukherjee's character experiences a miscarriage, she is seen stepping out of the house in white clothes, mourning the unborn child. The next thing she does? Ask her husband to have a baby with a sex worker because the family needs someone to take the bloodline forward. She does not even look for appropriate options and straight-up asks her husband to have sex with the other woman and impregnate her. The film easily made the audience cringe at every other scene.

Suggested Reading: Aitraaz To Mimi: Here’s How Hindi Films Portrayed Abortion Over Time

In the crowded plot of Madhuri Dixit starrer Anjaam (1940), the female protagonist Dixit was once beaten by a jailer with a stick on her stomach. She was then shifted to the dark gallows of the prison. When she wakes, she is seen screaming with pain and then crying as she realises that she was lost her unborn child. The protagonist is then seen stepping into the light with blood on her clothes. She is shocked but not upset, now she wants revenge.

Dibakar Banerjee's Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar (2021) tried to separate itself from the run of the mill plot where a woman's miscarriage gives the male hero a reason to destroy his enemies and hence prove his physical strength. In the film Parineeti Chopra's character is shown experiencing miscarriage and then going into shock. Her love interest Pinky, played by Arjun Kapoor, tends to her while she suffers emotionally.

When it comes to issues related to women's health, Bollywood has come off as very shy. As long it serves the purpose of the plot, the scenes are shown and beyond that is nothing. With the recent releases such as Gehraiyaan and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, the film industry seems to be on a right path finally. The uncomfortable is not hidden. A woman's pain and suffering is not seen through male gaze. If we really need to represent women in our films, we will need more than just a "strong female character" carrying the plot on her shoulder like a male character. The female character has to speak to women, she needs to be seen in all her glory and vulnerability.

Views expressed by the author are their own.