Misogyny is so prevalent that ‘Animal’ doesn’t seem odd: Bonna Mirza

Prominent actress Bonna Mirza has recently commented on the misrepresentation of female characters in regional and Indian films, connoting the recent wave of criticism faced by the Sandeep Reddy Vanga film "Animal".

In a discussion arranged by the 22nd Dhaka International Film Festival committee, with female film directors at Dhaka Club's Samson H Chowdhury Centre on Monday, popular actress Bonna Mirza said, "'Animal' is not the only film, where female characters were misrepresented and suffered from a misogynistic outlook. We as audiences also practice misogyny, so it doesn't often seem odd to us as it has been embedded in our conscience."

The actress made the remarks in the discussion followed up by an article presentation by independent filmmaker Mehzad Ghalib, titled, "Possibility of Female Driven Content in The OTT Platform in Bangladesh". Apart from Bonna, the discussion was joined by Dr Ipsita Barat, head of Kolkata's St Xavier's College's Department of Mass Communication and Videography, and Bangladeshi filmmaker Shankha Dasgupta amongst others.

Upon a question regarding the misrepresentation of women from a male director's perspective in the Bangladeshi web-series,  Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's "Ladies & Gentlemen" by an audience, filmmaker Shankha Dasgupta said, "A director has full autonomy over his film and the message he wants to deliver and as audiences, we have full rights upon what we want to criticise or praise."

"However, the film industry is made in a way that we have to take male director's narrative regarding female representation in cinema. We have no way but to see and believe their perspective as it is the only or more powerful way. Even the number of female directors here, at this panel, or in the industry does not matter as it depends on only one thing and that is societal 'power dimension'," the director said indicating that until or unless the male-female power dimension in society does not equalise, a chain of misrepresentation of female characters would be continued.

Adding to Shankha's remark, Bonna Mirza said, "Women in our country are far less behind than the neighbouring country India and our society needs to be reformed to promote proper women empowerment in the country. However, we are making commendable progress in this sector," Bonna concluded while thanking the female film directors who are paving the way in this regard.