In these villages, girls still fight for the right pitch

Aditya Kant / TNN / Jan 8, 2017, 10:09 IST

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While the block buster may have succeed ed in sending across the message that girls are in no way lesser to boys, villages in this belt, particularly Tusa and Dango, are yet to catch up with the theme.

<arttitle><u/>In these villages, girls still fight for the right pitch</arttitle>

The message of gender equality does not cut ice with locals.

CHANDIGARH: While the block buster may have succeed ed in sending across the message that girls are in no way lesser to boys, villages in this belt, particularly Tusa and Dango, are yet to catch up with the theme. It was hard to find female artists who were forthcoming to take up or volunteer for small roles in the movie that gives a strong message of gender equality .
Old timers TOI spoke to in the villages of Kilaraipur, Gujjarwal and Narangwal, where a major part of the movie was shot, said most of them were not open to the idea of their girls or daughters from the villages working in movies or doing theatre.“Most of the girl artists we noticed were brought in by the unit members on their own from other places,“ says Manmohan Singh, a resident of Killaraipur, who rented out his land for the sets of Dangal for one year.
Local artist Raju Dhuri who has been organising Ramleela in Ahmedgarh village for the last over two decades and has played most of the characters, including females, avers that the villagers are still reluctant to allow their daughters to take up outdoor activities or acting. Even in the past, some movies have been shot in the village vicinity and the shooting units faced problems in looking for female extras, he says.

“Even for doing Ramleela in the village, I have to bring female artists from cities like Jalandhar or Ludhiana or have to approach students of theatre department in the Panjab University,“ says Raju, who aspires to invite Bollywood actress Rekha or Shabana Aazmi to play lead charac ters in Ramleela to give a strong message of genr der equality to masses.
Hardeep Singh, the owner of the house where Dangal movie was shot in the village, however maintains that villagers' perception about women has changed for good in the last few decades.

“Around 20 years ago, it was not possible for a woman to go out alone and women had to be escorted by men while travelling.But now things have changed. The change is not as drastic here that the women would take up wrestling like the Phogat sisters but they are excelling in sports like hockey and basketball,“ says Singh who was a village sarpanch about three decades ago.
Kesar Singh, sarpanch of Kilaraipur buttresses his claims and maintains that in the annual rural olympics being held in the village, women's participation in sports, particularly athletics has been noteworthy. The village has a population of about 10,000 and the gender ratio is nearly equal, he claims.Organisers of the event however, maintain that there used to be hockey matches of the women's team during the event but had to be abandoned about one and a half decade ago. “There were problems of logistics in providing accommodation to women players and some people had reservations, due to which the event was excluded,“ admits Jagbir Grewal, one of the organisers of Kilaraipur.
The villagers however admit that there are very few avenues being provided to nurture young talented girls in sports or theatre.Most of the sports activities are restricted for girls till school level.“We have only one girl who got a job in police after performing well at the university level in sports quota,“ says government senior secondary school Gujjarwal principal Harwinder Singh. The school features in the movie as Phogat sisters' school in Haryana.
SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali and assembly candidate from Dakha constituency, who takes pride in getting big sports complexes for villagers as a part of his project to promote sports for youth too claims that more women are now coming forward to take part in sports. “The first sports stadium was made in Gujjarwal and residents were too enthusiastic about it. You visit any of the sports complexes and besides youth, you would find women taking a keen interest in sports and outdoor activities now,“ he says.
With inputs from Payal Dhawan

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