Nothing falls from the sky

Indian films have always had a confusingly cheesy title, and when I recommended Wrestlemania! Dad' was dismissed as silly by many of my friends, and with this 'Mystery Superstar', when I first heard the title, my first thought was "Can I watch this?"
But Aamir Khan did not disappoint me, this is also a film that focuses on social issues in India, dealing with domestic violence, the status of women and other social issues that hit home. If this film had been made first, and then Wrestlemania! Dad! it would have been better for audiences outside India to understand why a father would "selfishly" choose his daughter's path in life "regardless of her freedom of choice": because in India, where the status of women is low, women do not have the right to have dreams and their lives have long been Their lives are set on a course of study, marriage and child-rearing.
The story is slightly clichéd: born into an extremely patriarchal family, Yinshiyaje (Seyla Warsi) loves to sing and has a talent for it, but her father Farooq (Raj Arjun), the head of the family, forbids her to show her face. Her mother, Najma (Mame Vijay), struggles to provide Yinshiya with every freedom despite constant domestic abuse, trying her best to maintain a modicum of hope in a desperate life. With her amazing talent and hard work, Yinshiya is appreciated by the singer Shakti (Aamir Khan) and eventually stands on the podium, breaking away from the conservative, traditional head of the family along with her mother.
The film, while not very impressive in its plot or profound in its lines to us, bravely touches on sensitive Indian social issues such as domestic violence and the status of women, and is certainly another blow to the heart for India. From The Three Stooges, which explored education, to My God, which explored religion, to Wrestlemania! Dad', 'Wrestlemania' and 'Mystery Superstar', Aamir Khan has always been admired for his focus on society and for exposing the many problems in India.
India is a country where women are generally underprivileged, and Yoonhya was born into a Muslim family headed by a man who is often on business in Saudi Arabia. You can imagine how deeply influenced Yoon Hia's father was by the ultra-conservative religious ideology of Saudi Arabia. He forbids her to enter singing competitions and even cuts off her strings, partly because he believes that the whole point of being a woman is to study well and then get married, not to have a hobby, and partly because women are not allowed to perform music or dance in public in ultra-conservative Islamic countries, a rule that would have influenced Yinshiya's father.
The film also has resonance when viewed on a global scale. These are the same social issues that are frequently played out, especially in the Muslim countries of the Middle East, where women struggle to survive in a society that is corrupt, archaic and malicious. But there are countless other women in the world who have been living their whole lives, or even generations, in a life without self, with no hope, no hope, no hope.
Feminism has a long way to go, and even though it is now the 21st century, the problems women face are still as numerous as ever.
(i) No choice of marriage
Both Yinshiya's mother and her aunt, were married by her father.
The aunt, who barely had any lines, said, "Having lived my whole life like this, I want to ask why I was born in the first place." Even in her old age, she still has not reconciled herself to the tragedy of her life, and from these words, one can imagine the misfortune that befell her in this life.
Yet the tragedy of two generations has been passed on to Yinsheya's generation as well. Nothing falls from the sky, and the silence and compromise of one generation results in the next being forced to live in the shadow of male power. Immediately after the decision to work in Saudi Arabia, her father showed Yinshiya a picture of a man and told her that this was the man she would spend her life with.
Isn't that funny? Perhaps it is hard for us in a free love society to imagine that such an old-fashioned and corrupt phenomenon still exists. But in these extremely backward societies, women are not seen as human beings, they are just part of the property, either belonging to their fathers or to their husbands. And a woman's marriage is nothing more than a transaction between her father and her future husband; it has nothing at all to do with love or companionship.
For this purpose, society does not allocate too much educational resources and job opportunities to women. It is more important for women to learn to do housework, learn to cook and learn to serve their husbands. Extra skills and hobbies are inexplicable and unacceptable. Thus, Yinshiya's father said that Yinshiya's task was simply to study well and then find someone to marry.
(ii) No financial resources
After being brutally beaten, Yinshiya's mother still refused her daughter's offer of divorce. Because "what Indian man doesn't" and because "what will we eat without your father".
It is true that the economic base determines the status of the family. In many societies, women are denied the right to work outright, not only because their husbands do not allow them to work, but also because society does not recruit women workers, or pays them very little, forcing them back into the home.
Yinshiya's mother has always lived in such a humble situation, not daring to say "no" even when she was beaten and bruised. When her daughter wanted to buy something, all she could do was steal a little money from her husband's wallet or sell what little she had left. Other than that, there was nothing else she could do. She could not read or write and had no skills to survive because she was never taught them. For such women, divorce and social pressure are more frightening than domestic violence. They have never existed as subordinates and have never been in control of anything themselves.
These societies are cruel and strangle the roots of women's independence at the source. Without economic resources, freedom and equality are nothing, and you don't even have the courage to say "no".
(iii) Domestic violence
Yinshiya's father is like a king in the house, eating without washing his hands after taking off his socks, and getting furious when the food doesn't suit his taste. The film doesn't show the violence too directly, and the audience, like the two children, warily listens to the sounds coming from the living room in the next room. The sound is frightening and terrifying, but there is nothing they can do but accept it, for the abuser is the source of the family's wealth and the guarantee that a few of them will have a mouth to feed. Angry but unable to fight back, they could only watch as their mother was punched and kicked by this beast.
The two children came running out of the room when they heard the loud clang of items breaking. Three weak people, facing one strong man, with no other recourse than to beg and cry, could not fail to make one feel nauseous.
But domestic violence is not an isolated phenomenon, it is far too common, more common than I could have imagined. Countless women are still living under those fists and sticks, with nothing else in their lives but obedience and trembling. Their way of resistance is probably to drink pesticides and leave the world that has never treated them well.
(4) Not worthy of dreams
There are two episodes in the film that stand out to me. One is when the father cuts the strings of his guitar, and the other is when the father tells Yoon Hee-ah to leave her computer upstairs by herself.
In this father's eyes, women, at bottom, do not deserve to be born, let alone the luxury of dreams.
This is the life faced by women in Indian society, Muslim women in the Middle East, women in backward countries. You can't even make your own decisions about marriage, you can't even provide for yourself, let alone anything else. You can't do anything but watch as the beast picks the strings of your beloved guitar, one by one.
When Yoon Hia stepped on stage at the awards ceremony, she said "some people are not allowed to have dreams" and "I got my dreams from my mother". She succeeds, and the process is as dogged as a Cinderella story, with a gifted singing voice and a bourgeoisie. But this is, after all, a movie. It is easy to think that most oppressed women will not have the talent or the opportunities that Yin Xiya has, and that most of them, live a life just like Yin Xiya's mother and aunt, emasculating their personal will and turning themselves into a humble servant.
(v) Victims and perpetrators make common cause
When Yinsheya gets help from the singer Shakti to find a famous divorce lawyer and bring back the divorce papers, the conversation between mother and daughter takes a heavy toll.
Her mother said that her father had let her get married without asking her, and that Yinsheya had likewise let her get a divorce without asking her. In this moment, she finally roars out the choice she expected as a human being, but it is painfully misused. Yinsheya wanted to take her out of her misery, but what she didn't expect was for the victim to take the side of her abuser in this inspiring moment. She shouted at Yinshiya, "what Indian man doesn't" and "what are we going to eat without your father".
Perhaps even worse than domestic violence is the fact that the victim does not even realise that she is a victim and believes that "this is the way society is" and that "there is nothing wrong with beating people up". Because they have no financial resources and have had no choices since childhood, they are used to a life of subservience, and when they are really given a choice, they are afraid and resistant.
People want to help you out of the abyss, but you think the abyss is the world. What could be sadder than that?
Yinsheya's mother represents the process of women's self-awareness. As a result of their upbringing, many of the "injustices" and even outrageous social phenomena have been rationalised in their minds. In fact, if they don't give themselves excuses, how can they face this fucked up life? It is painful to awaken to one's own consciousness, cruel to have one's ideas shattered, powerless to fight back with nothing, but isn't it these women who, through their hardships, are brave enough to break with tradition and rise up against it?
Nothing falls from grace, and if each generation is silent, then such tragedies will continue for generations to come, with no end in sight.
(v) A woman has various roles, but never is she herself
When the mother was pregnant with Yinsheya, her husband told her to have an abortion, saying "what's the use of having a girl". This is what those men are saying about women.
In the life of the couple, these women have no place, they are not cared for, they are the "nanny" who is always busy in the kitchen, they are the punching bag for the man when he is upset, they are the fertility machine. Their status is so low that they cannot lift their heads or make a sound because the man holds the financial resources and they do not know how to live without him. These are women who have spent their lives as the daughters of others, the wives of others, the mothers of others, but not as themselves.
"Self" is a luxury for them. When Yin Xiya sings "Who am I?" in front of her computer with a guitar and a black robe, she is alluding to the confusion and disorientation of this category of women who are not taken seriously at all. They are powerless and desperate, unaware of the meaning and value of their existence.
What is the point of going to bed and waking up every day if you don't have a dream?" are the words Yinsheya cries out to her cowardly mother, "We have everything under control". These are not profound words, but they are the kind of words that women in that society would find difficult to shout. After all, in a backward-minded place, "value" and "self-actualisation" were luxury words, men didn't see women as human beings, and women didn't even see themselves as human beings themselves.
But the good thing is that this is a film and idealism can be planted at will. When Yoon Hia's mother finally completes her self-awakening and bravely says "no" to her husband at the airport, it is exactly the kind of struggle the audience wants to see. She says, "That's not rubbish, that's Yoon Hee Hae's guitar", then signs the divorce papers and leaves the airport with her daughter and son. It's a scene that makes you cry out for joy.
As I watched the film, I was often struck by something that reminded me of the women I had met in the Middle East and their lives. They almost always marvelled that I could "travel so far away by myself", because in those societies, women cannot find work or are paid very little, they are always busy in the kitchen, have no economic or social status, and are dependent on their families. Their lives depended on the character of their husbands. They are caught up in the reality of society and bury their ideals of "self-fulfilment", burying their heads in the kitchen and repeating the process of washing, cutting and cooking day in and day out.
When this is the case, only the bravest, most "extreme", most persistent and most capable girls like Yin Xiya can fight successfully. In an ultra-masculine society, it is too difficult for women to change their fate in a moderate way; the only way to break free is to be simple, brutal and passionate.
But when we see an uplifting success story, we must also remember that there are millions of other victims, left behind in the tide of time.
To be able to choose your own life, to make money and to gain social status is a life that women in many places would never dare to think about.
I strongly disapprove of Chinese women being housewives, although one could take the high ground and say that housewifery is also a choice. But in many societies, women have no other choice than to be housewives. We wouldn't have the 'choice' we have today if it weren't for the first women to leave their families and start earning their own money, and if it weren't for the increasing number of women who dare to follow in their footsteps. Even though women can work in China's big cities today, there are still countless voices telling you that "it is better to earn more than to marry well", countless voices reminding you that "a woman's prime years are only a few", and countless voices teaching you that There are still countless voices telling you that "there is no need for girls to pursue ideals". Our society is still far from being equal and not very tolerant, but at least we have the right to work and to earn money.
In the end, all these tragedies mentioned above stem from a lack of economic foundation. If you have money, power and prestige, you will naturally not face these injustices mentioned above, and you will naturally have the courage to file for divorce at any time when you are unhappy with your marriage.
Money is not everything, but without it you can't. The opportunity to work, to be financially independent, are luxuries in many places, and now that these luxuries are right in front of us, they are our weapons against the world and for power for ourselves, so how can they be easily surrendered.
We are not starting from a low base, but we still have a long way to go. Nothing falls from the sky, and neither does the right to choose. So we need to cherish it and build on it to expand it.
Aamir Khan said: "If Gandhi, Tilak, Bose, Nehru and Azad the Wise were still alive, how would we face them? Did our forefathers embrace their dreams and fight for freedom to build an India like the one we have now?"
I have great love and respect for this actor who has the courage to take on social responsibility and use his influence to lead the people of India to reflect and change. He has made cinema not just a visual work of art, but a light that enlightens, inspires and enlightens.
In the future, may no one "worry" about women's frail youth or their lifelong concerns.
May we have the right to marry, the right to divorce and the right not to marry, and may we no longer be afraid of the passage of time or of the fine lines on our faces.
May we be confident that life can still shine in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.