Women in Sholay VS. The women of The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven

In my previous analysis of the films The Seven Samurai (1954) and The Magnificent Seven (1960) I had focused on the role of women in the otherwise masculine and male dominated plots of these two films. Because of the extreme masculinity of these stories, the inclusion of women and romantic subplots are particularly interesting, especially when considering the characterization of the women in each narrative. Although there are marked differences in the treatment of the roles of women between The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, both featured female-supporting roles, working within the frame of a romance between said woman and one of the seven heroes. The largest difference between the two women was essentially the that The Seven Samurai used the romantic story line to emphasize the tragedy and drama of the film, while in The Magnificent Seven it was treated as a happy and romantic sub-text. However I also found that, although both stories were basically sexist characterizations, The Seven Samurai focused more on the morality of the female character, and somehow threw this created a stronger female figure. The addition of Sholay (1975) into my analysis of women in these narratives showed yet another mutation of not only the original narrative from The Seven Samurai, but also the role of women. Unlike many other ideas that were condensed from the previous two films into Sholay, the role of the woman was drastically changed by splitting it up into two supporting female characters; Basanti and Radha. Interestingly enough, these two female roles do still echo many of the same themes that were present in Shino (The Seven Samurai) and Petra (The Magnificent Seven), but were essentially split in two between the characters of Basanti and Radha.

It is not surprising that the role of women in Sholay is different, and there are many factors as to why this is so. First it must be taken into account that Sholay has a very different tone in general from The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. The most obvious reason being that it is an Indian film set in India, as opposed to Japan or America. Although this transposition works surprisingly well, there are stylistic and cultural differences that change the overall story, most significantly threw the Bollywood style. Everything in Sholay is over the top; every aspect of the plot is emphasized and accentuated, including the melodrama and comedy. The use of color, music and dancing changes the tone of the film significantly from The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, and even though Sholay is still a tragic story, it is a less serious film then the first two. What is most important about this, as far as the role of women goes, is the way in which the story is presented reduces the masculinity of the film way down in comparison to the previous films. That is not to say the characters are not as masculine, or that the treatment of women is not sexist or from an obvious male perspective, but that the movie includes more elements which are typically associated with both masculinity and femininity.

In Sholay every part of the story is fashioned to create the highest possible interest, entertainment and drama. This is very true for the characters of Basanti and Radha, who represent two very different types of women. Unlike the women of The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, who embodied both rambunctiousness and rebellion, humility and tradition, Sholay essentially takes conflicts of thee one central female character and breaks it down into two. There is Basanti, the flirtatious, precocious and talkative women who seems to represent the more modern view of femininity. Although she is outspoken and independent, she also always maintains traditional honor and decorum. Opposite to Basanti is Radha, the tragic female figure. Widowed when Gabbar kills her husband (who is the son of Thakur), she is a silent figure who is often seen from a far, and has a sense of untouchable grief and piety. The splitting of the female role into two seems to continue in the over all theme of Sholay, which seeks to include almost anything possible into its plot; where in The Seven Samurai Shino does not have a happy ending, The Magnificent Sevens Petra does. In Sholay we have both happy and sad endings, with Basanti ending up with her love interest Veeru, but Radha having no resolution to her pain. One important similarity which is seen threw all three movies is the idea that one of the heroes falls in love with a villager, and the difference in status causes tension in their abilities to be together. In Sholay, this class struggle is still used, however it is the man (Veeru) who is not worth of the woman (Basanti). Veeru and Basanti end up together in a very similar fashion to Chico and Petra of The Magnificent Seven, however the hinted at love connection between Jai and Radha is never fully realized, and only ends in further sadness for Radha, an idea which is not directly taken from but which echoes the sadness of Shino.

The over all impression of women in Sholay differs from The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven because there seems to be a greater level for respect for the women in general in the movie. Although there are obvious objectification and sexism which happens in both the dialogue, and dance numbers, in general their characters have much more control and dignity than either Shino or Petra possess. Although both Basanti and Radha are ultimately dependant on men, and their main characterization revolves around their relationships and interactions with men, they also seem to be treated with greater respect as individuals. Wither this is simply a sign of the times (there is a large difference in attitudes towards women from 1954 to 1975), or cultural differences, it seems to me that women play a much more important role in general in Sholay by splitting the one female character up into two.