Lucifer: Was the song Raftaara misogynistic?

A month has passed since the release of the Mohanlal-starrer Malayalam film Lucifer. The Prithviraj-directorial tackles several topics—merged into the political thread scripted by Murali Gopy are vignettes of sexual exploitation, drug mafia and family feuds. The characters are strong and relatable, and the film makes ample use of Biblical and mythical references.

Incidentally, an item song in the movie sparked social media fuss. Not everbody viewed  Raftaara  with the same lens. Critics targeted Prithviraj for what they considered hypocrisy, given the stance he had earlier taken in support of women workers fighting against patriarchy in the industry. The question of whether this song was necessary rumbled across social media. Technically speaking, one must admit that the song was not even slightly misplaced. The dance bar in Mumbai, and the nail-biting climax happening in the background, heightens the contextual relevance of the song. The makers should definitely be appreciated for this merging of a high energy dance number with action scenes, which has helped successfully bypass any possibilities for lag.

The voice provided by Jyotsana and the notable dance moves by Waluscha De Sousan should certainly be appreciated. Yet, the visual depiction was a tad problematic. Some shots in the song specifically focussed on certain body parts of the female dancer, serving the purpose of objectifying her. Laura Mulvey’s theory of "male gaze" in films, and the utility of that lens, makes much more sense in that context. The woman, with emphasis on body, becomes a mere object of pleasure. Bear in mind, it is not the existence of this genre (if one can call it so) that is problematic; we have had songs like  Changaati Nannayal  (Aadu 2) in recent times that did not evoke this sense of objectification. This places Lucifer then in an awkward position. On one hand, it speaks strongly for women rights, specifically on topics of sexual violation and religious rites. Yet this becomes a problem when such a song caters solely to the needs of spectatorship. The problem of misogynistic representation then seeps in, not with reference to the context, but going by the cinematic representation of it.