The Patriarchal Nuances in Gatta Kushti

This post isn’t about the story of Gatta Kushti but about the patriarchal and sexist nuances in the movie. I’ve posted positively about Veera in a separate post.

1. A husband will mistreat and physically abuse his wife and she shouldn’t hit him back. So, only marry physically weaker women. 

This perception says how society assumes that domestic abuse against women will and must happen. But men should never put themselves at risk of being physically abused by their wives by marrying a female wrestler or a woman who knows karate. Society expects abuse after marriage more than love and affection. The perception that domestic violence against anyone is wrong is missing.

2. Women can’t protect themselves and others. If they do, they’re “rugged” girls who aren’t raised properly.

This is the core of the mindset of those surrounding the protagonist. Karunas’ character specifically scolds Keerthi for protecting her husband by beating up goons, hence humiliating him, indulging in fights, and blames her family for not raising her as a woman who submits to male authority. To which Keerthi gives a befitting reply.

3. Women mustn’t be more educated than men, their place is in the kitchen, and they must tolerate humiliation and dutifully serve their husbands.

Most men have this mindset only. They’re very insecure and expect women to be below them always. Then, they scold women for wanting men who earn more than them. They scold women for having the exact same mindset men have.

4. Women must dumb themselves down to the level of men’s failures and expectations.

In the movie, Keerthi hid her education qualification and created a dumber image of herself to appeal to Veera initially. This is what men expect as well - they want women to choose them even if their failures, note, earning below the minimum wage. And the women should be below them, aligning with their failures, adjusting to their failures, never going above them. And families of women endorse this - as long as women get married, anything goes.

5. Men don’t know how to obtain consent.

After Keerthi sheds her fake identity and sleeps touching Veera at night, he wonders if she wants to have sex or if she’d bash him up for touching her intimately. Just ask, men. Even if your wife isn’t a wrestler, ask her if she’d like to make love. Women must do the same. Women get into moods too.

6. Outbursts of sudden feministic wisdom - when it suits them.

Men and society these days are torn between patriarchy and feminism. When it suits them, they become feminists. Veera speaks feminism after finding out the truth about Keerthi coz he’s afraid she’ll beat him. The men who think women belong in the kitchen speak about gender equality when seeing women wanting men who make more than them - hypocrisy.

7. Men lose their honor and self-respect if their wives save their lives, and are in a higher position than them.

Even if the men are quiet, those surrounding him won’t keep quiet. They’d keep rubbing in about how their wives are “above them” and how they lost their manliness and became a "dead snake" because their wives saved them/earn more than them, etc.