Stree to Pet kata shaw: Misogyny in the paranormal universe

Horror thrillers! It's an entire genre of disturbing background noises, an old house, many jumpscares, and ghostly figures.

Your heart skips a beat with those jumpscares, and the whole time, you have a hunch that something terrible will happen. Maybe an evil force with an eerie voice is laughing at you. And the storyline somehow is the same; a vengeful FEMALE ghost wants to take revenge and dies saying, "Mein wapas ayungi, mein iska badla zarur lungi" (I'll come back, I'll take revenge for this) Did you notice in movies most ghostly figures are female?

Can you name some male ghosts? The film "Stree 2" has "Sarr kata", 1920, Haunted, Ararat, Tumbbad and Paheli has male ghosts. There is misogyny in the Paranormal universe, too.

The movie Krishna Cottage, a classic Bollywood movie, ticks "all yes" to the romance, drama, envy, and revengeful beautiful ghosts list. Everything was going fine between Manav and Shanti until the ghost Disha came to "yes tick" her wishlist of having Manav.

Even if "Pari" sounds fairy, Anushka Sharma plays the role of Ifrit djinn, a powerful demon that can be found lurking around ruins and temples.

They live and marry amongst humans, but that doesn't necessarily make them human-like. They are ruthless. Quite evident, they are ghosts, after all. 

Or Manjulika from Bhool Bhulaiyaa, who wanted the blood of Maharaja Vibhuti Narayan because he killed her fiance Shashidhar. Okay, convincing! Even Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has Manjulika, who wants revenge on her sister for killing her. And you are living under a rock if you aren't aware of the buzz of the stree.

The chudail (Na Leeba) here was a prostitute who was disrespected and male chauvinism took her lover's life. She died and haunted males there. This movie subtly said to respect women, but let's first make women a horrifying creature. 

Moving on with Dakini, mainly termed as Daayan or witch. Ek Thi Daayan movie shows how a Daayan haunts illusionist Emran Hashmi. Her power is primarily stored in "Choti" or hair.

And can anyone forget the gorgeous Rosie from the movie Talaash? She was a regular prostitute who was left to die alone by 3 men. This vengeful spiritual force wanted to get justice after her death because women do not get in any way, and if becoming a ghost can get you one, what is wrong here? 

Or what about Maya from "Horror Story?" Everyone in that asylum died, but she! Only she has to take responsibility for being a ghost.

Let's have a look at the Dhallywood industry. In BhootPori, a widow and her father were wrongly killed, but her father didn't turn into a ghost. Only Banalata was vengeful for her death. But she was a sweet, naive ghost, not like others who will kill you at once sight.

Debi, written by the late Humayun Ahmed, was about a minor, Renu, who was once raped and now fighting with her traumatic past. But is this all? How can she smell any accident? How can she predict the future? 

Or Nuhash Humayun directed "Pet kata Shaw" except for "Mishty Kichhu" All three stories had female ghosts, be that "Ei Building Ae Meye Nishedh", "Loke Bole" or "Nishir Daak". 

And even if it's a baby ghost, it has to be a girl. In the movie Ring, Samara, a creepy little girl with long, dark hair and a chilling crawl, gives nightmares and ensures the entire generation is afraid of bad hair days. Her adoptive mother killed her, but who needs rest when you can just crawl out of the TV and scare people to death?

Moving on with the cult classic of the Hollywood industry, The Conjuring Universe ensures the spirit world is running a "No Boys Allowed" policy. Bathsheba is a witch who has a bone to pick with whoever moves into her death, and her favourite pastimes are possession, levitation and making sure no one gets a good night's sleep.

And let's not forget, if a doll is haunted, it has to be by a female ghost cause no Woody would be interested in terrorizing others. Annabelle revolves around how a woman committed suicide, and she wants to spend her eternity inside a porcelain toy, spooktacular theory, right? What about "The Nun"? It's pretty explanatory with the name. 

These are just a few of the female ghosts, and there are thousands of movies where it is always female. Whether they are wronged in life, have a tragic love story, have sheer revenge, or can't catch a break, those ghostly girls prove that anything men can do, women can do scarier.

Males are like those untouchable supernatural creatures like vampires or werewolves because of who wants to be a daayan, witch, or some random thirsty spirit. 

Another thing the writer can't understand is if there's a spooky sound at night, why do they have to shout, "Who's there?" As if the ghost would say, "I'm a 100-year-old witch; I was just checking your fridge to have something nice." 

The writer loves horror movies. Share your fav horror movie with her at [email protected]