Yami Gautam EXCLUSIVE: Homemakers are sad if they do not get respect

Your film is an arranged marriage, while today, according to many people, the marriage is ending. What is your opinion about this?

If I do not believe in marriage, then why would I do! I believe that if we look at our history, then all these things have been very important. Our elders were very intelligent, who made these customs. Many times we ignore them by saying old things. Some things can be old, which were necessary to see from a progressive perspective, but the basic things about the society are that how our society was formed? How did its emergence-development, how this custom became, they have very beautiful meanings, if we see them in the true sense. I think today’s generations go nervous very quickly, because in today’s digital world, everyone is becoming limited to themselves. Everyone has phones in their hands, someone is sitting nearby, even then they do not pay attention to it. Therefore, I deliberately try to keep myself as much as possible from the Internet and social media. I come back only during promotion. If I am not promoting, I log out because it is a habit that we have to control ourselves. The rest, I fully believe in the wedding institution and I would like to increase the same thinking in the next generation. I will expect that the large section of the society should not think in this way.

The film has a great effective monologue about the freedom of girls, in which you raise issues like not being able to take your own decisions in their house to not be able to walk on the streets from freedom. Which of them related to issues?

I think every girl must have gone through such a situation when she was made uncomfortable. I have suffered things like Eve-Tejing myself. Especially during Valentines Day, there was too much. There was a lot of red sweaters and hearts on the streets, Shero-Shayari used to increase. If there is a winter time in Chandigarh, then the darkness used to happen soon and we had the rules set that we have to come home before dark. It was so since I was too young. I remember, I used to go tuition and I used to have a flat look towards such boys. There is no expression not to react at all. I reacted only once, when someone tried to touch my hand, I slapped his/her hand loudly. I was on a rickshaw, she was on a scooter, then she ran away fearfully, but my way was that when much was done, she used to react only, otherwise Ignore.

By the way, which orthodox thinking or stereotype of women associated with women bothers you?

When a woman, who is a homemaker, is called what you do, you stay at home. We work outside, I feel very bad thinking, because that is the real job. The woman is probably able to do more but she sacrifices this because she has to build a house. Not a house, they build houses from the house, but mostly it is that Oh, you are a housewife. No …, she is becoming so many lives, husband, child, mother-in-law, she takes the responsibility of all of them and takes care of the needs of all of them. I have seen my mother how many sacrifices they have made, but never said anything, so I think those homemakers should get more importance. I always bothered me that if there is no lady working, will it be respected in the house. I am not talking about working women right now, his/her life is also very difficult. We women play a lot of roles together and it is expected that we are perfect in all, but we are also human, we are also emotion, so I think women need to be a little more sensitive towards women.

Is there any reason for the homemakers to not get that importance, is there any reason that you are constantly active in work even after the motherhood?

No, I do not think like this. I look at everyone with the same respect. If you are working, then you have a lot of respect in my mind, but if you feel that I have to spend a different way by staying at home or I need more at home. If it is not possible for me to make a balance between the household, then I handle the responsibility of the house, so I will also respect you more. Meaning, whatever choice you have, you are revered for me.