Kalki's Ribbon Asks Why Do I Have To Choose Between Baby And Career?
Kalki Koechlin is like a breath of fresh air for a society and industry, which has compartmentalized its “heroines,” or women in general. This time she is back with Rakhi Sandilya’s ‘Ribbon’ and with its trailer creating buzz around motherhood and babies, we can’t help but jump into this discussion.
A couple straddling through the modern day challenges and coping with their demanding work schedules have to work their way through an unexpected pregnancy. How are they able to cope with the new found responsibility of parenthood and, especially Kalki’s character which is fighting the age-old prejudices targeted towards working mothers at workplaces.
#MothersWhoWork as a tribe and their problems has seldom received the spotlight in mainstream movies before. But, with Ribbon the difficult conversation around women’s aspirations post motherhood has received the impending and necessary attention.
Kalki Koechlin’s recent Facebook post asking women to share their stories of how they made it work post motherhood is a bitter-sweet reminder of how things haven’t changed in all these years.
Women are said to be the natural “caregivers.” These labels reinforce the stereotype, that no matter what, at the end of the day it is the duty of a mother to tend to her babies. This just goes on like a vicious circle and comes back to bite us women, you know where!
“For too long now, all that mothers do to raise their kids, balance work and family -- it's just been considered a given.”
Kalki with her mother Francoise Armandie
Kalki shares how her mother steered through the chaotic years and managed her work and family with the help of certain permutations and combinations. These included quitting a teaching job and joining her husband’s hand-gliding business. The primary reason given by Kalki is that the workplace was inclusive to tag little Kalki along with her and work while doing so.
It is an aww moment and truly heart touching to know that our mothers have sacrificed so much for us, but we can’t ignore how much we take their aspirations for granted.
It is true, for too long we have internalized that women can make room for everything in theirlives. The stress that stems out of these expectations can also be handled by them because it is something they have been conditioned to do so. We keep forgetting though, no matter how well-trained you are, it still gets painfully difficult. And you just want to scream your heart out to get away from this chaos.
Ribbon talks about these daily life challenges working women face and why it is important to address them now. Simple, it is 2017 and we have got to get over our prejudices. Our workplaces can also play a significant role here by being inclusive and nurturing a work culture that supports this talent pool.
In the movie Ribbon, Kalki Koechlin and Sumeet Vyas of the Permanent Roommates fame, are playing the role of an urban couple dealing with these everyday challenges life throws at them.
Kalki opened up about her mother, so can you. Tell us how you are making it work or how your mum did. What are the weird questions thrown towards you when you took a decision regarding your work life? Let’s get the ball rolling and talk about work post motherhood.
Check out the trailer for the movie Ribbon releasing on 3rd November.
