Remember Betaal from the Vikram and Betaal (V&B) series that used to be played on DD National ? Though in this series Betaal (the ghost) appeared like a man, i sincerely doubt !
Most of the bollywood horror movies (like Veerana) have unhappy witches roaming around at night with the sole intention of wooing innocent men. Bhola bhala boys get fooled and eventually get killed by these chudails on the very same night but the irony is these guys who get killed, never turn into ghosts. Now Betaal was a ghost and given the bollywood fact Betaal was probably a woman
Vikram's task was to carry Betaal from one end to another in silence. No woman can stand silence, they have to talk, it does not matter whether a man wants to listen or not. In V&B series, Betaal keeps talking (or rather tells stories) even though Vikram remains silent. Another reason to justify my doubt
When a woman shares her problem, man feels obliged to solve that problem and gives a solution. Based on lot of videos (about understanding women) that i have seen, i now realize that all we (men) have to do is shut up and listen. I tried following that as well and decided to be a good listener but that also failed because according to my wife, my newly acquired silence actually meant i didn't care anymore (catch 22 !!!). In the V&B series, Betaal's behavior was quite similar to that of a woman, Betaal would tell a story with a riddle and if Vikram does not solve the riddle then Betaal would cut his head and if Vikram broke his silence to answer the question then Betaal would fly back to the starting point (and Vikram would need to restart his task). Only a woman can come up with such innovative torture techniques :-). Yet another reason for my doubt as you can see that Betaal's behavioral traits were more girlish or rather womanish
But in spite of all my doubts i still think Betaal was a man. As per mythology, Betaal or Vetala is the head of all spirits and vampires and all kinds of pisachas. Now, can a woman be in such a top position? I guess even after death it would be difficult, such is the male dominance in this society. Yes, there are exceptions and few women have made it big but majority of the women continue to be a man's slave. Hopefully the society at large would start treating women equally and lets be aware that whenever they have got an opportunity, they surprise you by managing the career, home, spouse, kids, extended family, etc etc.....pretty well. how many men can do that ?
Happy Women's day to all the ladies out there !!
