Paper: Changing
Representation of Women in Recent Bollywood Films
Abstract
Cinema deals with gender representation in a consensually problematic manner where the provider of the image as well as the receiver of the medium believes that the space is designed to give women her place only in a particular way. For almost a century, popular Hindi films rarely dealt with women issues and if at all it attempted to do so, the role of women were restricted to be either that of nurturer or the epitome of sacrifice and forgiveness. Films like Mother India or Bandini glorified woman’s ability to give up her choices and even life for the sake of her family and dear ones. This scenario, however, has gradually changed post LPG (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization). Today, we come across films where a woman not only expresses her choice but she is also unapologetic about herself. Coming of age films are now starting to represent women in a much stronger light with characters who are confident, independent and ambitious. This paper examines the issue of women and changing representation of women in nine Indian Hindi films in the recent past (2014-16) using content analysis as method and feminism as a framework, highlighting the strength of a woman, not only in terms of being physically strong but also being mentally resilient .
Aasita Bali, Assistant Professor in Christ University, Bangalore, holds MSC from Maharaja Sayajirao University and MPhil from Christ University. Her Research publications include "Female Body in Indian Cinema - A Reflection, Lingua-International Journal Linguistics, Literature and Culture, August 2014, "Gulaab Gang: Is It about the Battle of Sexes or Women Empowerment or Clichés?" Indian Research Journal, December, 2014, and "Politics of Twitter Engagement," Media Matters, September 2015.
