Meghna Majumdar

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.  

Meghna Majumdar, a graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata in Mass Communication and Videography, pursues her Masters in Media and Communication Studies from Christ University, Bangalore.  Her work experience includes Influence, an e-magazine company, and Help India, a NGO.  Meghna was part of Asian Age, as a reporter and contributed in Project and Video unit of The Hope Foundation, Kolkata. Her research area interest includes Women Representation in Bollywood Cinema and Theatre as a tool to promote social awareness.