Sexuality and substance abuse portrayals in item songs in Bollywood movies

ABSTRACT

The current research examined a specific genre of songs in Bollywood films called ‘item songs’ which are known for showing prominent Bollywood actresses surrounded by groups of men performing provocative and sexual dances. Specifically, 125 items songs released between 1991–2014 were examined using quantitative content analysis for the portrayals of sexuality, and substance. The findings indicate that most such portrayals depict thin, young, scantily clad women, performing sexualized dances for male spectators. Furthermore, most portrayals featured illicit substances such as alcohol and tobacco. Given the rising number of cases of violence against women in the Indian society and an uptake in substance abuse and related health conditions, it is pertinent to examine the role media portrayals may be playing in influencing the related attitudes and behaviours. The implications of the study are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Bollywood
• Hindi movies
• substance abuse
• gender
• sexuality
• India
• item songs
• stereotypes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Parul Jain

Parul Jain, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Her research explores message processing and effects of traditional media, such as news and entertainment programs, and social media platforms in the context of health to understand how media can be used for health promotion, disease prevention and management, and to reduce health disparities. Her work also looks at strategic communication campaign design and evaluation and international patient provider communication. Her more recent work has been in the context of substance abuse and prescription drug misuse and dependence. Dr. Jain’s research has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Communication, the Journal of Health Communication, Health Communication, Patient Education and Counseling, Journal of Communication in Healthcare, Asian Journal of Communication, Media Asia, among others. She is primarily a quantitative researcher with experience in surveys, experimental designs, content analysis, but also has expertise in conducting focus groups and interviewing. Outside of academe, she has worked in advertising as well as for various media outlets.

Enakshi Roy

Enakshi Roy is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism & Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University. Her research encompasses a wide range, from, internet and social media laws and policies to Indian media and Bollywood.

Nisha Garud

Nisha Garud is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at San Jose State University in California. Her research interests include new media, online journalism, public diplomacy and international communication.

Imran Mazid

Imran Mazid is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Eastern New Mexico University. His research interest focuses on computational social science methods, strategic public relations, campaigns management, social media analytics, and computer-aided content analysis.