(Re) Thinking women in cinema: The changing narrative structure in Bollywood

ABSTRACT

Over a period of time, Cinema has become an emphatic medium to introduce some major questions in society. The changing depiction of women in Indian Cinema from being labelled as weak and objectified to being shown as strong lead characters have been quite evident. Though there has been a considerable attempt to show the changing status of women in Bollywood in recent films like Piku (2015), Nil BateySannata (2016) and Anarkali of Arrah (2017) with leading female characters who are independent and move beyond the lines of gender stereotypes and patriarchal influences but the lack of complex narrative structure and the lucidity in the narrative techniques fail to make the desired critical impact.

KEYWORDS:

• Cinema
• individuality
• resistance
• new woman
• Bollywood
• narrative structure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Mulvey, Laura. ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.’ The Feminism and Visual Cultural Reader. Ed. Amelia Jones. London & New York: Routledge, 2005. 44–52. Print.

2. Sita, wife of Lord Rama is the Hindu goddess who denotes fortune, prosperity, success and happiness. She is esteemed as the paragon of spousal and feminine virtues for all Hindu women.

3. In the Epic, the Mahabharata, Kunti is the daughter of Shurasena (ancient ruler of Mathura), first wife of King Panduand mother of Karnaand Pandavas.

4. Ganga, according to Hindu Mythology the River Ganges is considered sacred and is worshipped as the Goddess.

5. girl’s fault.

6. ‘Older friends’. Mid-day. 13 January 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.

7. http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2013/11/world/india-rape/ – -Basu, Moni (8 November 2013). ‘The Girl Whose Rape Changed A Country’. CNN. Retrieved 7 December 2013.

8. State of Literacy (2011): Chapter 6, page 115.

9. http://fine-essay.com/essays/film-studies/reviewing-indian-culture-and-society-senarios-film-studies-essay.html.

10. http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ZnJyZwKFmJs7dNTs4UFx/full.

11. Dancing with the wolves: A peek into the life of Bihar’s Anaarkali of Ara. HT 30 April 2017.

12. A political leader.

13. Dancing and Singing.

14. http://www.bjp.org/images/bjp_manifesto_an_abridged_version_english_26.04.14.pdf page 16. BJP election manifesto 2014.

15. BJP election manifesto 2014, offers to build 100 new cities.

16. Hall, Stuart. Presentations: Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage, 1997. Pp1.

17. CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) certifies films in four different categories. Films certified in ‘A’ category are restricted to Adult viewing only. These films contain content that includes heavy and strong violence, strong sexual scenes, harsh and abusive language, and sometimes controversial and adult themes.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Benazir Manzar

Benazir Manzar is pursuing her PhD. from Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad. She completed her Graduation and Post Graduation in English from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She was a part of NESA Exchange program to USA. Her Areas of Interest are popular culture, films, youth Culture.

Email: [email protected]

Aju Aravind

Dr. Aju Aravind is an Assistant Professor in the department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad.

Email: [email protected].