Her trip abroad: Middle-class travels and feminism in women-centric popular Hindi movies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the significance of the trip abroad and its limits in two women-centric popular Hindi movies, English Vinglish (2012) and Queen (2014). The two movies are similar in that the female protagonist’s trip is central to the plot, and as the female character leaves her middle-class Hindu family in India and experiences new environments and friendships in the West, she realizes and renegotiates both her own location and identity. In spite of these ventures, the female protagonist remains focused on gaining self-respect and loyal to the nation. As a result, the two women-centric popular Hindi movies remain limited in scope, assuming a shift in the Indian patriarchal system rather than challenging the framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Popular films
• wedding
• family
• hybridity
• globalization
• ‘new Indian woman’

Acknowledgments

I thank Gita Rajan and anonymous reviewers for their generous feedback on several drafts of this paper. This work was supported by Seoul National University under Grant 100-20150016.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. While the term Bollywood is widely utilized in the context of film studies, I use the term ‘popular Hindi movies’, as the two movies discussed in this article do not adhere to the common structure or vocabulary of Bollywood movies.

2. English Vinglish premiered in 2012 and was heralded as a comeback vehicle for the actress Shridevi, who had garnered enormous popularity during the 1990s. Queen premiered in 2014, and in addition, several movies such as Kahaani (2012) and Shuddh Desi Romance (2013), Gulaab Gang (2014), or Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016) can be considered commercially successful movies of the same period, with similarly women-centric plots.

3. English Vinglish was highly successful in India, and with director Gauri Shinde’s admission that she had her mother in mind while making the movie (“English Vinglish inspired by my mom”), it resonated among younger urban women, as well as older female audiences. Queen was also highly successful commercially and received several major awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress for Kangana Ranaut, at the 60^th Filmfare Awards of India.

4. The Bechdel Test is a means of assessing the representation of female characters in fiction. According to a comic strip of 1985 by Alison Bechdel, a movie requires the following three attributes to satisfy the minimum agency of a female character: 1) at least two women, 2) who talk to each other, 3) about something besides a man (www.bechdeltest.com). Both English Vinglish and Queen are listed as passing the Bechdel Test on the website. However, one reviewer contended that Queen does not fulfil the criteria, as most of the dialogue between the two female characters is related to Rani’s fiancée (http://bechdeltest.com/view/5280/queen/). While recent studies have also incorporated this assessment into contemporary Hindi films (Kapoor, Bhuptani, & Agneswaran), it should be regarded as only one means of evaluating the representation of female characters.

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Hawon Ku

Hawon Ku is an Associate Professor of Indian Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, Seoul National University, Korea. She teaches modern and contemporary South Asian art and culture, and her recent research focuses on female patronage of paintings and temples in 18^th- and 19^th-century India. Following a research project on mass culture and Bollywood, she has also been writing on popular Hindi movies.