This dissertation focuses on a textual analysis of the representation of femininity
and female sexuality in popular Hindi cinema. Popular Hindi cinema has been a
major point of reference for Indian culture in the last century, and will
undoubtedly persist in the 21 st century. To an extent, Hindi cinema has shaped
and reflected the burgeoning transformation of a 'traditional India' to a 'modern
India'. (I use the term modern to reflect the impact the west has had on Indian
society, and how this impact in turn is reflected on screen). Issues surrounding
gender and sexuality tend to be avoided, if not subverted in Hindi cinema. More
specifically, issues surrounding femininity and female sexuality in Hindi cinema is
either not recognised or 'mis-recognised' on screen. Feminist studies, in relation
to film, have taken up these issues, to a large extent in the west (cf. Hollows,
2000; Kaplan, 2000; Macdonald, 1995). Chatterji (1998) maintains that the
interest of feminists in film began as a general concern for the underrepresentation
and mis-representation of women in cinema. This study explores
issues surrounding the 'presences' and 'absences' (as identified by Chatterji) in
the representations of female sexuality and femininity in popular Hindi cinema.
The project offers a comparative study of the films produced by two popular Hindi
cinema filmmakers. Pooja Bhatt's Jism (The Body) (January, 2003) is analysed in
comparison to Karan Johar's Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham (Sometimes happiness,
sometimes sadness) (November, 2000). The study compares, contrasts and
analyses the ways in which each of these films (and thus, how each filmmaker)
positions female sexuality and femininity in popular Hindi cinema.
Keywords: popular Hindi cinema, femininity, female sexuality, gender,
representation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/10485 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Ramlutchman, Nisha. |
| Contributors | Reddy, Vasu. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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