She did it her way: An analysis of female rebellion in contemporary Bollywood movies

Abstract

Mainstream Hindi cinema, or Bollywood, has often clustered female characters into a finite number of gendered tropes, from damsels in distress, Hindu goddesses, virtuous wives and mothers, to vamps, molls, vindictive mothers-in-law, and justice-seeking avengers. Recently, women-centric cinema has attempted to depart from such stereotypical portrayals, with movies such as Queen, Pink, and Tumhari Sulu. The present study investigates the nature of female rebellion in women-centric Bollywood movies from 2007 to 2017, delineated by a major act of rebellion undertaken by the female protagonist(s), the antecedents to the major act, the immediate reactions to, and the cinematic consequences of this act. Based on these criteria, four coders independently assessed 13 movies depicting rebellion in women-centric Bollywood movies. Quantitative analyses revealed a consistent story arc of rebellious depictions across movies. Qualitative analyses showed that major acts of rebellion occurred subsequent to negative antecedents such as disrespect, lack of freedom, abandonment, and inequality. Overall, the study contributes to understanding the contemporary portrayal of female rebellion in Bollywood.

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