This book offers interdisciplinary examination of gender representations in cinema and SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) platforms in India. This book will identify how the so-called feminist enunciations in twenty-first century film and SVOD content in India are marked by an ambiguous entanglement of feminist and postfeminist rhetoric. Set against the backdrop of two significant contemporary phenomena, namely neoliberalism and the digital revolution, this book considers how neoliberalism, aided by technological advancement, re-configured the process of media consumption in contemporary India and how representation of gender is fraught with multiple contesting trajectories. The book looks at two types of media―cinema and SVOD platforms, and explores the reasons for this transformation that has been emerging in India over the past two decades. Keeping in mind the complex paradoxes that such concomitant process of the contraries can invoke, the book invites myriad responses from the authors who view the shifting gender representations in postmillennial Hindi cinema and SVOD platforms from their specific ideological standpoints. The book includes a wide array of genres, from commercial Hindi films to SVOD content and documentary films, and aims to record the transformation facilitated by economic as well as technological revolutions in contemporary India across various media formats.
Author(s): Runa Chakraborty Paunksnis, Šarūnas Paunksnis
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 283
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
Introduction
Postmillennial Hindi Cinema and SVOD Platforms
Representations of Gender
Overview of Chapters
References
Part I: Representations of Gender in SVOD Platforms
Chapter 2: Biopolitics of Hindutva: Masculinity and Violence in Leila and Aashram
Introduction
Hindutva’s Politics of Anxiety
Corporeal Discipline: Aryavarta as a Synonym of Masculine Anxiety
Corporeal Discipline II: The Grotesque Cruelty of Aashram
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Questioning the “Great” in “The Great Indian Wedding”: Streaming Feminism Through Bang Baaja Baaraat and Made in Heaven
Introduction
Bang Baaja Baaraat, Made in Heaven and “The Great Indian Wedding”
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: Four More Shots Please!: Postfeminism, SVOD Platforms, and “Empowered” Indian Women
Introduction
SVOD Platforms and the “Empowered” Indian Woman
Postfeminism and Neoliberalism
Four More Shots Please!
Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Lust Stories and the Politics of Private Viewing on SVOD Platforms
Introduction
Anthology Film, Netflix, and Private Viewing
Erotica and Narrative of Dominant Patriarchal Order
Visual Pleasure and Working-Class Woman
Homosocial Bromance Interrupted
Feminine Masquerade and Pleasure
Conclusion
References
Part II: Representations of Women in Postmillennial Hindi Cinema
Chapter 6: New Feminist Visibilities and Sisterhood: Re-interpreting Marriage, Desire, and Self-Fulfillment in Mainstream Hindi Cinema
Introduction
Arrival of Women-Centric Cinema and Sisterhood
Desire and Self-Fulfillment
Sisterhood and Buddy Bonding
Celebrating the Flaw Within the Perfect
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Gaze Averted: Interrogating the Portrayal of Menstruation in Hindi Cinema
Introduction
Menarche as a Sellable Site of Horror
Hindi Film Industry’s Tryst with Periods
Cultural Myths and Taboos
Women’s Time and Space
Male Redeemers and Female Receivers
Period. End of Sentence and a Beginning of Dialogue
Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: Gender and Nationalism: The Journey of Sehmat in Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi
Introduction
Hindi Cinema and Nationalism
Women and Nationalism
Conclusion
References
Part III: Women, Documentaries and Politics
Chapter 9: India’s Daughter: The Banality of Rape
Introduction
The Representation of Rape in the Documentary India’s Daughter
The Problem of the Liberal Feminist Perspective
The Power of Cinematic Expression
Feminism as a Discourse Genre
Language, Liberalism and Habitus in Postcolonial Society
Conclusion
References
Chapter 10: Deeply Personal Is Deeply Political: New Voices in Women’s Documentary Practice in Indian Subcontinent
Introduction
A Brief Note on Women’s Film Praxis in India
Contextual Setting and Background
Reconstitution of Self and Female Agency in the Filmic Text
Shape of Content
Conclusion
References
Part IV: Interview with Ashish Avikunthak: An Experimental Filmmaker
Chapter 11: On Cinematic Transformations, Gender, and Religion: An Interview with Ashish Avikunthak
Why Do You Refer to the Kind of Cinema You Make as the “Cinema of Commentary”?
What Kind of Challenges as a Filmmaker You Face due to Nonnormative Representation of the Body?
How Do You Conceptualize the Notion of Gender in Your Films?
Why Is Nudity a Significant Part of Your Films?
Some Screenings of Your Films in India Were Canceled: Can You Elaborate on This Issue?
As a Filmmaker, What Is Your Opinion About State-Sponsored Regulations to Censor Cultural Content, Especially in Contemporary India?
What Impact, Do You Think, the Regulation of SVOD Content Will Have on Cinematic Creativity in India?
Your Films Have Recently Been Released on MUBI: Do You Think the Digital Platforms Can Be an Effective Means of Reaching Out to Wider Audience?
How Important Is Audience to You?
How, Do You Think, Digital Streaming Platforms Transform the Notion of Audience?
Given the Oft-Controversial Portrayal of Gender Over the Past Several Years in SVOD Platforms, How Mature Do You Think Audience in India Is in Handling Non-censored Audiovisual Content?
How Do Your Films Challenge the Prevalent Notion of Hinduism?
Why Is Tantra So Integral to Your Films? What Does Tantra Mean to You?
A Tantrik Is Mostly Portrayed in Hindi/Indian Films as a Threatening Male Figure Evoking More Fear than Respect: How Do Your Films, Which Are Imbued in Tantra, Counteract This Dominant Image of a Tantrik?
What Cinematic Changes, Do You Think, Have Occurred in Your Work as a Filmmaker Since the First Film You Made? If So, Why the Changes, You Think, Have Occurred?
Your Cinema Is Often Categorized as Cinema of Prayoga: How Do You Use This Form to Comment on Contemporary Sociopolitical and Economic Issues?
Most of Your Films Use a Very Everyday, Mundane Backdrop Against Which Visuals Containing Esoteric Ideas Are Set: Is There Any Particular Reason for Organizing the Scene in This Manner?
Filmography
Index
