Abstract
his chapter explores the intersections of religion and fi lm and discusses the interpretation of gender and Hinduism in Indian fi lm from the perspective of mythological and ideological criticism.1 The Bollywood fi lms that I deal with are Ham apke haim. kaun (Who Am I to You), Kuch kuch hota hai (There Is Something), Khalnayak (Villain), Dil cahta hai (The Heart Wants), Devdas (Devdas), and Ham dil de cuke sanam (I Have Already Given My Heart Away). It is characteristic of these fi lms that no matter how modern the subject matter is—for example, arranged marriage versus love marriage, the ideal of woman living according to stridharma (“traditional norms, duties, rules, roles of womanhood”) versus the ideal of woman aspiring for human happiness—the notion of the feminine is mostly conservative and traditional. How can we explain this fascination for traditional archetypes of the feminine? In this chapter, I deal with Hindu images of the feminine and myth-models for women and explore how Bollywood fi lms have represented gender and translated Hindu myth-models into social role models for women. Next, I examine the ideological implications of the representation of gender and the ensuing conservative remythologizing of contemporary Indian culture by the media.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Devdds. 2002. Direction: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 117 minutes.
Dil cähtä hai. 2001. Direction: Farhan Akhtar, 183 minutes.
Ham äpke haim kaun. 1994. Direction: Sooraj R. Barjatya, 206 minutes.
Ham dil de cuke sanam. 1999. Direction: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 188 minutes.
Kuch kuch hotä hai. 1998. Direction: Karan Johar, 177 minutes.
Khalndyak. 1993. Direction: Subhas Ghai, 190 minutes.
Secondary Sources
Agarwal, Bina, ed. Structures of Patriarchy: State, Community and Household in Modernising Asia. Delhi: Kali for Women, 1988.
Babb, Lawrence, and Susan S. Wadley. Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
Chakravarti, Uma. “The World of Bhaktin in South Indian Traditions—The Body and Beyond,” In Women in Early Indian Societies, ed. Kumkum Roy Delhi: Manohar, 1999. 299–321.
Chatterji, Shoma. The Indian Woman in Perspective. Delhi: Ajanta, 1993.
Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004.
Denton, L. Teskey “Varieties of Hindu Female Asceticism.” In Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women, ed. J. Leslie. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1991. 211–233.
Derné, Steve. “Market Forces at Work: Religious Themes in Commercial Hindi Films,” In Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia, ed. Lawrence Babb and Susan S. Wadley. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. 191–216.
Dimitrova, Diana. Gender, Religion and Modern Hindi Drama. Montreal; London; and Ithaca, NY: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2008.
Diwan, Paras. “The Hindu Marriage Act 1955.” In The International and Comparative law Quarterly 6, no. 2 (April 1957): 263–272.
Erndl, Kathleen. “The Goddess and Women’s Power: A Hindu Case Study.” In Women and Goddess Traditions in Antiquity and Today, ed. K. King. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1997. 17–38.
Erndl, Kathleen. “Is Shakti Empowering for Women? Reflections on Feminism and the Hindu Goddess.” In Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South Asian Goddesses, ed. A. Hiltebeitel and K M. Erndl. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
Falk, Nancy, and Rita Gross, eds. Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious lives. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2001.
Feldhaus, Anne, ed. Images of Women in Maharashtrian literature and Religion. Albany: SUNY, 1996.
Gatwood, Lynn E. Devi and the Spouse Goddess. Riverdale, MD: Riverdale Company, 1985.
Gross, Rita. “Hindu Female Deities as a Resource for the Contemporary Rediscovery of the Goddess.” The Book of the Goddess Past and Present, ed. Carl Olson. New York: Crossroad, 1983. 217–230.
Gupta, S. “Women in the Shaiva/Shakta Ethos.” In Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women, ed. J. Leslie. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1991. 193–209.
Hancock, M. “The Dilemmas of Domesticity: Possession and Devotional Experience among Urban Smärta Women.” In From the Margins of Hindu Marriage, ed. Lindsey Harlan and Paul Courtright. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. 60–91.
Harlan, Lindsey, and Paul Courtright, eds. From the Margins of Hindu Marriage, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Hawley, John S., and Donna M. Wulff, eds. Devi: Goddesses of India. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
Hawley, John S., and Donna M. Wulff. The Divine Consort: Rddhd and the Goddesses of India. Berkeley: Religious Studies Series; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1982.
Hess, Linda. “Rejecting Sita: Indian Responses to the Ideal Man’s Cruel Treatment of His Wife.” Journal ofthe American Academy of Religion 67, no. 1 (1999): 1–32.
Hiltebeitel, Alf, and Kathleen M. Erndl, eds. Is the Goddess a Feminist? The Politics of South Asian Goddesses. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
Hoover, Stewart M., and Knut Lundby. Rethinking Media, Religion and Culture. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 1997.
Joy, Morny, and Eva K. Neumaier-Dargyay, eds. Gender, Genre and Religion. Waterloo, ON: Wilfried Laurier University Press, 1995.
Khanna, M. “The Goddess-Women Equation in Säkta Tantras,” In Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval and Modern India, ed. M. Bose. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 109–123.
Kinsley, David. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
Kishwar, Madhu. “Yes to Sita, No to Ram: The Continuing Hold of Sita on Popular Imagination in India.” In Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of Narrative Tradition in South Asia, ed. Paula Richman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. 285–309.
Knott, Kim. Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Leslie, Julia, ed. Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1991.
Makarushka, Irena. “Women Spoken For: Images of Displaced Desire.” In Screening the Sacred: Religion, Myth and Ideology in Popular American Film, ed. Joel Martin and Conrad Ostwalt. Boulder, CA: Westview, 1995. 142–151.
Marglin, Frédérique Apffel. “Female Sexuality in the Hindu World.” In Immaculate and Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality, ed. Clarissa W Atkinson, Constance H. Buchanan, and Margaret R. Miles. Boston: Beacon, 1985. 37–59.
Martin, Joel W, and Conrad E. Ostwalt, eds. Screening the Sacred: Religion, Myth and Ideology In Popular American Film. Boulder, CA: Westview, 1995.
McGee, Mary. “In Quest of Saubhdgya: The Roles and Goals of Women as Depicted in Marathi Stories of Votive Devotions.” In Images of Women in Maharashtrian literature and Religion, ed. Anne Feldhaus. Albany: SUNY, 1996. 147–170.
Mishra, Vijay Bollywood Cinema: Temples of Desire. New York and London: Routledge, 2002.
Olson, Carl, ed. The Book of the Goddess Past and Present. New York: Crossroad, 1983.
Pintchman, Tracy. The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition. Albany: SUNY, 1994.
Ramanujan, A. “On Women Saints,” In The Divine Consort: Radha and the Goddesses of India, ed. John S. Hawley and Donna M. Wulff Berkeley: Religious Studies Series; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1982. 316–324.
Reynolds, H. “The Auspicious Married Woman.” In The Powers of Tamil Women, ed. Susan Wadley. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1980. 35–60.
Richman, Paula, ed. Many Rdmdyanas: The Diversity of Narrative Tradition in South Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Roy, Kumkum. Women in Early Indian Societies. Delhi: Manohar, 1999.
Sharma, Arvind, ed. Women in World Religions. Albany, NY: SUNY 1987.
Sharma, Arvind, and Katherine Young, eds. Feminism and World Religions. Albany, NY: SUNY, 1999.
Srinivasan, A. “Reform or Conformity? Temple ‘Prostitution’ and the Community in the Madras Presidency.” In Structures of Patriarchy: State, Community and Household in Modernising Asia, ed. Bina Agarwal. Delhi: Kali for Women, 1988. 175–198.
Sutherland Goldman, Sally, “The Voice of Sita in Valmiki’s Sundarakdnda.” In Questioning Rdmdyanas: A South Asian Tradition, ed. Bina Agarwal. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. 223–238.
Wadley, Susan, ed. The Powers of Tamil Women. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1980.
Young, Katherine. “Hinduism.” In Women in World Religions, ed. Arvind Sharma. Albany, NY: SUNY, 1987.
Young, Katherine. “Upholding Norms of Hindu Womanhood: An Analysis Based on Reviews of Hindi Cinema.” In Gender, Genre and Religion, ed. Morny Joy and Eva K. Neumaier-Dargyay. Waterloo, ON: Wilfried Laurier University Press, 1995. 171–198.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2010 Diana Dimitrova
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dimitrova, D. (2010). Religion and Gender in Bollywood Film. In: Dimitrova, D. (eds) Religion in Literature and Film in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230105522_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230105522_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-38396-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-10552-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)