Stereotypical Portrayal of the 21” Century Woman in Contemporary Hindi Cinema with Special Reference to Four Selected Hindi Films Produced at the Turn of the 21s' Century

Abstract

Attached

This study is an examination of stereotypical representation of the '21s' century woman’ in contemporary Hindi films.Given the fact that so much has changed in contemporary Hindi films with the dawn of a new era, it is interesting to explore how much has changed in a highly male-oriented industry at a point of time where huge socio-cultural and political changes started to happenin outer world in relation to women's lives. Four films which were records breakers from 2000-20012 were analyzed as case studies: KuchKuchHota Hai (Karan Johar, 2000), ChoriChoriChupkeChupke(Abbas Mustan, 2001). Babul (Ravi Chopra, 2006) and Cocktail (Homi Adajania, 2012), with the objective of explaining the pattern making practice of the Hindi film industry objectifying the women on SCreen.Thc 3tudy extended with am ple e x a m p le u/hprp the '91st renturv w om an'still treats the n o tio n of m arriag e and m o th erh o o d w ith u tm o st importance, withdraws herself from econom ic w o rld , engages in husband worship and strives to preserve female ideals and tndtaness to please the tad.an man.The argument of the p ap e r is developed in line with theconcept of Rea Woman' vs. 'Imaginary Woman' and idea of the 'Subaltern'; two solid arguments of Rajeswari Sunder Rajan and Gayathri Spivak to form an in-depth analysis. T he p ap e r con clu d ed that the '21st cen tu ry w om an' th at th ese co m m ercialized H indi film s attem p t to p o rtray is a cu ltu ral product; an im aginary w om an, n ot a real w o m a n ;» .th o u t positive or challenging portrayals; director and the viewing audience of'what a woman should be reflected screen.