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Gender Consciousness in Bollywood Hindi Films: Focusing on Women Centric Biopics

Park Kyum Pyo1 · Lee Dong Won1

1 서강대학교 동아연구소

Published: January 2021 · Vol. 81, No. 0 · pp. 139-170

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33334/sieas.2021.40.2.139

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Abstract

This paper examines the gender consciousness in women centric biopic films in Bollywood - Mary Kom, Dangal, and Gunjan Saxena under the theme of “Are Indian Women's Consciousness and Indian Gender Consciousness Changing?”. The key themes of analysis include female subjecthood, social gender consciousness of woman revealed through film background and characters, the role of parents in woman's success, and so on. While Mary Kom and Gunjan Saxena show women's subjecthood in achieving their dreams, Dangal highlights patriarchal authority rather than women's subjective decisions. Mary Kom does not have many lines that can affect gender consciousness. In Dangal, the two sisters begin wrestling under the will of their father. Because of this, Dangal is receiving negative reviews, but the message shown by authorative father, who recognizes that he has to overcome unequal gender consciousness, requires positive reviews. All three films show specific roles based on gender. The perception that marriage leads to career breaks or renunciation of dreams and the problem of child marriage without a spouse's choice, etc., are highlighted in these films. For posters and trailers, Dangal was produced around father, who symbolizes patriarchal authority, while Mary Kom and Gunjan Saxena were produced around the main female characters. The promotion of the film, which aims to be a box office hit, meets the needs of the public and gives a glimpse of the public's gender consciousness. Given that Dangal is one of the most successful films, it can be seen as reflecting the lack of gender equality among the public. The plots of all three films are based on the father-daughter narrative, which is related to joint family culture in India. The first gateway for woman to pass in the process of realizing her dreams is her father, the head of joint family. Therefore, the relationship between father and daughter, whether positive or negative, will be the center of the narrative, and the mother-daughter narrative, which is subordinate to patriarchal authority, will be relatively weak. Along with the recent expansion of releasing new filmes on OTT platforms, it is to be hoped that films with various themes related to women will be produced and have a positive impact on the establishment of gendeer equality and female subjecthood.
Keywords: 당갈메리 꼼군잔 삭세나전기 영화젠더 의식