Gender in Post-Liberalisation India: The Complex Trajectories of Gender and (Postcolonial) Nationalism in Hindi Cinema

Abstract

Purpose

The chapter explores how gender has been an integral part of the nation building project in post-liberalisation Hindi cinema, popularly, known as Bollywood.

Design/methodology/approach

This chapter is based on primary data gathered through interviews with prominent members of the Hindi film industry along with a detailed content analysis of commercially successful post-liberalisation mainstream Hindi films.

Findings

It highlights how the representation of gender has been a central axis around which the tension between tradition and modernity has been played out in Hindi Cinema. The construction of Indianness post-liberalisation has questioned gender politics but proposed easy resolutions which fit into the larger nationalist narrative. In doing so, it has used the diaspora as a category to produce a nationalist account which is simultaneously essentialised and transnational in the quest for projecting India’s aspirations on the global platform.

Originality/value

The chapter provides important insights into the role of popular Hindi cinema, often brushed off as frivolous, in contributing to the mainstream discourse on nationalism post-liberalisation.

Citation

Kaul, P. (2016), "Gender in Post-Liberalisation India: The Complex Trajectories of Gender and (Postcolonial) Nationalism in Hindi Cinema", Gender and Race Matter: Global Perspectives on Being a Woman (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 213-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620160000021012