Shreya Sankar
Extended Research Proposal
28 May 2021
Working Title: Diluted Modernity and the Female Catalyst in Post-independent India: A study on
the women of Popular Hindi Cinema(1960s-1980s)
Abstract:
Indian popular cinema has been an integral tool in disseminating nationalistic and political
ideologies ever since its inception, and was instrumental in unifying a collective and homogenous
culture in post-independent India. The research paper will focus on the woman in popular Hindi
cinema as a catalyst in redefining nationalism and modernity in India. By conducting an extensive
textual analysis of select popular Hindi films across the 1960s to the 80s, I hope to illustrate the
role of women in the representation of the ideal nation. This research aims to address the ‘good
woman/bad woman’ binary through the changing archetypal figures and popular iconicities that
existed during this particular time period. To emphasize society’s control over female sexuality,
female characters are subjected to challenging and life-threatening situations over the bargain of
their virginity in exchange for their life or the life of a loved one. Films here, have the agenda
in-built in their narratives where the morality of the cinematic universe is shaped through the
female characters. The decision she makes here is consequential to the development of the rest of
the narrative. The research will also focus on the ‘bad woman’ archetype and the various
configurations from the 60s to early 80s. Specifically how the political climate influenced the
evolution of these archetypes and their associated modernities.
Keywords: female sexuality, modernity, archetypes.
Research Context:
From D.G. Phalke to Karan Johar, the popular film medium in India has been an evolving
phenomenon, technologically and otherwise. In order to preserve and emphasize the ‘Indianness’
of the films, the creators of these films have carefully structured a grand narrative which has
facilitated as a blueprint that has essentially been a guidebook on ‘how to be a better citizen’. In
Nation and its Fragments, Partha Chatterjee explains the inner and outer dichotomy of the village
and the city as “spiritual” and “material world”. This “imagined community” was a result of
Eastern and Western contradictions, where the spiritual aspect of it maintained a sovereign
territory and the material, incentivized the community with institutions, and a unified system of
administration. The dissemination of this conceptual understanding of nationalism and modernity
in post-independent India was predominantly executed through popular Indian cinema narratives
and, I argue, heavily dependent on the portrayal of female characters and the nature of their
existence.
By showcasing the significance of ‘family’ in the life of a citizen, the film urges the Indian
spectator to identify themselves with the characters of the film and respect the familial institution
and its hierarchical structures. Even though the father figure remains at the top of this hierarchy, it
is the ‘mother’ that holds symbolic value in terms of understanding the domesticated safe
space(spiritual world). The mother figure was used extensively in films as a tool in coding good
and evil in society. Rosie Thomas has discussed the mother character in Mother India(1957) and
pointed out the mass appeal and emotional attachment to this character successfully amplified the
gender roles of women in the Indian society responsible to maintain social order and peace. This
notion has largely remained the same, and representations of the ‘mother’ archetype have
continued far into the 21st century. The researcher will, however, exclusively focus on how the
mother figure is placed in contrast to the negative female tropes. Along the lines of comparison of
“Mother v/s Villain” that Thomas makes in her essay, “Melodrama and the Negotiation of Morality
in Mainstream Hindi Film'' -- I will replace the ‘villain’ with the ‘evil’ woman(vamp, vixen, etc.).
In accordance with the conventions of melodrama, the contradictions and contrasts exhibited by
these two oppositional figures demonstrate themes of nationalism and patriotism through the
operation of an “ideal moral universe”(Thomas 161)
During the time of the Indian Freedom movement, the intelligentsia used ‘Bharat Mata’ as
an important symbol in their fight for independence. It is interesting to note that a Hindu maternal
figure was opted to emblematize the movement and redefine the nationalistic image -- thereby
focusing on the purity and sanctity of the nation-state. Philip Lutgendorf, in his study of what
makes an Indian film distinctively Indian, throws light on the use of female mythological
characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata like Sita and Radha in films - to model the Indian
womanhood in films in accordance with their ideal femininity. Through the use of the
sophisticated technology that came about, images could be reproduced and highlighted in a way
that would imprint in the memory of the viewers. These images now can demarcate an Indian
identity that would seem alien to the West. As Sumita Chakravarthy suggests, the film narrative
presents an allegory of the world. If men face temptations and corrupt desires every day then it is
the woman’s duty to ground him back to reality. This was the role of the ‘lover’ character(that
usually became the ‘wife’ towards the end) in most of the popular films. This research will
conduct a close reading of the popular female protagonists who essentially was used as a crutch for
the Hero, and gave the Hero more meaning to his life.
The male-ownerships of female bodies has remained a desirable trait irrespective of
urbanization and western influence; and the concept of virginity has prevailed throughout and
holds immense socio-cultural value in reinventing the nation in post-colonial times. As Hanne
Black observes, virginity has been an organizing principle in human cultures since the beginning
of civilization.1 Women who trespass and try to sexually transgress, are shamed and ostracized by
their community. The stories of women who chose to remain within the social confines and
safeguard their chastity even at the cost of their lives, have been held as the prime example for
generations to follow suit. In this particular strand of Film Studies, many scholars rightly observed
the characteristic bipolarity of female characters in the ‘imagined’ world(Said’s sense of the term).
What has often been neglected is the repressed sexuality of the ‘virgin woman’ which does not fit
into the essentializing categories. My thesis will try to address the representation of the ‘controlled
sexuality’ in these characters. Controlled sexuality or lack of it can usually be portrayed only by
showing the existence of female sexuality in the first place. In the general design of the narrative,
it is easily dislocated in a manner that the audience can conveniently assume that the libido of the
Heroine never existed in the scope of the film’s narrative.
The impact of modernities and globalities on the socio-cultural transitions of female
sexuality in films was crucial to understand the post-colonial society’s evolution. The interim
globalized identity(both real and imagined) was the axis where the nascent post-independent state
dealt with both anxieties; about urbanity and female transgressiveness (Bose 36). As a result, the
1
See Virgin: An Untouched History, Hanne Black(2007).
good woman/bad woman binary has been a common feature in popular Hindi films as a way of
portraying the East/West dichotomy through the woman’s body. The different configurations of
female sexuality created archetypal figures, which solidified prominently after the 1950s
Nehruvian social films era, into a more colourful 1960s. The mother figure, vamp, the victimized
lover, the vixen sister/mother-in-law -- were some of the iconic tropes that were predominantly
constructed in films during this era. Each character engages with modern iconicities which are
clearly expressed in their physicalities. In the narrative tableau, these archetypes were a recurring
theme during this time period. An apt example for this trend was the famous vamp of the 60s Helen.
Ranjani Mazumdar talks about the ‘vamp’ figure that emerged in the late 40s; but the
arrival of Helen provided the trope with a new dimension. Specifically as a result of colour films,
the vamp could be given a ‘White woman aesthetic’. Helen excelled at portraying the westernized
vamp who emerged as a cabaret dancer in nightclubs, which was codified as a dangerous space
especially for a ‘good woman’. Since she portrayed the ‘bad woman’, the characteristic bipolarity
between her and the ‘good woman’ in the film was easily depicted. However, she created an
alternative space in which female sexuality can be expressed in an almost acceptable form as the
spectators acknowledged the trope as it grew increasingly familiar to them. There were other
popular actresses who were also popular for their vamp cameos like, Faryal, Bindu, Padma
Khanna, Aruna Irani during 1960-80s portraying an image of “uninhibited, feral and licentious
female and predominantly having a westernised outlook were despised and.. adored at the same
time for their ..hypersexualized appearances”(Kishore 54). These women essentially conveyed a
new femininity that was new to the Indian popular culture at the time, through their dance
performances(Nijhawan 99). Sumeeti Rekhari analyses the vamp figure at their prime - “Golden
age” - addresses the sensual aspect that is given to the film’s narrative by the vamp by occupying a
“morally ambiguous and hypersexualised space on screen”. The latter eventually becomes a
prerequisite for the distributors and producers of these films. These spaces were essentially “unreal
and imagined” and were a mix of desire and anxiety. Rekhari also makes observations on their
western attires that strategically establishes a “racial otherness” to the vamps, making them
outsiders in a nationalistic context as well. The more the vamp is sexual, the heroine of the film is
desexualised and her chastity and purity is foregrounded and strengthened.
Other archetypes that are closely linked to the vamps are the “vixens” of the films. These
characters can take any form and may not always even be essentially evil throughout, and could
potentially be morally redeemed. In Do Raaste(1969), Neela(Bindu) was a combative woman who
created disputes and mayhem in her husband’s family because of her selfishness and greed. She
was also given a westernized appearance who went to nightclubs - to compliment her antagonistic
personality. Even though there was the implication that she used her sexuality as a weapon to
isolate her husband from his family -- since she was a married woman in a domestic space, she was
given the opportunity to repent for her misdeeds. Another example of a dangerous vixen is
Kaamini in Karz(1980), where she murders her husband to inherit his properties. In this case, her
transgression was not forgivable and she faces a fatalistic ending. The character portrayed by
Bindu in Hawas(1974), who was a nymphomaniac is a bold representation of an excessively sexual
woman who is a danger to herself and society is a distinct example of the ‘vixen’ archetype and
provides the researcher an opportunity to dissect the female identity politics depicted in the
narrative. Lalita Gopalan looks at the “avenging woman” in popular Hindi films and their
implications. Actresses like Dimple, Rekha and Hema Malini have played ‘aggressive woman’ in
films in various capacities. The researcher will also look at this archetype through the lens of
Feminist Film theory in order to estimate the effect of the political insurgensies on the ‘angry
young woman’ in popular cinema.
The ‘vamp’ figure started to become less significant when mainstream actresses like Zeenat
Aman started to undertake the vamp’s position as a cabaret dancer and merged it with the
‘girlfriend’ trope. For example, in Dostaana(1980), Sheetal(Zeenat Aman) faces a predicament
where she was offered help to save her lover from being incarcerated for life in exchange for sex.
She agrees to this deal, sacrificing her dignity for love. However, she knows that she will not be
accepted in society, nor will she even be accepted by her lover as a respectable partner/wife, she
decides to commit suicide right after. Here, the time period in which the film was released needs to
be taken into consideration. In comparison to the submissive and devoted lover archetype that
existed in the 1960s, here the female protagonist is a bar dancer by profession. Even though there
are comments of mockery made on her being overtly modern and wearing revealing clothes, the
film does not portray her as a negative character or exclusively focuses on that. Her willingness to
sacrifice herself for the Hero makes her more acceptable in the eyes of the viewers without
fixating on her hyper-westernized outlook. The capacity of this character to multi-task, providing
the viewers the colourful cabaret entertainer, while also eventually succumbing to societal pressure
and ‘settling down’ -- makes her an ideal successor to the ‘vamps’. In fact, the main poster used
for the film is of Zeenat Aman dressed in a green bikini and a hat. The shift from the cameo
vamps to a popular actress and the heroine of the film is a clear indication of the paradigmatic
shift of the modern iconicites, while the vamps were relegated to minor roles and eventually
passed on the baton. The signifier(women in revealing and flashy clothes) has more or less
remained, as that was essential for the film production; but the connotations have changed.
In Looking Awry, Slavoj Zizek says, “..a love scene is always built around a certain
insurmountable limit; “all cannot be shown”; at a certain point, the image blurs, the camera moves
off, the scene is interrupted..”(Zizek 110). This thesis will aim to look at the camera’s relationship
with the object(the woman) on screen, in reference to Laura Mulvey’s Gaze Theory. The end
product that reaches the viewer then also sees the characters intertextually, as they connect it to the
actress’ personal life, public appearances, interviews, autobiographies etc.(Dyer 42). The
spectatorial response to the female characters will be then determined by taking all these factors
into consideration; as a result the star images outlive the stars own lifetime.
Research Questions:
1) Where do you locate the ‘bad woman’ archetypes(vamp, vixen, home wrecker, evil sister
in-law) in the construction of modernity and nationalism in the narratives of popular Hindi
cinema?
2) Does the ‘good/chaste’ woman in films manage to portray their repressed sexuality within
the scope of the narrative?
3) In what ways does the physical transformation of female characters impact the
understanding of their characters in reference to a nationalistic context?
4) What role does populism and spectatorial response play in the Indian context in changing
the semiotics of the female ‘star’ body?
Methodology:
This research will be based on the textual analysis of popular Hindi films made during the
1960s-80s. I will employ the Film Theory on Indian Cinema, Post-colonial Theory, and Feminist
Film Theory predominantly, in my attempt to understand the nature of the female characters in
these film narratives during this time period.
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