Representation of the Modern Bengali Feminine in Hindi Cinema, OTT, and Television and its Impact on Society
Keywords:
Bengali feminine, stereotype, soap operas, liberal, representation.Abstract
The trope of the ‘Bengali feminine’ as a symbolic representation of the motherland has been used in Bengali literature and cinema from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Anandamath (1882), all the way up to Ritwik Ghatak’s ground-breaking film, Subarnarekha (1965). Traditionally, the construction and preservation of the post-independence Bengali cultural identity heavily relied on the 'Bengali woman,' who embodied both liberal and conservative ideals. She was a working woman and simultaneously, an image of serene domesticity. She was portrayed as modern but not outright evil. However, the advent of commercial television and the entry of Sindhi and Punjabi filmmakers in Bollywood altered the landscape, leading to significant changes in character representation. There was a displacement, a spatial negotiation of sorts, between the storytellers and the film producers – and that is why the stories and the representation of characters changed drastically. Today, the ‘modern Bengali feminine’ in most Hindi films, OTT shows, and soap operas has been straitjacketed into one of these three caricatures: the troublemaker, the homewrecker, and the witch. The representation has had a large-scale impact on how Bengalis (especially Bengali women) are perceived outside of the Bangla-speaking regions of the Indian subcontinent. This paper examines prominent Hindi movies, soap operas, and OTT shows from the past two decades to analyze the emergence of this representation in the Hindi film and television industry. It delves into the factors influencing this portrayal and assesses its broader societal impact.
References
Banerjee, Sumanta. “The Beshya and the Babu - Prostitute and Her Clientele in 19th Century Bengal.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 28, no. 45, 6 Nov. 1993.
Ganti, Tejaswini. “Fair and Lovely: Class, Gender, and Colorism in Bollywood Song Sequences.” The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Gender, 1st ed., Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.
Gupta, Charu. “The Icon of Mother in Late Colonial North India: ‘Bharat Mata’, ‘Matri Bhasha’ and ‘Gau Mata.’” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 36, no. 45, 2001, pp. 4291–99. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4411354. Accessed 4 Nov. 2023.
Gupta, Surojit M. Journal of World History, vol. 8, no. 2, 1997, pp. 344–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20068606. Accessed 4 Nov. 2023.
Hall, Stuart. “Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity and Diaspora.” Edited by David Morley. JSTOR, vol. 2, 6 Dec. 2018, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11smnnj.
Mridha, Somjyoti. “A Bengali Night-in-gale: Bulbbul and the Politics of Orientalizing Bengal.” Cerebration: The Literary Journal, 2020.
Ramaswamy, Sumathi. “Maps, Mother/Goddesses, and Martyrdom in Modern India.” The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 67, no. 3, 2008, pp. 819–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20203426. Accessed 4 Nov. 2023.
Sarkar, Tanika. “Birth of a Goddess: ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Anandamath’, and Hindu Nationhood.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 37, 2006, pp. 3959–69. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4418703. Accessed 4 Nov. 2023.
Sinha, Mrinalini. Colonial Masculinity: The “manly Englishman” and the “Effeminate Bengali” in the Late Nineteenth Century (Studies in Imperialism). Manchester University Press, 1995.
Sinha, Mrinalini. “Refashioning Mother India: Feminism and Nationalism in Late-Colonial India.” Feminist Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, 2000, pp. 623–44. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3178643. Accessed 4 Nov. 2023.
