Reading the Construct: An Appraisal of Muslim Women in Contemporary Hindi Commercial Cinema
Sonam Sultana Shah1
Shah, S. S. (2021). Reading the Construct: An Appraisal of Muslim Women in Contemporary Hindi Commercial Cinema. InterViews: An Interdisciplinary Journal in Social Sciences, 8(1), pp. 48-68. https://doi.org/10.36061/IV.8.1.21.48.68
Abstract
Cinema is considered a cultural artifact that reflects and replicates reality. Image constructs of women as represented in cinema function as signs of ideological discourses in a patriarchal society. Since its inception, the relationship between cinema, society, and representation has been evident and dialectical. Indian cinema has a period of play of over hundred years. It has been a major platform for representing various issues such as gender, women’s rights, sexuality, religion and minority groups. In the contemporary social landscape, any discussion on cinema and its representation of minorities, particularly those associated with the Islamic world, is mediated by a certain graphic spectacle of the media. As media representation of minorities has been minimal, so issues of representation of religious minorities and stereotypical instances of gender and identity constructs have become an integral component in the disciplines of art, cinema, and visual culture. The construct of Muslim women and their portrayal in the narrative accounts remain clichéd, habitually or systematically excluded, and relegated to minor roles, or roles that match traditional stereotypes. Therefore, this paper seeks to assess traces of stereotypical depiction of Muslim women and their objectification for men’s viewing pleasure, and if any, to what extent their social construct and representation in the contemporary Hindi commercial cinema have changed.
Keywords: muslim women, hindi cinema, social construct, stereotypes, gaze
1Sonam Sultana Shah is an assistant professor in the Department of Mass Communication, Saint Claret College, Ziro. She is a member of the Guwahati Chapter of the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI). Correspondence regarding this article may be directed to her at: sonamsultana.shah@gmail.com