Violence Against Women in Bollywood Indian Cinema: Exploring Film Interpretations of Asian Indian Diaspora

• In Event: Violence Against Women Internationally

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore images of violence against women (VAW) in Bollywood cinema, a widely viewed form of popular culture based in Mumbai, India. This qualitative study fills an important gap in the literature by investigating how Asian Indians on a non-immigrant visa in the United States perceive, define and interpret portrayal of VAW in these films. How similar or different are audience interpretations of films compared to their real life knowledge about VAW? What are the demographic and contextual cultural differences in interpreting representations of VAW? Using feminist frameworks, this paper draws upon thematic film analysis of women-oriented Bollywood films, film screenings, and gender-specific focus groups (N=35) to address these questions. This study is also unique in terms of the demographics of the participants—they are Asian Indians who were born and raised in India currently residing on a non-immigrant visa status (e.g., work, student, visiting scholar, tourist) in the United States. The voices representing this diaspora are often missing in such research studies. The findings of the study and its implications will be discussed.

Author

• Meghna Bhat, University of Illinois at Chicago