Dissertation
Representing Women and the 1947 Partition in Hindi Cinema and Television (1948-Present)
(2022)
Abstract
This dissertation explores shifting representations of raped and abducted women in Indian films and television shows about the 1947 Partition. In the wake of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case, which marked a watershed moment of popular protest in major Indian cities, newspapers and media channels referred to major rape cases from earlier decades to draw attention to the scale of gendered violence but without acknowledging the violence of 1947. While there is academic scholarship on the representation of Partition in Hindi cinema, there are only a few studies centered on Partition's gender-based violence. Drawing on Judith Butler’s concepts of biopolitics and precarity, and feminist historiographical research on Partition by Urvashi Butalia, Kamla Bhasin, and Ritu Menon, this study deploys a postcolonial feminist theoretical framework to explore why there are limited depictions of women who were subjected to violence during the Partition. Through the study of archival documents, close reading of filmic and literary texts, and interviews with filmmakers, I examine how Hindi cinema and the television industry situate a raped woman’s body at the intersection of hyper-nationalism, violence, shame, honour, and silence. By studying the social, political, and economic conditions since 1947, I argue that censorship laws, the rise of Hindu fundamentalism (Hindutva), and self-censorship are the primary reasons why these women’s representations are scarce in Indian popular culture. Thus, despite the #MeToo movement's call - globally and within India-- for attention to gender-based violence, cinema and television continue to contribute to the forgetting and erasure of the lives and experiences of women during the 1947 Partition.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2022
Degree
Ph.D.
Field of study
English
Citation Information
Shrivastava, Nidhi, "Representing Women and the 1947 Partition in Hindi Cinema and Television (1948-Present)" (2022). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 8465.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/8465