'Angry Young Women': Evolving Forms of Female Resistance in Contemporary Bollywood Cinema

Title

'Angry Young Women': Evolving Forms of Female Resistance in Contemporary Bollywood Cinema

Creator

Shaikh, Neda Parvin; Ghalian, Sonia

Description

This paper explores the representation of select female characters from two contemporary Hindi filmsLipstick Under My Burkha (2016) and Gully Boy (2019)to trace the emergence of the angry young woman archetype within the broader framework of contemporary Indian cinema. The protagonists in these films confront their marginalisation across multiple intersecting axesclass, religion, and gender. Through nuanced roles, they navigate their personal and political struggles, breaking traditional norms by expressing anger, both violent and silent, as forms of resistance. This shift marks a departure from the stereotypical portrayals of women in earlier Bollywood films, where they were relegated to roles of victims, damsels in distress, or moral custodians of Indian values. The paper focuses on how female characters in recent Bollywood films deploy anger not only to challenge or subvert patriarchal structures but also as a tool for asserting new forms of agency and autonomy. This evolving depiction of anger signals a broader reconfiguration of female empowerment, where rage becomes a means of self-expression, identity formation, and personal liberation. 2025 Australian National University, Dept. of Gender, Media and Cultural Studies. All rights reserved.

Source

Intersections (Australia);Issue;52;pp.1-20

Date

01-01-2025

Publisher

Australian National University, Dept. of Gender, Media and Cultural Studies

Subject

agency; Anger; Bollywood; marginalisation; resistance; women

Coverage

Shaikh N.P., CHRIST (deemed to be) University, India; Ghalian S., Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India

Rights

Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library

Relation

ISSN: 14409151;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.7560/755512

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022715341?origin=resultslist