Traces of Latent Feminism in Mainstream Bollywood Cinema: A Retrospective Study of the 'New Women' in Bollywood

Indian Cinema, since its inception has always harped on the theme of virile masculinity of its heroes and the distress and vulnerability of its heroines. Women in Commercial Indian Cinema have always been portrayed as a damsel in distress, guarded by her lord from all aspects. These representations have been inspired to a large extent by religion and mythology. The women characters are mostly endowed with Sita-like qualities, they are the epitome of virtue and values; always remain chaste and flawless but lack agency and choice. The heroines act from the margins where heroes reside at the centre. On the contrary, there are films which do not conform to these set patterns. This paper tries to uphold some imprints of feminism in commercial cinema with a detailed analysis of movies like 'Paheli', 'Fiza' and 'Manmarziyaan' where women and men coexist and complement each other; where women characters are not created to be guarded by men and they do not remain under the pall of societal stereotypes, rather they have the agency to exercise their will.