The Cinematic Feminine A Study of the Portrayal of Women in the Movie ‘Pushpa- the Rise’

Abstract

‘You treat me like a slave, a pet dog. You want me at your beck and call. I can’t do it. I have self-respect’ this is a very famous scene from the Tamil film Kaatru Veliyidai from the maverick Mani Rathnam. Its Leela, a physician in a terror-stricken Kashmir hospital played by Aditi Rao Hydri mouthing these words of self-respect. A woman who not just by virtue of her occupation but by the space the character is located should be strong. The acceptance of her circumstances in just the one pivotal scene shows how the visual is manipulated to expect Women in these cinematic narratives show her as vulnerable and meek in contrast to her professional calibre (strong and decisive). As most women in not just south Indian popular cinema but Popular cinema across the subcontinent cinema is portrayed…. subtly vulnerable to male persuasion, domination. (Dasgupta, 1988).

This paper aims to examine the following objectives:

• To examine the Portrayal of women in popular cinema that reiterate dominance, stereotyping and violence.


• To examine the portrayal of women in the film Pushpa that relates to ethics under the appellation ‘Visual Ethics’


• To understand the patriarchal subtexts in the movie Pushpa