1st Edition

Narratives of Gendered Dissent in South Asian Cinemas

By Alka Kurian Copyright 2012
210 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

210 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

210 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book conducts a post-colonial, gendered investigation of women-centred South Asian films. In these films, the narrative becomes an act of political engagement and a site of feminist struggle: a map that weaves together multiple strands of subjectivity—gender, caste, race, class, religion, and colonialism. The book explores the cinematic construction of an oppositional narrative of feminist... Read more

Part 1: Class, Caste and Social Exclusion  1. Subalterneity and Resistance in Shyam Benegal’s Nishaant and Manthan  2. Radical Politics and Gender in Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Ma, Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, and Sanjiv Karambelkar’s Lal Salaam  Part 2: Nationalism, Religion, and Identity  3. The Politics of Hindutva in Nandita Das’ Firaaq, Rahul Dholakia’s Parzania, and Rakesh Sharma’s Final Solution  4. Gender, Home, and Displacement in Sabiha Sumar’s Khamosh Pani  Part 3: Nationalism and Ethnic Struggle  5. Subjectivity, Choice, and Feminist Agency in Santosh Sivan’s The Terrorist and Beate Arnestad’s My Daughter the Terrorist  Part 4: Heteronormativity, ‘Difference’, and the Construction of a Subversive Femininity  6. Gender, Identity, and the Diaspora in Gurinder Chadha’s Bhaji on the Beach and Sarah Gavron’s Brick Lane

Biography

Alka Kurian is a Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Bothell.