Subject : Cinema Object : Woman : A Study of the Portrayal of Women in Indian Cinema/Shoma A. Chatterji. 1998, 298 p., Photographs.
Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. The distorted mythological symbol. 3. The marrying and the unmarrying kind marriage, separation and divorce. 4. The adulterous woman. 5. The politics of rape. 6. Mansi and other prostitutes the politics of prostitution. 7. The final exit suicide, celluloid and the woman. 8. From hunterwali to Bandit queen women in male masguerade. 9. The last word. Notes. Selected bibliography. Index.
"This book is perhaphs, the first modest attempt by an Indian film critic delve into the rather delicate subject of feminist film criticism within the framework of Indian popular cinema. The idea was rooted in a consistent thrashing of ideas and concepts attacking the patriarchal dominance in Hindi popular cinema through articles written in Indian publications and papers presented at seminars on cinema over the past two decades. It is more of an emotional response to the portrayal of women in Indian cinema than a cerebral and clinical analysis conducted along the British schools of feminist film criticism based on psycho-analysis, semiology and structuralism. It has sought to place Indian popular cinema in perspective along sociological lines where the subjects of mythology, marriage, adultery, prostitution, rape, suicide and male masquerade have been analysed through the myopic glasses of an Indian woman addicted to cinema and to women. This is the result of three years of intensive research, through films, books and documentation consisting of archival material on Indian cinema." (jacket)
[Shoma A. Chatterji has been writing on cinema, television, theatre and gender studies for the past two decades. She also wrote From Darkness to Light Indian Women in Transition.]