Keywords
Film Studies
Dalit
Minority women
Bengali cinema
male gaze
How to Cite
Abstract
This study argues that Indian Bengali cinema prominently reinforces patriarchal and stereotypical images of minority women -- especially Muslim, Dalit, Christian, etc. -- by marginalising or symbolically erasing them within stories. It uncovers a consistent trend, shared with Bollywood and other global industries, where minority women are mainly cast in underrepresented or stereotypical supporting roles. Unlike other regional cinemas, which have attracted attention, portrayals of minority women in Indian Bengali cinema have largely been disregarded. To address this gap, this research systematically investigates such representations using feminist theory, focusing on narrative analysis, to reveal how gender biases and socio-cultural factors shape these films. Through an in-depth analysis of selected films from 2015 to 2020, the study foregrounds the ongoing symbolic erasure of minority women by critically examining how gendered depictions persist. Taking two films as case studies -- Srijit Mukherjee’s Rajkahini (2015) and Birsa Dasgupta’s Crisscross (2018) – the article scrutinises the narrative roles assigned to minority women and their interactions with prevailing cultural ideologies.
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