ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two Indie crowdfunded narratives of gestational commercial surrogacy, “I Am Afia”, the first story in the four-part anthology film I Am by Indian filmmaker Onir, and Sita, written and directed by US-based filmmaker Arpita Kumar. In different ways, the cinematic narratives offer a critique of the contested bodies of neoliberalism, speaking to the issue of surrogacy in India, a heated topic of debate in social, legal and academic circles. Aesthetic and cultural practices have had a visible impact on questions of the perception of the social uses of reproductive technologies. After the introduction of India’s Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill in 2016 by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, the issues of power-knowledge and representation of surrogacy are even more topical. The ART Bill means that surrogacy will be legally available only to married infertile couples.
