ABSTRACT
In this article, I attempt to understand the emergence of a new form of masculinity, class character and gendered bodies of Bengali film heroes during the1980s and 1990s. The article reads the industrial, technological and aesthetic determinants of this figuration of action heroes in the 1980s–1990s and demonstrates how through this figuration, the representations of class in popular Bengali cinema attained a complex phase. A study of these figures reveals how the masculinity and gendered bodies of Bengali action heroes are indicative of broader changes in sociopolitical conditions of West Bengal and changes in the Bengali film industry. But since films like any other cultural texts are not overdetermined by history, the figuration of action heroes of Bengali cinema also accommodated the materiality of the filmic medium. Furthermore, several extra filmic texts and efforts brought newer imaginations of masculinity which functioned as important determinants in the constructs of film heroes. The article will demonstrate how the figuration of heroes in Bengali popular cinema during this period brought a new filmic language and formulated new film aesthetics.
