ABSTRACT

The chapter introduces some selected Bollywood and arthouse Hindi films of the last four decades that show violence acted out against women. First, I take a look at the 2012 Delhi rape case and Leslee Udwin’s 2015 documentary India’s Daughter which makes obvious how violence against women is not done by perpetrators coming from outside but is part of society itself. Then different forms of violence against women are described using films as examples: female infanticide and feticide (Matrubhoomi, Manish Jha, 2003), prostitution (Giddh, T. S. Ranga, 1984), rape (Insaf Ka Tarazu, B. R. Chopra, 1980; Damini, Rajkumar Santoshi, 1993), and so-called honour-killing (NH 10, Navdeep Singh, 2015). The question is discussed why patriarchal society, exemplified by the Film Certification Board, seems to fear the depiction of consensual sexuality more than of male sexualised violence against women. It is explained how in some of the films, females fight against male violence in different ways, including, in the last-mentioned film, lethal violence. At the end of the chapter stands the question whether revenge violence, a subject especially popular in recent movies like NH 10, can ever have a positive effect. Given the immense influence of Bollywood cinema on the people in India, the question is asked if films showing violence as the only answer to violence, and often even to problems not involving violence, might partly be responsible for the growing amount of violence in Indian society.