ABSTRACT
Popular Indian films are rife with titillating as well as moralizing depictions of rape. From images of victims who kill themselves in shame and silence to those who become heroically transformed into vigilantes to save their lives and avenge their honors, sexual violence is a pervasive theme in this cinema. This chapter draws on my larger research on popular Indian films to provide an overview of their treatment of sexual violence. Offering a broad survey of popular films to illustrate how rape narratives function empirically, allegorically, and metaphorically in representative texts, I discuss how these are linked to the making of gender, caste, class, and religious as well as national identity and culture. My essay ends by outlining a number of questions for future research on representation of sexual violence in popular films and the cinematic practices that shape this seductive and powerful cultural industry.
