ABSTRACT
In this chapter I would like to examine the shifts in representations of femininity and female sexuality in Bollywood cinema. Beginning with an historical overview of previous onscreen conceptions of femininity, particularly the figure of the vamp, this chapter will proceed by examining how these earlier negative types, which were frequently relegated to limited frames and more often than not diametrically opposed to the figure of the heroine, have become increasingly conflated in contemporary Bollywood films with lead female characters, thus reformulating previous binary conceptions of femininity in this cinema and, in the process, ushering in a new form of Bollywood heroine. Building on previous scholarship in this field by theorists such as Asha Kasbekar, Monika Mehta and Rachel Dwyer, and providing close readings of earlier films featuring both quintessential vamp figures such as Helen and intermediary new heroines such as Zeenat Aman, this chapter will chart how these earlier figures helped pave the way for more recent Bollywood actresses such as Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Vidya Balan, who have simultaneously utilized and reformulated the (negative) attributes associated with these earlier figures, thus blurring the identities of heroine and seduc-tress in contemporary films.
