Bollywood and Gender: The Male Gaze in Popular Culture
Author : Dr. Shobha BR
Abstract :
This article examines the representation of women in Bollywood popular culture through Laura Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze and Raymond Williams’s understanding of popular culture. It focuses particularly on the development and function of the “item song” or “item number” as a recurring cinematic form through which the female body is visually and commercially organized for spectatorship. Bollywood occupies a significant place in contemporary Indian popular culture, reaching audiences across linguistic, regional, and social differences. Its songs and dance sequences therefore have cultural significance beyond entertainment. The article argues that the visual conventions of item songs—camera movement, costume, choreography, lyrics, crowd reactions, and narrative placement—can construct women as objects of visual and sexual pleasure and can reproduce patriarchal assumptions about gender. At the same time, the article recognizes that representations of female sexuality and agency are not entirely uniform: some performances articulate self-confidence or choice even while operating within a commercial visual economy. By examining these tensions, the study considers how popular cinema can both reflect and participate in the production of gendered attitudes.
Keywords :
Bollywood, gender, male gaze, popular culture, Laura Mulvey, item songs, objectification, patriarchy.
