Portrayal of Femininity in Contemporary English-language Films by South Asian Filmmakers

2011 Center for Global Public Relations March 15, 2011

Research Conference

UNCC Charlotte

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Portrayal of Femininity in Contemporary English-language Films by South Asian Diasporic Female

Filmmakers Tasneem Faridi, M.A., Monmouth University

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This paper provides a narrative criticism that examines the portrayal of South Asian femininity in three contemporary English-language films produced from Indian art-house or parallel cinema, i.e. South Asian counter-cinema. The three films are: Fire (Mehta, 1996), Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002), and The Namesake (Nair, 2006). The study will analyze the work of South Asian diasporic female filmmakers regarding the expression of femininity in post feminist media art, through the lenses of feminist film theory, auteur theory and political economy theory. The two themes of feminist media examined are: (1) The subjective portrayal of femininity by South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers, and (2) The political economy of female filmmakers in South Asian cinema. The study found three subjective portrayals of South Asian femininity: (1) sexually–assertive, i.e. same-sex desire between sisters-in-law in Fire (Mehta, 1996), (2) desexualized, i.e. an Indian girl passionate to play football for England in Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002), and (3) strong-willed behavior, i.e. an Indian wife shown as emotionally stronger and intelligent than her husband in The Namesake (Nair, 2006). Overall, the aim of the study was to establish the need for more South Asian female filmmakers to portray subjective and desexualized femininity, contrary to the more common “scopophilic” image, serving the purpose of satisfying the male gaze. The idea was to ultimately bring a change in the audiences’ preferences for hyper-sexualized femininity in contemporary Indian films.

PORTRYAL OF FEMININITY IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILMS BY SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORIC FEMALE FILMAKERS

For over a decade, a handful of South Asian diasporic female filmmakers, such as Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair, and Gurinder Chadha, have portrayed a type of progressive femininity in contemporary English-language films produced largely for Indian cinema (Desai, 2005). For instance, portrayals of femininity in these films appear in strong-willed and sexually-assertive roles, as opposed to the traditional virtues of Indian womanhood, i.e. sacrificing, virginal, passive, and servitude in the Hindi films of the South Asian film industry known as Bollywood (Mehrotra, 2008). These filmmakers were considered diasporic because they were non-resident South Asians at the time that their films were made. Mehta is an Indo-Canadian filmmaker. Nair is a New York based Indian filmmaker, and Chadha is a British Indian filmmaker (Mehrotra, 2008).

Bollywood is the world’s second largest centers of film production and produces over 700 million films annually (Athique, 2008; Mehrotra, 2008). However, Bollywood is popular for its masala films, which are a mix of various genres, such as drama, romance, action, and musical (Ciecko, 2001; Dasgupta, 1996; Goplan, 2003). This paper will focus on the films produced from Indian art-house or parallel cinema, i.e. South Asian counter-cinema, and will analyze the work of South Asian diasporic female filmmakers regarding the expression of femininity in post feminist media art.

The text of contemporary Indian-art films is chosen for textual analysis because it is considered non-entertaining for mass consumption, and there are few popular Englishlanguage films in the South Asian film industries that portray other aspects of women’s lives, such as their friendships with other women, interactions with different social institutions, or desexualized images of women’s bodies. As a result, there are few scholarly critiques of those films that focus on women as independent individuals (Dasgupta, 1996; Ciecko, 2001; Desai, 2005; Claudwell, 2009) other than the popular feminist discourse of women as victims in a male-dominant world (Dasgupta, 1996). With this in mind, it is essential to study and address the importance of feminist activist media art in cultivating a new perspective of femininity and women’s voices in the South Asian film industry.

The study defines femininity in a South Asian film world as the representation of allsacrificing womanhood or erotic female sexuality based on the cultural and socio-economic status of women in society. The shift in the portrayal of femininity from all-sacrificing women in a male-centric world to self-reliant and ambitious provided a new understanding of South Asian females living in the western countries, such as the United States (US), Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK), as well as the understanding of sexually-assertive native women living in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (Ciecko, 1999; Dasgupta, 1996; Meghani, 2009; Ramanathan, 2000; Seshagiri, 2003).

Moviemaking styles may vary between Hollywood and Bollywood (Indian Cinema), yet women working in the Indian film industry face similar difficulties as their counterparts in the United States for portraying subjective femininity and finding investment-backings for their films (Gangat, 2009). Movie critic, Katey Rich argues in her article Women On Film - Will Bollywood Best Hollywood In Opportunities For Women? “Bollywood is as well-known as its Los

Angeles counterpart for giving women small space both in front of and behind the camera. But what makes Hollywood better than the Bollywood is that American media reports like the 2009 edition of Dr. Martha Lauzen’s Celluloid Ceiling Study reveal that just 9% of Hollywood directors are women. However, there is no study comparable to Dr. Lauzen’s that Bollywood is confident to highlight the number of their female filmmakers (Rich, 2007).

Similarly, another drawback associated with women filmmakers is revealed in an allIndia survey that says women-centered films are not much favored by the masses; hence, in order to recover huge investments involved in film production, a producer is likely to opt for subjects with more female objectification or female protagonist supporting the dominant male characters. As a result, many female filmmakers also avoid making women-centered films due to the same reasons (Gangat, 2009).

Overall, the aim of the study was to establish the need for more South Asian filmmakers that portray femininity more realistically. As well as there is a need for more realistic, subjective, and desexualized portrayals of femininity, contrary to the more common “scopophilic” image, serving the purpose of satisfying the male gaze. The idea was to ultimately bring a change in the audiences’ preferences for hyper-sexualized femininity in contemporary Indian films. The following paper will provide a narrative criticism of contemporary Indian arthouse films’ representations of femininity via textual analysis. Secondly, this paper will offer a review of women filmmakers’ backgrounds and struggles as South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers to see if there is any relationship between their own lives and a female character in the contemporary art English-language films.

The study will be guided by the brief historical overview of femininity in Indian cinema, and the theoretical concepts of feminist film theory, auteur (filmmaker) theory, and political economy theory. The rationale for using the three theories is: Liberman & Hegarty (2010) says that, “any film is the creative product of the auteur who works according to the limitations and standards (political economy) of the film industry and artists involved in the production and conception of the film” (p. 31). Therefore, understanding of the South Asian femininity in English-language films is incomplete without studying the female filmmakers’ perspective.

Wherein, understanding of the filmmakers’ perspective is incomplete without realizing the complexities involved in the conception and production of the films. The last section will present the findings of my study, followed by the limitations and prospects for future research.

With the introduction in place, the next section will review the literature of femininity and feminist film theories with the examples of film analyses by feminist media scholars.

Literature Review Historical Overview of Femininity A review of film studies show that in the past two decades researches have focused on industrial practices, historical analyses of realistic or art-house films, and briefly about the directorial approaches of particular auteurs and film movements in India. Moreover, the film studies have concentrated even less on contemporary Indian-art cinema that dealt with issues related to domestic violence, widow rights, and female sexuality (femininity) portrayed through films by feminist film auteurs like Deepa Mehta’s Fire and Water (Mazumdar, 2009).

Mass Media researcher, Mehrotra (2008) studied the representation of femininity in the earliest films to the latest flicks produced by the million-dollar Bollywood industry. Mehrotra

argued that prior to the 1950s, films were progressive in portraying the prevailing social issues of the independence movement, caste politics, and widow remarriage, with an implicit display of sexuality. The study found that, after the 1950s the social issues were primarily sidelined and women started becoming eye candy rather than substantial characters. The process led to the decline of Indian film studios and gave rise to the corporatization of Indian film industries (Mehrotra, 2008). The critical analyses revealed that the film industries were largely owned and financed by corporate giants, who switched from social issues to explicit display of “female sexuality” in the form of wet sari dances and coy looks, which meant higher viewership and in turn higher profit share for the corporate investors (Mehrotra, 2008).

The Indian screenwriter, Dhawan (2009) also argues prior to corporate Bollywood, the Indian film industry was based on owner-run production houses. Producers used to direct their own films and used their connections and out-of-pocket money to publicize their movies. But in the last decade the Indian film industry has been revolutionized by the Indian corporation, such as Eros International and Reliance who have shops in Bollywood and American entertainment conglomerates like Fox have partnerships with these Indian companies (Dhawan, 2009).

Dhawan (2009) conducted a critical analysis of Hindi cinema and the corporate world.

Dhawan’s (2009) argued the apparent shift in the production, direction, and distribution of Indian films could be due to American influence in the Indian film industry. The author noticed the apparent shift in the film that is partly portraying the pure Indian woman in the narrative and simultaneously portraying the Western style seductive image of an Indian woman through song-and-dance sequences. The analysis concluded the brief phase of parallel or Indian art films in English and Hindi languages during the 1970s and 1980s which took the initiative to portray a realistic representation of female sexuality and femininity. However, the art-house films suffered from poor marketing strategies, and lack of mass appeal among Indian audiences, and hence, remained few in numbers as compared to the money-making song-and-dance Bollywood films (Dhawan, 2009; Mehrotra, 2008).

Feminist Film Theory In the book The Wise Woman the word “feminist” is defined as a person, female or male, whose worldview places female in the center in a male dominated or patriarchal society by working toward the political, economic, spiritual, sexual, and social equality of women (as cited in Grunig, Toth, & Hon, 2000, p. 56). In this regard, the goal of the feminist filmmaker appears to be that of enabling the marginalized femininity in the contemporary film industry to speak and act freely without being silenced or suppressed by the dubious policing of media conglomerates. A filmmaker who demonstrates resistance against dominant portrayals is what is defined as the subjective portrayal of femininity in feminist-activist media art, as opposed to the objectification popularly utilized by contemporary commercial cinema. In the context of South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers who can break new ground by tackling issues which are part of the daily or personal lives of South Asian women often sidelined in much of the mainstream Indian cinema or are lost in the labyrinth of melodrama and song-and-dance sequences (Dasgupta, 1996; Rajgopal, 2003).

Film theory assists in making sense of a film, and film studies scholars have been pursuing historical media and cinema inquiries since 1970. Yet there is need for feminist inquiry into the history of “scopophilic” portrayal of femininity and women’s contribution to the

making of films. The femininity based media research is potentially needed from developing South Asian countries, such as India and Pakistan (Kuhn, 2004). One notable criticism regarding “scopophilia” came from the feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, in her article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Criticism in 1975. Mulvey defined scopophilia as an act of pleasure in looking at the female character portrayed as an erotic object mainly for the male observers (1975, p. 4).

According to the criticism of feminist film theorists like Mulvey, Claire Johnston, and Ella Sohat, femininity in contemporary cinema is an extension of a male vision and the narrow role woman is assigned in films (Nelmes, 2003). In their criticism, the feminist theorists stressed the establishment of women’s cinema or cinematic-counter-telling that began with the collapse of the European Empire in post-World War II. Rajagopal and Nelmes (2003) indicated that many of the writers and filmmakers of the counter-cinema happen to be women from minority groups or diasporic groups in UK, US, and Canada, who have dealt with issues pertaining to female lesbian identities or problems faced by South Asian women within the community and in the world outside.

In a study exploring the representation of South Asian women in Indian cinema, Khan (2009) utilized the concept of feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey to examine the gender, culture, and class politics in contemporary Indian cinema. Khan (2009) argued that Indian film’s subtext establish female characters as subordinate to men within the patriarchal family values, and at the same time, offers female sexuality to the audiences as erotic objects in song-anddance sequences. On the other hand, if the female protagonist is portrayed as well-educated, career woman, who decides to marry or elope with the man of her choice or the man beyond her caste, she is usually destined to be punished or killed by the male authorities of her family or the extended family. Khan (2009) concluded that the dichotomy of the Indian cinema narrative from the perspective of political economy is a male-chauvinistic and profit-craving system which treats female protagonists as submissive objects of the narrative.

Auteur Theory Liberman and Hegarty (2010) studied the emergence of auteur theory in 1960s with the rise of film studies to understand the auteur’s creative vision in the process of filmmaking. The authors argued that film is the joint venture of cinematographers, artists, and directors therefore the auteurist approach can be attributed to multiple authors, involved within industrial and technological boundaries of filmmaking (2010).

Nevertheless, feminist scholars have utilized the theory in analyzing only the female filmmaker’s vision in the portrayal of femininity on screen. The most compelling evidence of the utilization comes from, Geetha Ramanathan’s (2006) study on feminist auteurs through the lenses of cultural, racial, and national traditions. In her review, she explored how feminist visions disrupt the dominant visual gender hierarchies. She found that South Asian feminist auteurship is an effort to promote feminist authority in filmmaking and transforming femininity portrayals and visual identification which is otherwise objectified and eroticized in popular films (Ramanathan, 2006).

Similar evidence was found in the book Beyond Bollywod by Desai (2004). She also studied English-language films from and about South Asian Diasporas from the perspective of South Asian diasporic female filmmakers living in the United States, Canada, and Britain as well as India. In her book, Desai interpreted the social and cultural connections of South Asian diasporic filmmakers to their homeland (India) as possibly a response to rapid globalization and

corporatization of Indian cinema, rather than nostalgia or love for home country. The interpretation locates South Asian diasporic cinema somewhere between Hollywood and Bollywood. And because it is run by the South Asian immigrant community members, therefore, it can be regarded as the hybrid cinema or construed as the globalization of Indian cinema. Desai used feminist and queer studies to examine the construction of gender and sexuality in contemporary Indian art-house films by South Asian diasporic female filmmakers.

Using gender and queer studies, Desai (2004) explained the portrayal of the female body and the role of contemporary diasporic feminist filmmakers in projecting the image of South Asian femininity. For instance, Desai (2004) found that, the film Fire is about women seeking each others’ pleasure because their men have failed to satisfy their sexual desires.

Seshagiri (2003) and Desai (2004) concluded that the contemporary Indian cinema has been revived by the life experiences of immigrant and diasporic feminist filmmakers who have presented the unclasping of the patriarchal value system and social freedom of femininity from sexual objectification. The criticism indicates that South Asian diasporic women filmmakers should be acknowledged as spokespersons of the South Asian immigrants and diasporic communities, as well as the voice of the suppressed native Indian women in the male-dominant Indian film industry.

Political Economy Theory In her book, Desai (2004) argued the political economy of funding, distribution, and the representation of femininity in Indian-art films by South Asian diasporic female filmmakers. The author found that contemporary English-language art films have a growing mass appeal among South Asian diasporas in the last decade, which is why there are more South Asian diasporic female filmmakers from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, relative to a couple of South Asian national female filmmakers in India. Desai (2004) concluded the increase in diasporic female filmmakers could be a way of showing cultural and social ties to their Indian homeland. While the women-oriented subject of their films could be an expression of voicing the plight, as well as the progress of South Asian women to the multiple audiences including the South Asian diasporic and national audiences, and Western audiences (Desai, 2004).

In contrast, Seshagiri (2003) analyzed the critical and box-office success of Englishlanguage art films by South Asian diasporic women filmmakers in international film circles. The author found that New York based Indian director Mira Nair’s film Mississippi Masala (1991) was the first narrative featuring an Indian daughter as a romantic lead, in love with an African American man. Nair’s 2001 film Monsoon Wedding was the second most acclaimed movie that reveals an uncle’s history of molesting his young nieces amidst the chaos of wedding-planning, and an Indian girl’s rebellion against arranged marriage who eventually succeeds in marrying her American-educated groom. The author also found that women filmmakers like Nair are often marginalized in the home country by big banner and commercial moviemakers for challenging the dominant-narratives of femininity and portraying them through previously unconsidered viewpoints (Seshagiri, 2003).

Similarly, Barron (2008) conducted a narrative and scene analysis of diasporic feminist filmmaker Mehta’s 1996 film Fire. The film portrays two Indian women who are sisters-in-law living in a middle-class joint family in New Delhi. The plot of the film revolves around those two sisters-in-law developing an intimate relationship with each other due to sexual alienation from their husbands. The analysis revealed that, the female same-sex desire themes embedded in

the film’s narrative and the issues of censorship and boycotts associated with the theme.

Barron (2008) explained that, like any typical Indian film story of “love hidden from disapproving families or lovers separated and then reunited,” Fire also depicted a story of forbidden love, but with a twist of joint family caught in sexual crises (p. 67).

Moreover, the plotline of Fire disrupted the dominant Hindu fundamentalist narratives that view women solely as reproducers of the nation and bearers of tradition. In this regard, Fire became the prime target of malicious protest from Hindu nationalists. The protestors burned film posters and threatened moviegoers and theater employees in Indian cities. Barron (2008) noted that due to heavy protests, the Indian Film Censor Board forced Mehta to substitute the name “Sita” with “Nita” before the Hindi version of Fire was released, because in Hindu mythological play Ramayana, Sita represents the long-suffering wife of Ram who is pure, chaste, and loyal. Barron (2008) indicated that Mehta’s film was a fair criticism of Hindu belief systems which idealizes Indian womanhood as all-sacrificing who can be used to fulfill man’s spiritual or sexual needs. For instance, according to Barron (2008) one of the women was a victim of her husband’s spiritual celibacy because he used her company as an attempt to control his desires, while the younger brother of the husband indulged in sex with his wife, only to provide a male heir to the family.

A researcher of gender and sexuality within sporting contexts, Caudwell (2009) utilized the frameworks of queer-feminist approach to analyze the visibility of women’s bodies in Chadha’s 2002 film, Bend it Like Beckham. Using the queer-feminist approach, Caudwell (2009) argued that in a social and cultural space there are few popular films that portray athletic female bodies and few scholarly critiques of those films that focus on female sports participation (Claudwell, 2009). She found that the plotline of the film presented a young Indian woman’s struggles to participate in a male sporting territory: football, an area where women athletes have experienced blatant exclusion due to family members and sporting organizations.

From the plotline, the author construed that women in tough or sport roles will help in disrupting the gendering processes involved in defining women’s bodies as “scopophilic”: a sight of pleasure and desire for the male gaze, often promoted by the male-dominated and corporate-profit driven South Asian film industry (Mulvey, 1975; Claudwell, 2009).

Film studies scholar Ciecko (1999) examined cinematic representations of gender issues related to South Asian diasporic women in Britain, through the lens of a queer-feminist approach. Ciecko (1999) examined the controversial topic of lesbianism, the boundaries of sisterhood, and domestic violence within the South Asian diasporic communities. She found that lesbianism was explored by the renowned British-African Asian filmmaker Pratibha Parmar in her short films, such as Flesh and Paper and Khush (an Urdu-language word which means ecstasy or pleasure). The topics of sisterhood and domestic violence were portrayed in Bhaji on the Beach by the Bristish-Indian filmmaker Gurinder Chadha (Ciecko, 1999).

Ciecko (1999) found the plotlines to be thought-provoking portrayals of female sexuality and social identity. However, Ciecko’s also found the controversial scripts were criticized within diasporic communities in Britain, as well as in the South Asian media (Ciecko, 1999). This indicates that rebellious portrayals of female sexuality are still a source of disagreement among South Asian media mongers, religious and fundamentalist groups, and the local audiences.

Due to the heavy debate involved, the chances of attracting local distributors and producers for those films are greatly reduced. Hence, it is justified to say that, it might be

socially, economically, and politically easier for the South Asian diasporic female filmmakers to depict the controversial issues like female homosexuality, female participation in sports, and female’s emotional intelligence through collaboration with foreign film distributors and producers. Because such topics are not received well by the religious and nationalist groups of South Asian countries, neither are they extremely popular among the local audiences. Hence, the chances of attracting local distributors and producers for those films are greatly reduced.

On the other hand, the practice of approaching foreign distributors could also be a sign of determination to voice the sufferings and plight of South Asian women who lack the freedom of fighting against social injustices prevailing in their home countries.

Critical researcher of social practices of film exhibitors and the diasporic reception of South Asian media, Athique (2008) analyzed the political economy of South Asian film distributors. Using political economy theory, Athique (2008) found that a large number of film distributors and producers would usually finance women-oriented or femininity-based scripts only if the film features a star cast with leading or prominent male actors. Athique (2008) concluded that distributors usually dictate scripts or alter cast of the films via the producer, in an attempt to increase mass appeal and recover their huge investments from high box-office performances of the films.

Gender issues writer, Gangat (2009) critically commented about gender discrimination faced by Bollywood female auteurs which has discouraged them from writing women-oriented scripts for their films. In her article, Gangat (2009) analyzed the difficulties feminist auteurs undergo in star casting for their scripts. The analyses showed that one of the art films’ scripts ended up centering on the story of a woman, for which the female director of the movie struggled for six years to finalize the cast, because the male actors usually refused the costarring role. This happened, in spite of the director’s status as the daughter of a renowned Indian scriptwriter and the sister of an accomplished film director and producer in the industry.

In the end, she cast her brother for the male character’s role (Gangat, 2009).

The costar issue, according to Gangat (2009), resonates with the fact that a lot of leading male actors assume that a female filmmaker will always make a “feminist” film which will portray femininity as oppressed by male villains. Similarly, a lot of leading female actresses often deny working in female director’s film if their costar is not a renowned actor (Gangat, 2009). The author concluded that Indian cinema is plagued with a “star system” which either discourages or forces female directors to compete for commercial values to convince the actors and actresses for their films, instead of subjective scripts (Gangat, 2009).

For the most part, review of the literature indicates the desexualized and subjective portrayal of the South Asian diasporic female identity (femininity) in contemporary Englishlanguage films. However, few studies deal with the portrayal of the South Asian national female identity portrayed by South Asian diasporic female filmmakers. Only a couple of the studies indicated the background and difficulties faced by the South Asian feminist filmmakers in restructuring the dominant narrative of female objectification and increasing the popularity of desexualized narrative among the Indian cinema producers, as well as the audiences. Since, the literature review is based on a handful of studies which discuss the activist text of films made by a small number of feminist auteurs. The theoretical grounding of these studies is relatively based on cultural studies and political economy theory, rather than film or auteur theory. The major portion of studies discusses South Asian diasporic femininity in the context of racism in Western countries. Because of this, the following textual analysis based on narrative criticism will focus on the overall representation of South Asian femininity by South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers in contemporary films through the following research question: RQ: How is South Asian femininity portrayed in contemporary English-language films directed by South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers?

Method According to Desai, for non-South Asians, South Asian diasporic identities are centrally constructed through the production and consumption of diasporic cinema centered in the West, specifically the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. South Asian diasporic female filmmakers produce many types of films, from experimental shorts, documentaries, and Indian art-house films to Bollywood masala movies (Desai, 2004). The majority of the studies in the literature review focused on the plotline of full-length feature films to analyze the portrayal of South Asian femininity by women filmmakers. Due to the fact that, South Asian women are still discouraged from voicing their opinions and protesting against the male-chauvinistic social, political, and media policies, it is important to examine whether those experiences are articulated through the expression of femininity in the selected films.

This study modeled the previous research that examined the patriarchal victimization of women in contemporary Indian films. Utilizing Dasgupta’s (1996), Datta’s (2000), Sheshagiri’s (2003), Desai’s (2004), and Barron (2008) landmark studies as paradigms, this research performed a narrative criticism, which focused on the following aspects of the films: non-fiction format, genre of contemporary drama films in English-language, structure and setting of the plot based on women’s issues, characterizations of subjective femininity, narrative perspective, and critical analysis of the experiences faced by female leads in the films.

The study operationalized the above aspects through this procedure: examined the setting of the story, analyzed similarities of the plot, examined the contrasting characters, examined the protagonists and antagonists in the stories, and evaluated suggestive gaps in the stories. The study operationalized the political economy of the feminist filmmakers by examining the relationship between the female characters in the selected films and the South Asian diasporic women filmmakers. The majority of the studies discussed in the literature review performed thematic analysis of South Asian feminist issues against the traditional Indian womanhood portrayed in full-length feature films. Because this format was found reasonable in interpreting femininity portrayals, this study also utilizes the system of thematic analysis as a guideline.

From this point follows a brief summary of each of the three films and the narrative criticism of the plot, setting of the story, scenes, dialogues, costumes, and emotions associated with the lead female character in the films.

Data Gathering A purposive sample of three full-length feature English-language films by South Asian diasporic female directors released between the years 1996-2006 were selected for the narrative criticism. The films chosen belonged to the independent or parallel cinema of India or were released through foreign distributors, usually British and American distributors. Hence, the selected films were not from the mainstream masala (melodramatic) Bollywood cinema.

The list of female directors was created with the help of primary sources, such as the Journal of Lesbian Studies, the Journal of Communication Inquiry, Journal of Popular Culture, Asian Journal of Communication, and the Cinema Journal. The list of films was created from the secondary sources of information such as, Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) Web site and South Asian Women’s NETwork Web site (sawnet.org).

In order to enhance the internal validity of the textual analysis framework and limit the sample, only feature-length dramas and drama-comedies directed by South Asian diasporic (Indian) female directors were included. This study did not contain short-films or documentaries because feature-length films provide more time for character development and representation. Also, only lead female characters were examined because these characters contain longer screen-time and dialogue-sessions, their portrayals is more developed and can be understood from a variety of viewpoints. Moreover, pure comedies were excluded because this genre may intentionally ridicule female sexuality.

However, the sample of only Indian films might have affected the external validity because South Asia comprises the geographic regions of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan. But, there were almost no feature-length films in English-language directed by female directors from these regions. Therefore, I had to restrict my sample to Indian cinema, because data from this region was available and extensively discussed in the media and in the scholarly journals. Also, the films were sampled this way to ensure the probability that the films had been viewed by the South Asian diasporic audiences in the United States and United Kingdom. The target audience of the research includes Diasporas, film and media studies scholars, film studies students, and film critics, etc. The purpose is to create awareness in the Western and South Asian societies about the rising population of the South Asian diasporic female directors and their art of portraying various depictions of South Asian femininity in their films. These search criteria resulted in three films: Fire (Mehta, 1996), Bend it like Beckham (Chadha 2002), and The Namesake (Nair, 2006).

Summary of the Films To understand each film’s portrayal, a summary of the films is essential. Fire (Mehta, 1996) centers on Sita (Nandita Das), who is just married to Jatin (Javed Jaffrey) the younger brother of a joint middle-class family in India. Jatin operates a porn video rental business and is in love with a Chinese woman. Ashok (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), the older brother and Radha’s (Shabana Azmi) husband practices celibacy with a swami (spiritual leader) because of his wife’s inability to have children. Due to lack of love and sexually suppressed lifestyles, the two sistersin-law fall in love with each other. Eventually, their relationship secrets are exposed to the family servant, and are then discovered by Ashok. Upon this, Sita makes a plan to flee and asks Radha to meet her at the shrine. Humiliated, Ashok demands forgiveness from Radha in the kitchen, but she refuses to accept his apology. Her sari accidentally catches on fire while Ashok abandons her there. Radha survives the fire and joins Sita at the shrine.

Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002) depicts the story of the two female footballers, Jess (Bristish-Indian) and Jules (native British), living in west London who play for the Hounslow Harriers football (soccer) team. The film plots their participation in football, the instances of disapproval from their parents, their gradual friendship, and their final departure to play football on a full scholarship at Santa Clara University, in the United States. In the midst of their football career, the film depicts a love story between the male coach of the team, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) who is the love interest for both the young women. However, Joe is actually interested in Jess rather than Jules which later becomes a source of tension between the two women.

The Namesake (Nair, 2006) depicts the struggles of immigrant life and cultural clashes faced by an ordinary Bengali immigrant couple from India living in the United States and their American-born children. The characters are played by Ashoke (Irfan Khan), who is the husband of Ashima Gnaguli (Tabu). The film takes place primarily in India and New York City. The story begins with the courtship and marriage of Ashima and Ashoke, and the effect of Ashoke’s early death on Ashima and her struggles through her lonely life.

Findings and Analysis From these three films, two basic themes of femininity emerged:

1. The main female characters of the films are portrayed in a desexualized, sexuallyassertive, and emotionally strong-willed femininity.

2. The portrayal of feminist activist media art by the South Asian diaporic feminist filmmakers.What follows is a detailed account of how each film contains these portrayals and why the South Asian diasporic female filmmakers are called feminists.

Desexualized, Sexually-Assertive, and Strong-Willed Femininity From the review of the literature in place, film theory has been used to deconstruct scopophilic femininity portrayed in Hollywood and Bollywood films for the male gaze. However, this study has applied film theory to examine the portrayals of desexualized, sexually-assertive, and strong-willed femininity portrayed in all the three films. For example in Fire (Mehta, 1996), the two sisters-in-law, Radha and Sita are shown wearing minimal makeup and the outfits are mostly not revealing skin or beauty that much. For instance, one scene shows the first time Sita has sex after getting married to Jatin. The depiction shows the nude upper body of Jatin while Sita is still covered on top in her sari. The scene intends to show Jatin’s impassionate approach toward his bride. For instance, after sex Jatin tells Sita, “If you bleed, don’t worry. It happens the first time.” Sita sees the blood around her knees and goes to the restroom to wash and clean the bed sheet, while Jatin is fast asleep.

The portrayal of sexually-assertive femininity can be judged from another scene in Fire (Mehta, 1996) showing Sita lying on the bed while her husband wants to get intimate with her.

She assertively refuses him and says that she is not in the mood. In the later scenes, Radha is shown discussing her sexual suppressions with Sita, saying she and her husband have “lived as brother and sister for thirteen years.” Sita questions Radha about Ashok’s religious celibacy and justice for the suppression of her sexual needs. In their intimate discussions and loneliness, the two women develop desire for each other and seek pleasure in a number of ways, such as oiling each other’s hair and caressing each other’s bare bodies in bed. Once their relationship is discovered by Radha’s husband, Sita decides that they (sisters-in-law) should leave their men and begin a life of their own while saying, “There is no word in our language to describe how we feel for each other,” hence making an economic decision as well as a statement of desire for each other, Fire (Mehta, 1996).

Similarly, in Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002) the sexual-assertiveness is translated through a scene that shows Jess’s mother talking to a dressmaker about her daughter’s small breast size and ways to make them look full-figured in her traditional dress “sari.” In an answer to this, the dressmaker says: “Don't worry, Miss Bahmra (mother). Our designs will make even these little mosquito bites look like juicy, juicy mangoes!” Jess’ mother even compares Jess’s small breasts with her sister’s full-figured body, but Jess is depicted as least concerned about her physical appearance and more worried about her physical strength for the upcoming football game (Chadha, 2002).

The Namesake (Nair, 2006) tells the story of Ashima, a true Bengali-Indian beauty without make-up and her transformation from optimistic young bride to lonely middle-aged widow living in the suburbs of New York. Ashima’s character is desexualized in a way when she is in the labor room wearing a knee-length maternity gown, she asks the nurse: “Do you have a longer frock?” to which the nurse replies, “Oh, to hide those gorgeous legs” and covers Ashima’s legs with thick bed sheets. Another scene shows sex between Ashima and Ashoke which intends to portray the actual way a middle-class South Asian couple has sex and a woman’s role in the act.

Ashima is fully clad in her sari and Ashoke is also fully clothed. To get in the mood he makes loving approaches, to which Ashima opens up and kisses him deeply with her sari rolled up. On screen only for a brief moment, her legs up to the knee and a low neckline are visible (Nair, 2006).

The following scene after sex shows Ashoke waking up from a nightmare. He is drenched in cold sweats, while Ashima inquires about his condition and understands that her husband had a bad dream. She consoles him by saying, “Come close to me” and he rests his head on her chest. This is unlike popular Indian movies where the woman always wakes up from a bad dream and seeks her boyfriend’s or husband’s arms or shoulder for peace and solace (Nair, 2006).

Portrayal of the Feminist Activist Media Art Auteur theory was incorporated in the study to examine the emotional connection of the South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers in relation to the portrayals of femininity in the films.

According to Ramanathan (2006) the filmmaker’s choice of working within the contemporary melodrama as opposed to the documentary social protest, appears to be their deliberate attempt to modify the usual emotional and patriarchal exploitation of the female body and sexuality in contemporary Indian cinema. For instance, The Namesake (Nair, 2006) shows Ashima’s gradual adaptation to the environment and lifestyle of New York which is so different from where she grew up. The first image of Ashima’s character portrays an innocent and allsacrificing young bride. The second image conveys the self-reliance in her attitude when she is exposed to the independent lifestyle of New York. For example, Ashima is shown going out for the laundry and learning to fetch a bus to get to the Fulton Fish Market. The film also depicts how she struggles and transforms from an all-accepting wife to a self-reliant widow, and a lonely mother of two, who finally seeks solace after being back home (India) (Nair, 2006). In the same way, Fire also shows the emotional transformation of Radha and Sita, who initially tried hard to be the all sacrificing and loving wives, but due to prolonged rejection and disapproval from their husbands they took a stand by desiring each other and living a life of their own (Mehta, 1996).

Similarly, in Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002) Jess’ character speaks the tagline: “Who wants to cook Aloo Gobi (Potato Cauliflower) when you can bend a ball like Beckham?”

Jess’ character is depicted as trying to be a traditional daughter by taking interest in cooking.

Meanwhile when her mother is busy she is shown juggling and bouncing the whole cabbage.

Jess is also shown as trying her might to keep her parents happy by giving up her final football game, in order to attend her sister’s wedding. At a point when she is no longer able to enjoy the wedding ceremony her father realizes how passionate his daughter is about football and allows her to leave for the game. The narrative criticism of the three films illustrates a transformation in the portrayal of femininity from the emotional and patriarchal exploitation of the female body and identity into desexualized, sexually-assertive, and strong-willed femininity.

Why Feminist Filmmakers?

Kavery Dutta, a South Asian diasporic female filmmaker in New York, revealed that, for a woman of color the feminist vision is not restricted to only sexual identity but extends to race, class, and social norms (Miller, 1988). This study includes the word feminist to show that feminism is about women’s rights and their representation in a society. The study reveals the cultural and sexual attitudes which repress South Asian women abroad or in their home country. The issue justifies the need to motivate future filmmakers to curtail the stereotyped femininity and bring a positive change within the South Asian society.

The three contemporary English-language films: Fire, Bend it Like Beckham, and The Namesake were released in Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States, respectively. The films are by South Asian diasporic women filmmakers and for South Asian women and each deals with a controversial treatment of history, race, gender issues, and female sexuality associated within the national and transnational or diasporic South Asian communities. The effort of the female filmmakers in transforming the hegemonic, patriarchal, and male-dominant narratives and, re-imagining them from an Indian woman’s perspectives was received as Indian feminist media art in the West and in the home country (Seshagrir, 2003).

According to Mira Nair, the feminist nature of the South Asian women filmmakers comes from the fact that they consider themselves as self-appointed spokespersons for the South Asian community. Nair envisions that what seems controversial to the South Asian norm is what the world needs to know, rather than one ambassador or a dominant viewpoint prevailing in the minds of the Indian cinema producers and their respective audiences (Sheshagiri, 2003). Therefore, Nair did not depict a love story of Ashima and Ashoke sharing roses or intimate moments, in fact, she executed the realities as a South Asian person living in America today in her film The Namesake. This is because she herself travelled from New Delhi to study at Harvard 25 years ago and later married and settled in New York City. The film was a way to show her lived experiences in America through the character of Ashima in The Namesake (Pais, 2007).

Similarly, Mehta also pointed out that, although “I am a Canadian filmmaker, but I tell these stories about women because that is what I’ve grown up with” (Sirivastava, 2009). She also talked about her film Fire which was unnecessarily rated as violent by the IFCB (Indian Film Censor Board), although “there are films in India that are 100 times more violent. What’s really strange is that they don’t want to show violence against women.” Moreover, Mehta believes that the problem does not lie with the Censor Board, but with the powerful and politically strong fundamentalists. She also went on to say that, Censor Boards in foreign countries are free of any hypocrisy and every film is a standard there. Whereas in India she struggled to release her film uncut in an English version with an A certificate (Sirivastava, 2009). This clarifies the confusion which Desai (2004) pointed that diasporic filmmaker’s connection to the homeland is driven by globalization and corporatization of Indian cinema. In fact, the connection is a mixture of both.

Likewise Chadha, who grew up in London, left home to attend college in England, persuading her parents that her undergraduate program in development studies would include a course on the politics and economics of India. “So like Jess, she also ducked and dived and bent the rules to leave home” (Chhabra, 2003). Moreover, the film is named after David Beckham’s fantastic ability to kick a ball. Instead of going in a straight line, the ball actually bends into the goal. The word “bending” is a metaphor for her film, Chadha explains, “Us (South Asian) girls and women, often we can see our goals but we too have to twist and turn and bend the rules to get there” (Chhabra, 2003). In other words, Jess’s character teaches the young South Asian women that in spite of all the traditional and cultural restrictions they should always struggle to follow their passion through rightful means. An example is the way Jess initially tried to lie and would sneak out of wedding parties to attend the football practices.

But once she told the truth to her parents they agreed to support her football scholarship offered by Santa Clara University. In doing so, the movie has portrayed Jess’ character as sexually, emotionally, and physically fit for playing football and crossing boundaries to achieve her true ambitions (Caudwell, 2009).

Discussion From the standpoint of political economy theory, Mehta, Chadha, and Nair’s low-budget films in English-language often do not do well with their homeland audiences because they are usually viewed by cross-cultural audiences in terms of subject, financing, and production.

However, films like Fire indicate that diasporic filmmakers have begun to make films for the national audiences as well. But the IFCB treat such subjects as highly controversial including the protest campaigns by Indian nationalists, which are often politically motivated to malign the narrative of female desire and decrease the overall viewership.

These factors lead to the limited local distribution of films; hence they are mostly financed by filmmakers themselves and partly by the film industry. Such films are referred to as projects of “independent filmmakers,” or films belonging to the “independent cinema” (Desia, 2004). These low-budget movies mostly do better in video rental and film festivals than in South Asian theaters. This situation suggests the difficult political economy of the Indian cinema, where female filmmakers suffer the problems of accessing the means of production and distribution (Dhawan, 2009).

The ideology of feminist filmmakers behind low-budget art-house films is to distinguish themselves from the high-cost of mainstream Bollywood movies which are largely based on interchangeable storylines from movie to movie. The only different thing in those mainstream movies is the difference in sets, locations, actors, and directors, hence, they lack the originality of the subject. Moreover, the purpose of diasporic films is to create a relationship between national and the diasporic generations of South Asia (Desai, 2004). The diasporic filmmakers perceive films as an effective medium of reviving the South Asian nations from conservative patriarchal norms, so that they can treat their women equally and respect their identity in all possible roles, such as a daughter, mother, married, unmarried, widowed, or career woman.

In Fire (Mehta, 1996), the director did not depict the relationship between Radha and Sita as some form of lesbianism adapted from a Western narrative nor does it show traditional Indian same-sex or opposite-sex relationships from Kama Sutra — the ancient techniques of love and sexual performances in Hindu tradition. In fact, the film’s narrative criticizes the Indian male practices of the spiritual celibacy and the extra-marital affair that leads to the same-sex desire between the two sisters-in-law (Desai, 2004). The film illustrates the controlling nature of Ashok in more detail, the eldest son and the head of the family who suppresses his wife’s sexual needs in the cause of celibacy and to receive the blessings of his spiritual leader. The celibacy and empowering male’s social status is criticized and abhorred by Sita, who is portrayed as standing up against the male dominance. For instance, she sarcastically says that like Indian wives, who fast for their husband’s long life and success, Ashok should fast for his spiritual leader’s long life and success (Desai, 2004).

Moreover, in Bend it Like Beckham Chadha (2002) has transformed the dominantnarrative of “when a boy meets a girl” or fairy tales of how girls and young women, after enduring hardship and pain, find their princes––into a narrative of South Asian girls desiring sporting prowess and desiring men out of their ethnicities (Caudwell, 2009). By casting a female lead in a sport film, Chadha has also challenged the naturalized male entitlement to sports like football.

Similarly, in the film The Namesake (2006) Nair transformed the text of a submissive newly-wed bride learning to live with her in-laws or fighting against the nuisances of troublemaking in-laws—into the narrative of a young Bengali wife assimilating into the American culture where she often finds herself lonely. In the midst of loneliness and cultural hardships, the couple somehow develops love for each other, until Ashoke’s sudden death. The remaining film depicts Ashima’s emotional survival against all odds that grips her life in the later years of their marriage (Nair, 2006).

Furthermore, all three filmmakers have attempted to shift the genre of tearjerker text (which often involves the traditional melodrama and exploitation of female emotions) into a feminist activist text. Each involves a South Asian woman’s journey and survival through the issues surrounding their life, for example, as sexually-suppressed wives and lesbian sisters-inlaw in Fire, an Indian wife adapting to the lifestyles of New York in The Namesake, and a young Indian daughter passionate about playing football rather than early marriage in Bend it Like Beckham. In other words, the interpretation of them as feminist filmmakers is not only based on the facts that their films have many women in them and are made by women, without any consideration of content or point of view (Dutta, 1988). In fact, the interpretation is based on portrayal of South Asian femininity from previously unexplored viewpoints.

For example, the female characters portrayed feminism in three steps: (1) a gradual awareness of them being victims of sexual exploitation and gender discrimination in the maledominated South Asian culture, (2) the feminist consciousness of sexuality, social identity, and their needs and wants as an important part of their individual and social development; and (3) the ability to challenge the norms by making a sexually-assertive decision about life choices (Dasgupta, 2004).

Generally, the three films initially portray the narrative of South Asian and diasporic women as victims of patriarchy and build upon how they stood up for their sexual and social rights. For instance, sexually abused wives Radha and Sita become lesbians in Fire (Mehta, 1996). Happily married wife and mother in a foreign country becomes lonely and acquires peace after going back home in The Namesake, an athletic young woman refuses to become a traditional bride but instead becomes a professional football player and finds love with a White British man in Bend it Like Beckham. Not only do the films highlight the wrongdoings of the South Asian societies, but they assert that South Asian women should be protected from sexual abuse, they should not be forced into early marriages, their independence should be supported, and they should be allowed to pursue professional careers.

According to suggestive gaps in the film plotlines, the scenes in the film Fire are simultaneously interrupted by the voice of Radha narrating the thought processes going inside her mind through her childhood memories, Mehta (1996). Whereas the plot of Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002) has a suggestive contrast of characters. For instance, Jess is scolded by her parents for choosing sports over learning the traits of a “good wife” whereas her sister Pinky (Archie Panjabi) is portrayed as more “girly.” Pinky likes to dress up, and is shown ogling and teasing gentlemen on the street, even indulging in pre-marital sex with her fiancé.

However, the parents are more concerned about Jess and her aspiration to become a football champion because that is something which has never happened in their family, therefore, they are so engrossed in their younger daughter that they tend to ignore the wrongdoings of their elder daughter.

Surprisingly, the plot of the film The Namesake (Nair, 2006) does not have suggestive contrasts or apparent repetitions, but the story suffers from one suggestive gap that is a language barrier. Although, the lead characters Ashoke and Ashima are delivering their dialogues in English-language, they frequently switch to Bengali language which serves to disrupt the understanding of the actual conversation going on between the characters. In fact, characters in Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002) also switch from English-language to Punjabi-Hindi language, but it is used minimally.

Out of three films, Fire does fairly better in creating the suggestive contrast of characters.

For instance, the setting of film is a traditional Hindu joint family consisting of two sisters-inlaw: Radha is submissive and Sita is sexually-assertive in behavior. In addition there are two brothers: Ashoke runs a food business and is a religious celibate who sacrifices his sexual pleasure and his wife’s sexual needs to seek the blessings of his spiritual leader. Jatin runs a pornographic film business and indulges in an extra-marital affair. Also, the house servant is shown watching a mythical play of Ramayana with the elderly lady of the family, but when other family members are away he watches one of the porn movies from Jatin’s store and masturbates to please his flaring desires. Overall, the film suggests that a seemingly content joint family also suffers from conflicting beliefs and value systems.

Feminist political economy of the films implies political and economic barriers faced by the women filmmakers with the emphasis on the broad division of Indian cinema into commercial films and art-house cinema. The division of commercial films largely focuses on the physical and emotional objectification of femininity, whereas art-house cinema presents the social realities of widow rights, female infanticide, and domestic violence, and portrays the embedded sexuality in a non-explicit manner (Mehrotra, 2008; Gangat, 2009).

The viewership and popularity of art-house films is relatively low in South Asian societies which may be due to the fact that South Asian nations are still in the phase of socio-economic development. For instance, countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are suffering from social injustices, poverty, and illiteracy. If the films also intend to show the grim realities then they offer no escape for the majority of lower-middle classes. For the same reason, the sample for this research is small in number, because contemporary art films are few in numbers as they have limited reach only in the form of pocket audiences. To date the art-house films have not sustained mass appeal and the commercial success in the Indian film industry (Mehrotra, 2008).

Perhaps there are other reasons for the overall dearth of contemporary South Asian female directors and it could be traced to the small numbers of women entering film schools or choosing film direction as their professions (Cochrane, 2010). In the context of feminist political economy, Cochrane (2010) also argued that a lack of female filmmakers have made it difficult for film studios to consider women in charge. Because film is a business of financial risks and unless something has not proved its success in the past it is hard for producers to take a risk on female directors. The study Women@the Box Office by Lauzen found that, feature films with a female protagonist are often not received well by the audiences, because 90% of the time female filmmakers are suppose to pitch their idea to males, and even though male producers might be quite willing to accept the idea, but chances are they will not because what seems important to a woman and for women audiences may not be equally important for a male producer or male audiences (Cochrane, 2010).

Conclusion Through the evidence and analysis presented here, it is clear that in the past, a major portion of feminist media studies and Asian communication studies have often viewed contemporary Indian films as a text for the victimization of women because of the consistent use of sexuality and femininity stereotypes, pertaining to song and dance films in Indian film industry. But, this study has acknowledged the South Asian diasporic women filmmakers’ effort in challenging the portrayal of pure/virgin Indian womanhood or sensuous “scopophilic” images often reinforced by male directors in the genre of contemporary films (Mulvey, 1975).

This study was intended to critically examine the portrayal of South Asian femininity in contemporary English-language films by South Asian diasporic feminist filmmakers. Three basic portrayals of femininity emerged. The female protagonists are portrayed in a desexualized, sexually-assertive, and strong-willed femininity which is unlike the typical “scopophilic” image of female leads in Hindi language Indian films. For instance, same-sex desire between sisters-inlaw in Fire (Mehta, 1996), an Indian girl passionate to play football for England in Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002), and an Indian wife shown as emotionally stronger and intelligent than her husband, in The Namesake (Nair, 2006).

The three films drew attention toward cultivating a new perspective of femininity and women filmmakers’ voices in the South Asian film industry. Moreover, the study has elaborated on the aspects of social, political, and economic challenges faced by the South Asian female filmmakers in producing, distributing, and screening their movies in their home country and abroad. Therefore, such feminist filmmakers deserve coverage in the popular press like their male filmmaker counterparts. Furthermore, media art made through passion and activism deserves attention in the scholarship of film studies and popular culture communications, as well as from viewers, and prospective male and female filmmakers.

The study has emphasized that although Indian cinema dominates the South Asian entertainment media consumption, yet it is vastly understudied, unlike its Western counterpart, such as Hollywood. This study has set out the direction for future research to shed scholarly light on feminist films from the perspective of South Asian diasporic and national filmmakers. Just like the current study has discussed the films by Mehta, Chadha, and Nair aiming for the possibility of maximum viewership within Indian society, Indian cinema, North American cinema, and British cinema.

The findings and conclusion reached in this paper have theoretical limitations for feminist media scholars, film studies students, and film critics because the study is not adequately connected to the theories such as film theory and auteur theory. The analyses are limited to narrative criticism of the films’ texts and the feminist perspective of the female filmmakers.

But, the study acknowledges the importance of analyzing the text from viewers’ perspectives, specifically the psychological impact of a feminist text on female audiences belonging to different sexual orientations, ethnicities, or age groups. Future research scholars can examine the psychological impact of femininity portrayal on women belonging to certain sexual orientations. Also, the feminist art-films will provide a learning curve in the emotional development of South Asian female audiences. Continued research on similar topics will convey social changes needed in the ways femininity is portrayed by media-content producers and consumed by media-viewers.

Overall, the study has addressed the importance of women’s perspectives and their voices in the mainstream popular culture, by inviting future scholarship regarding the portrayal of femininity by South Asian national female directors in contemporary Hindi-language artfilms. It is an important process for the development of gender consciousness and feminist media art in the South Asian popular culture.

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