Reading the Construct: An Appraisal of Muslim Women in Contemporary Hindi Commercial Cinema

Cinema is considered a cultural artifact that reflects and replicates
reality. Image constructs of women as represented in cinema function
as signs of ideological discourses in a patriarchal society. Since its
inception, the relationship between cinema, society, and representation
has been evident and dialectical. Indian cinema has a period of play of
over a hundred years. It has been a major platform for representing
various issues such as gender, women’s rights, sexuality, religion and
minority groups. In the contemporary social landscape, any discussion
on cinema and its representation of minorities, particularly those
associated with the Islamic world, is mediated by a certain graphic
spectacle of the media. As media representation of minorities has
been minimal, so issues of representation of religious minorities and
stereotypical instances of gender and identity constructs have become
an integral component in the disciplines of art, cinema, and visual
culture.The construct of Muslim women and their portrayal in the
narrative accounts remain clichéd, habitually or systematically excluded,
and relegated to minor roles, or roles that match traditional stereotypes.
Therefore, this paper seeks to assess traces of stereotypical depiction
of Muslim women and their objectification for men’s viewing pleasure,
and if any, to what extent their social construct and representation in
the contemporary Hindi commercial cinema have changed.