Construction of Indian femininity and masculinity in Filmindia magazine 1946–1948

Abstract

The paper looks at Filmindia magazines from 1946 to 1948 on the eve of transition of India from being a colony to an Independent nation. The paper uses the Habermasian public sphere, Kellner’s media culture and Gaonkar’s ideas of alternative modernities to analyse the magazine. Magazines like Filmindia constituted literary public spheres which became a site for deliberation on defining the ideals of masculinity and femininity for the new nation. By virtue of being the most influential magazine of the time, Filmindia’s views also gain significance in constructing gender role models for the new nation. Filmindia, in its construction of the ideal man and woman, promotes societal modernization but opposes cultural modernization. The cultural core was to be protected and cinema with its ability to influence the masses posed a threat to it. Thus censorship becomes a tool to enforce the gender norms defined for the nation.