El papel de Bollywood en la regulación de los cuerpos y sexualidades de las mujeres indias

Abstract

Starting from a social context dominated by a heteronormative framework that repudiates same-sex relationships, the purpose of this essay is to examine the experience of homosexuality in India as shown in the representation of the lesbian body carried out by the film director Karan Razdan in his movie Girlfriend (2004). Bearing in mind Michel Foucault’s contributions, we will analyze how women’s bodies are represented in Bollywood’s popular movies, focusing on the violent and punishing consequences of performing a transgressive feminine sexuality. Considering the importance of Bollywood’s industry as an educational agent of India’s citizens, reinforcing and conforming collective imaginaries, and as an ally of the power structures that regulate Indian women’s bodies and sexualities, we think that it is necessary to draw attention to the violence transmitted throughout the film in order to encourage a social debate concerning gender identities in India. Whereas, in India, there is an ongoing fight to recognize homosexuality and definitely abolish section 377 of the penal code introduced by the British, the way Razdan approaches the representation of lesbianism as a pathology closely associated to criminality evidences his support of dominant ideologies that limit the freedom and wealth of plural identities.