Identity in corporeality: Interplay of disability and masculinity in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish (2010) and Anurag Basu’s Barfi! (2012)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The identity of a disabled individual is inextricably knitted with socio-culturally prescribed gender roles and heteronormative postulates of sexuality. The present article scrutinizes the complex interplay of disability and masculinity in two Indian films- Bhansali’s Guzaarish (2010) and Basu’s Barfi! (2012). In Guzaarish, illusionist Ethan, rendered quadriplegic after an unfortunate accident, willfully resists perceiving manhood beyond the roles of protecting, providing, and sexually gratifying women. He perceives his body image as shameful and embarrassing due to vulnerability and sexual impotence and appeals for euthanasia. In contrast, the eponymous protagonist Barfi, deaf-mute by birth, strategically exploits hegemonic masculine tropes as compensation for sensory impairments, following the body-behavior ideals culturally expected from a man in melodramatic heterosexual relationships. The article employs qualitative methodology with a thematic study. Social constructionism and symbolic interactionism are utilized to scrutinize the socio-cultural scripting of corporeal dimensions and the intersectionality of corporeal differences and gendered realities. The work finds that both disabled protagonists’ self-understanding of their personhood is manipulated by the internalized stereotypes of masculinity, disseminated and reinforced through phallocentric prescriptions – while one succumbs to shame embodying the lack, the other tries overcompensating the lack. The article illustrates how identity is rooted in the corporeal body; while disability experience is intertwined with gender scripting, masculinity is also constructed in relation to certain corporeal differences.