Abstract:

The paper explores representation of gender politics in two films—Antarmahal and Siddheshwari to
illuminate the synergy of patriarchy and marginalisation that creates a structure of cultural violence
against women. A sense of feminist consciousness pitted against dogmatic social practices drives
the narratives of these films. Women's desire, patriarchy and power relations, and vulnerability
identified as three themes from the textual analysis. The film's texts reveal a perpetual fight between
patriarchal oppression and female agency. Women's vulnerability is exacerbated by Hindu patri-
archy's unequal power relations. Women, on the other hand, frequently defy patriarchal conventions
in order to reject chauvinist actions.

Keywords:

Anatarmahal, Siddheshwari, Rituparno Ghosh, Mani Kaul, Gender Politics, Parallel

Cinema, Patriarchy, Female Desires, Radical.

“Standing still I searched

Stretching out my arms,

Sinking deep into the earth

Like the Banyan roots,

Seeking, the spring of life.”

Trans. Siddeshwari(film: Mani Kaul)

Women's changing roles in society were embraced by Indian cinema, which experimented with how
women were depicted in films. Women's agency and independence are emphasised in such repre-
sentations; nonetheless, exerting that freedom has serious costs for women.

In Indian cinema, women are primarily depicted in two ways. They are first depicted as self-sacri-
ficing mythological ideals such as Sita and Savitri. Second, women are hyper-sexualised to satisfy
male fantasies and erotic desires (Agarwal, 2014; Dasgupta, 1996; Dasgupta & Hegde 1988; Nand-
kumar, 2011; Manohar & Kline, 2014; Sarkar, 2012). Women-centric cinematic films today aim to
break out from the stereotypical cultural construct of women and question gender politics created by
the patriarchy. We do, however, have a limited understanding of women-centric cinema that digs
into the domains of marriage and widowhood to expose the dogmatic social norms that silence
women's voices. This research fills that void by examining the cinematic texts Antarmahal (2005)
and Siddheshwari (1989), both of which depict women's agency and desire. Antarmahal (Rituparno
Ghosh) and Siddheshwari (Mani Kaul) are two films that combine feminist consciousness with an
aesthetic sensibility to create cultural texts that challenge conventional Hindu patriarchy and violate
cultural vision of womanhood.

Rituparno Ghosh, a gifted and diverse Indian film director, sensitively drew the intricacies of hu-
man interactions while continually challenging the bounds of gender identity and gender performa-
tivity. As it is difficult to think fully free of patriarchal practises and value systems, he regarded
himself a womanist, not a feminist, filmmaker (Mazumder, 2017). His films depict women's wants
quietly and consistently challenge gender hierarchies. The study examines women-centric films that
articulate lived experiences of women in a patriarchal society governed by strict religious values.

The roles of patriarchy and sexism in social practises that promote cultural violence against women
are critically examined by Antarmahal and Water. These films fight patriarchy and religion's syn-
ergy by depicting women's desire, sexual agency, and rebellion in ways that question patriarchy and
religion's synergy. Antarmahal and Water are two films that exemplify how aesthetic sensibility and
social criticism may be used to promote gender equality in film.

According to Agarwal (2014), women's roles in Indian cinema are primarily focused on being the
Other of men. Women are the source of men's sexual fulfilment and the magnet of the male gaze.
They are housewives, mothers, and objects of male interest in love and romantic attraction. Thomas
(2005) looked at how women were portrayed in Hindi films during the late colonial period. She
drew a comparison between Indian warrior women of the virangana tradition and their representa-
tion by Nadia, a White actress who starred in Hindi films. Gopal (2011) looked at how the Bengali
film Chokher Bali, based on Tagore's work, combines aesthetic sensibilities with Bollywood pro-
duction skills to create modern bhadralok (gentlemen) cinema for a worldwide Indian audience.

Since social standards restrict women's presence outdoors, the film Antarmahal presents them in
their inner realm. Women often wish to go outside their homes, but this goal is rarely fulfilled. An-
tarmahal depicts women as being confined in a house's inner chamber, and this entrapment is
echoed in the film's title. Women in Antarmahal are absolutely powerless, and their survival is en-
tirely dependent on the men's charity. Women are denied the right to live their life as they see fit.
Antarmahal's musicality reflects men and women's unequal power relationships. When Jashomati
asks the sculptor to send her a palki (a sedan chair) so she might attend a fair, for example, the po-
etic revelation of her powerlessness is shown. The delicacy of reality in Jashomati's existence is il-
luminated by the background music, darkness, rain, a startling movement of a bird, and a glimpse of
light. Women are rendered impotent by religion and patriarchy working together.

The narrative of Antarmahal illustrates how Hindu social practises worsen women's vulnerability
through direct and indirect assault. Violence does not only refer to physical assaults; it also refers to
cultural standards that place tighter limits on those who are most vulnerable. The lives of Jashomati
and Mahamaya are confined to the house's inner chamber. They are not permitted to leave the house
without their husband's permission. Jashomati's most basic desire to purchase clay dolls is denied
because her husband is hesitant to grant such a request. If Jashomati and Mahamaya do not meet
their husband's requirements, their well-being is jeopardised. Bhubaneswar even asks Mahamaya to
satisfy the Hindu priests' absurd requests, and he beats Jashomati to force her to submit. Antarma-
hal's work portrays a patriarchal and Hindu religious practice-based structure of cultural violence
against women (Galtung, 1990).

Violence, on the other hand, does not entirely silence women's voices; rather, it creates new av-
enues for resistance. Antarmahal depicts resistance by exposing women's sexual agency and desire.
Mahamaya's playful presence symbolises how women's bodies are both locations of patriarchal bru-
tality and points of transgression. To ease the psychological stress of patriarchal authority and male
fantasy, Mahamaya flaunts her body in front of the priest. Ghosh (2005) portrays Mahamaya with
such sensuality in order to project women's agency, which questions patriarchal brutality and ex-
poses religious hypocrisy's masks.

However, radicalism in portraying women in Parallel Cinema has wonderfully and sensitively cap-
tured by Mani Kaul as well. Mani Kaul, a follower of the radical filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, is
claimed to have pushed the edge with his revolutionary filmmaking techniques in the 1960s and
1970s, establishing his own brand of 'new wave' Indian cinema. Mani Kaul was unquestionably the
Indian filmmaker who was able to completely transform the relationship between image and form,
as well as the relationship between voice and narration, with the intent of developing a "purely cine-
matic object" that is primarily visual and formal. Kaul flips the artist-profile film (produced by
Films Division) on its head with Siddheshwari (1989). It not only avoids conventional documenta-
tion of the titular singer's work, but it also skips over basic biographical data in favour of something
more thrilling and enlightening. The film presents the notion and sensation of music rather than mu-
sic itself. Siddheshwari is a true avant-garde film that combines numerous art forms and timelines,
locations, realities, and storey approaches. Instead of employing overt sex scenes, the film uses the
tension beneath the surface. The protagonist's use of bodily gestures, on the other hand, might be in-
terpreted as a literary and symbolic representation of her sexual liberty.

Sexual awakening and emancipation play a crucial role in a person's development and change. This
sexual awakening for a woman can be interpreted as a complete rejection of patriarchy.Siddeshwari
is a film that follows the protagonist's journey from a microscopic insight to establishing her posi-
tion in the sphere of art. Despite the richness of its legacy, the film helps us grasp the cloud that
hung over classical music. It also prepares the audience for the rigours of the singing woman's exis-
tence. It elucidates one facet of the difficulty faced by the performing artist – the tumultuous rela-
tionship she must maintain between the need for security and the yearning for independence.

Mani Kaul's portrayal of the protagonist, on the other hand, is quite different. Rather than framing
or constraining the performer, the close-ups present her persona. Siddeshwari's nakedness becomes
an exposition of her personality in the images when she is shown. She defies gender stereotypes by
relegating women to a lower status. The protagonist's nakedness becomes a defiant step toward her
change.

The film pays attention to such gender inversions to disrupt the "social hierarchy of male over fe-
male," placing the heroine as "what might be called, the woman on top," by inverting traditional
gender positions — setting up the woman as the one with means and setting up the man in a state of
penury, the converse of social reality. As an artist, music becomes the vehicle through which she in-
ternalises and expresses her inner and outside realities. Her sexual awakening is displacing her no-
tion of being a domesticated self.

The objective of the paper is to track down gender politics in Indian women's cinema. This research
examines how Antarmahal and Siddheshwari disrupt stereotypical representations of women and re-
think gender relations in society. The study demonstrates how critical and creative representations
of women's life can expose dogmatic societal behaviours and create new opportunities for mediated
portrayal of women. This research fills that void by evaluating two women-centric films that foster
strong feminist consciousness in order to pinpoint women's desire and sexual autonomy, as well as
to address the dehumanising social practise that perpetuates cultural violence against women.

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Bio-note :

Author: Naveeta Negi.

Naveeta Negi is a PhD scholar Of Bundelkhand University, Jhansi. She cleared UGC NET with
JRF in June 2010. She is a graduate from Sri Venkateshwara College, University Of Delhi and re-
ceived her MPhil degree from The Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University,
Chandigarh. She has been teaching in University Of Delhi as an Assistant Professor in the depart-
ment of English. She has also served as an Assistant Professor in the School of Open Learning, DU,
for three years. Her areas of interest are Film Studies, Feminism, Gender Studies, Tribal Studies and
Cultural Studies.

Co- Author: Dr. Nutan Agarwal.

Dr. Nutan Agarwal is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of English at Bun-
delkhand College, Jhansi. She has published many research papers in various National & Interna-
tionally recognized publications and journals. She has presented papers in various conferences and
seminars. She is also supervising scholars working on Indian Cinema and documentaries. Her re-
search explores areas of Feminism, Film Studies and Gender Studies, Cultural Studies.