Abstract
Drawing upon the cinematic expression of gender and nationalism, I intend to examine the journey of Sehmat as a spy during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan in Meghna Gulzar’s film Raazi (2018). I explore the ways in which Hindi cinema have portrayed the notion of femininity in the movies that dealt with the idea of nation and terrorism. Further, I delineate how the impact of war on human psyche and the construction of women have been cinematically captured in Hindi cinema and particularly, the movie Raazi. I also interrogate the movie in relation to the traditional histrionics that are usually present in Hindi movies on war.
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Notes
- 1.
By popular cinema, I mean the films which are mass entertainers as defined by Gokulsing and Dissanayake in Indian Popular Cinema.
- 2.
The movie Border is significant for explicitly naming Pakistan as the enemy.
- 3.
Dhokha introduces the female terrorist (Sara Khan played by Tulip Joshi) figure through the perspective of the good cop Muslim husband (Zaid Ahmed Khan played by Muzammil Ibrahim) loyal to the nation. The threatening presence of the female terrorist is subdued by the dominating male figure immediately concluding her as the victim and stripping her off from any point of view or agency.
- 4.
Gadar shows that Muslim cannot be assimilated into the Hindu ways, but the exotic Muslim/Pakistani woman can be incorporated (Sakeena Ali played by Amisha Patel) into the secular Indian framework by an upper-caste male Hindu nationalist (Tara Singh played by Sunny Deol). It suggests that the majoritarian Hindu ideals are shaped by a male subjectivity.
- 5.
There is a whole song dedicated to the character of Mahavir Singh Phogat called Hanikarak Bapu (Harmful Father) on a lighter note where he forces his young girls to train for wrestling.
- 6.
Translated by the author.
- 7.
Translated by the author.
- 8.
Both the film and the character’s name as well as her journey all suggest the same meaning, that is, ‘to agree.’
- 9.
The act of putting blood on Sakeena’s forehead is analogous to putting vermilion on the Hindu bride as a mark of a married woman whose religious/caste identity is traditionally considered to have merged with the husband’s. Here, Tara Singh, through this gesture, symbolically pronounces Sakeena to be his wife. The act of marriage then rids her of the Muslim identity and makes her a Sikhni woman.
- 10.
Translated by the author.
- 11.
Translated by the author.
- 12.
Translated by the author.
- 13.
Translated by the author.
- 14.
Translated by the author.
- 15.
Translated by the author.
- 16.
Translated by the author.
- 17.
Translated by the author.
- 18.
Translated by the author.
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Sugathan, A. (2023). Gender and Nationalism: The Journey of Sehmat in Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi. In: Chakraborty Paunksnis, R., Paunksnis, Š. (eds) Gender, Cinema, Streaming Platforms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16700-3_8
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