Representation of women’s issues through art cinema: A critical analysis of Astitva, Matrubhoomi and Bawandar

Pages: 530-535
Dipti Salhuria (Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector-42, Chandigarh)

Art cinema portrays the lives and circumstances of women, through a realistic representation of their status, social construction and culture, and attempts to address issues of rights and dignity, freedom, respect for authority, violence, and other issues impacting women. The three movies taken up for analysis in the present study focused on three major women’s issues in present Indian society, viz. women’s identity, declining sex ratio and its consequences, and finally rape and a travesty of justice as faced by victims of rape. The movies portray the apathy of a society, insensitive to women’s trials and tribulations, as well as the strength of the women who rise above their problems with courage and fortitude, as Aditi does in Astitva, Kalki in Matrubhoomi and Sanwari in Bawandar.