Gender Stereotypes In Bollywood

The electronic media has become one of the most important sources of not only information but entertainment as well. Bollywood alone has a daily viewership that runs in millions, thus it becomes imperative to look at Bollywood as an institution, giving birth to and breaking away from the very many stereotypes that exist and are created for various reasons.
Bollywood is primarily known for its women, and the elaborate song and dance sequences. The woman in Bollywood is only ever classified into four standard types. These are: The Mother, The Wife, The Vamp, and The Courtesan [1]. These might stem from the ancient scriptures like Manusmriti where in “A woman should be subject to her father in childhoold, in youth to her husband, and when her husband is dead, to her children.”[2] The woman does not enjoy any independence as per the guidelines of the Manusmriti, and it is indeed in this manner that women are mostly represented in Bollywood.

Ibid. Pg. 1.
Barring these four stereotypical roles, we find other stereotypes like the Sister and the Daughter. Essentially, the ideal daughter takes on the role of the ideal wife post marriage, while the sister is shown as the potent ideal wife.
The hero will many a time be saving up for her wedding, taking care of her etc. Her sexuality is jeopardized quite often, and she is sacrificed in the movie post a rape by the villain and the movie then essentially becomes the hero’s fight to salvage the sister’s pride and reclaim the family name and honour. Any people he murders or grievously hurts in the process is out of the purview of law. Miraculously, the police understand the necessity for revenge and we never see the hero behind bars for such violence. Unfortunately, that is not how the law works in reality and unconsciously, these movies might just have bred rampant violence and the image that it is okay to break the law as long as it is not baseless. Clearly, Bollywood affects mindsets in the most perverse manner at