Deconstructing Gender Stereotypes in ‘Mardaani' – a Film From Bollywood

In the present paper, the authors analyze gender stereotypes in the Bollywood film Mardaani. It is argued that in Mardaani, Rani Mukherjee's character is a representation of the ‘rarest of the rare'; hence she cannot be considered to be a role model for the typical Indian woman. While the film claims to show women empowerment; (a casual first watch may show that) however there are some intelligence and competence parameter stereotypes that fall short. The authors examine them through Rudman and Glick's ‘theory of backlash' which states that women are discriminated against because they lack typical male virtues of logic, assertiveness, etc. On the other hand, women who display male traits are not considered communal enough. But in this film, in spite of Shivani (Rani Mukherjee's character) displaying male traits, she is discriminated against. The authors also look at how identity is constructed specifically for males and females. Male identity is constructed on prized power while the formation of the self is based on meaningless power. Our question is: Do women have to adopt an artificial image so that their identity becomes powerful enough? DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.358407