Abstract
Item Songs have recently become established as new genre of songs
in the mainstream Indian Cinema, although they have remained a
part of Bollywood movies since at least 1970s. Such songs, despite
their widespread appeal to masses, have often been panned by Film
critics (particularly from the Radical Feminist School) for their erotic
dances, and an overly glamorized and sexualized depiction of halfnude female bodies. Based upon the textual analysis of two popular
item songs in Indian cinema, Sheila ki Jawani from Tees Maar Khan
(2010) and Munni Badnam Hui from Dabangg (2010), this paper
seeks to problematize such readings which focus exclusively on the
issue of the objectification of women through the concept of the male
gaze. Drawing upon more recent studies in Psychoanalytic Feminist
Scholarship, the paper departs from this conventional
understanding. It argues that such item songs can also be interpreted
as a means of liberation for women, and as devices for reclaiming the
narrative on female sexuality, and a woman’s right to her body. More
broadly, using Judith Butler’s concept of Gender Performativity in
the Feminist Phenomenological tradition, the paper argues that items
songs can be construed as performative acts that subvert the male
gaze and viewed as constitutive of new feminine subjectivities in
contemporary Indian society.
Syed Zulkifil Haider Shah, Elijah Cory. (2018) Reclaiming Subjectivities: A Psychoanalytic Feminist Perspective on Item Songs in Contemporary Indian Cinema, Journal of Media Studies, Volume 33, Issue 2.
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