Abstract
This review critically analyses the portrayal of women in Bollywood sports biopics using a feminist perspective, with reference to three influential 21st-century films: Mary Kom (2014), Saina (2021), and Shabaash Mithu (2022). While these movies ostensibly celebrate women’s sporting achievements, a close reading discloses the durability of patriarchal currents in the narrative, visual composition, and character construction. Using feminist theories like Laura Mulvey’s “male gaze,” Judith Butler’s “gender performativity,” and bell hooks’s intersectionality, this work contends that these films simultaneously empower and limit their heroines. Exploring how femininity, family, and national pride are performed in these films, this review examines the intersection of agency and conformity in movie representations of women athletes.
Recommended Citation
Roy, Amitabh
(2025)
"Film Review: A Feminist Critique of the Representation of Women in 21st-Century Bollywood Sports Biopics,"
Journal of International Women's Studies: Vol. 27:
Iss.
4, Article 35.
Available at:
https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol27/iss4/35