Challenging Patriarchy and Gender-Based Violence in Bollywood: A Narrative Analysis of Article 15 (2019) and Pink (2016)

This paper undertakes a qualitative analysis of the representation of patriarchy and gender-based violence in two critically acclaimed Bollywood films, Article 15 (2019) and Pink (2016). It delves into how both films critique entrenched patriarchal structures with their violent impact on the marginalized, most importantly women. Article 15 narratively portrays systemic oppression at the intersection of caste-based and gender violence in rural India, which is difficult to confront. Pink Film explores a society that prospered in the city while focusing on arguments involving consent and the broad blame game culture for women. Equally, both films reject hegemonic patriarchal discourses by building strong narratives for gender equity and justice through the use of protagonists as resisting figures. It would therefore conclude that these films offer a very important cultural text where one can look at Bollywood, not only as an evolving hegemon for the concern of organizing and raising awareness about gender-based violence but also to critique these systems in society.

Keywords: Patriarchy, Gender-based violence, Bollywood, Article 15, Pink