Muscles and Margins: Embodied Femininity and Athleticism in Indian Screen Culture

Abstract

Indian sports cinema operates within a continuum of resistance and containment, where female athleticism is both celebrated and regulated. This paper investigates the representation of female athletic bodies in Indian sports cinema through a comparative analysis of the Hindi film Dangal (2016) and the Malayalam film Godha (2017). Situating these films within broader cultural and theoretical frameworks, the study explores how gender, discipline, and agency are negotiated through the cinematic portrayal of women athletes. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of the “docile body,” the paper argues that sports films construct the female body as a site of both control and empowerment, shaped by regimes of discipline, surveillance, and patriarchal authority. While Dangal presents a narrative where female empowerment emerges through coercive patriarchal discipline, Godha offers a contrasting model of self-motivated agency and autonomy. These films play a significant role in reshaping public perceptions of gender and sports, while also reflecting the persistent tensions between empowerment and ideological control.