Re-Presentation of Gender Conflicts In Indian Diasporic Cinema: Analysis of Gurinder Chadha’s Bhaji on the Beach and Bend It Like Beckham

Abstract

Abstract

Films as a medium of visual culture act as a way to broadcast the immigrant’s way of life. The shrinking of national boundaries allows Diasporic film makers to connect to a larger audience, allowing flow of commerce, ideas and culture between India and its diaspora. The present paper is intended to examine Gurinder Chadha’s Bhaji on the Beach and Bend It Like Beckham in which subaltern Indian females are presented in popular cinema as multicultural entities and explores generational differences by clarifying the divergent perspectives and understanding of race and communities. Chadha presents versions of NRI women and the fine balance they cultivate in order to negotiate between culture, gender and sexuality. The paper focuses on the depiction of gender burden that circumscribes the notions of educational attainment, arranged marriages and interracial love relationship of the South Asian women in the diaspora. Through the feminist optics, the films will highlight the gender conflicts faced by the migrant woman who inhibits a subaltern position, where she stands under a double patriarchal and racist yoke imposed both the receiving culture and the South Asian Community.