Characterization of Women in Hindi Film Adaptations of Select Shakespearean Tragedies
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Characterization of Women in Hindi Film Adaptations of Select Shakespearean Tragedies A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in English by Ojha Kritika (Reg. No.1530017) Under the Guidance of Arya Aiyappan Assistant Professor Department of English CHRIST UNIVERSITY BENGALURU, INDIA December Approval of Dissertation Dissertation entitled Characterization of Women in Hindi Film Adaptations of Select Shakespearean Tragedies by Ojha Kritika, Reg. No. 1530017 is approved for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in English Examiners: 1. ____________________ __________________ 2. ____________________ __________________ Supervisor: ____________________ __________________ Chairman: ____________________ __________________ Date: …………………….. Place: Bengaluru (Seal) ii DECLARATION I Ojha Kritika hereby declare that the dissertation, titled Characterization of Women in Hindi Film Adaptations of Select Shakespearean Tragedies is a record of original research work undertaken by me for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in English. I have completed this study under the supervision of Dr. Arya Aiyappan, Department of English. I also declare that this dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or other title. It has not been sent for any publication or presentation purpose. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there is no plagiarism in any part of the dissertation. Place: Bengaluru Date: ………………… Ojha Kritika Reg No. 1530017 Department of English Christ University, Bengaluru iii CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the dissertation submitted by Ojha Kritika (1530017) titled Characterization of Women in Hindi Film Adaptations of Select Shakespearean Tragedies is a record of research work done by her during the academic year 2015-2016 under my supervision in partial fulfillment for the award of Master of Philosophy in English. This dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or other title. It has not been sent for any publication or presentation purpose. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there is no plagiarism in any part of the dissertation. Place: Bengaluru Date: ………………… Arya Aiyappan Assistant Professor Department of English Christ University, Bengaluru Signature of the Head of the Department Department of English Christ University, Bengaluru iv Acknowledgements The building up of this thesis has been an inspiring journey. In the course of researching this topic, I have learnt a lot about the trends and setting of women in the Indian context, not just in films but also in the real world. Through this research it became clear to me that the women are fluid and enriching to study. First and foremost, I would like to thank my guide, Dr. Arya Aiyappan, for leading my idea to this concrete thesis. Her knowledge and patience has only inspired me to move ahead with my work. Her suggestions and insights are the reason behind my success in submitting the thesis within the deadline. She has always stayed calm and pushed me forward when it was required the most. My internal, Dr. Sushma V. Murthy, has provided me and my guide with suggestions that helped in streamlining my research and making it true to its title. With the joint effort of my guide and internal, this thesis has become worthy of contributing to the world of academia. I would like to thank my family for supporting me in making this research a success. Their constant encouragement has played a vital role in the shaping of this thesis. My friends have also understood the level of commitment and have stayed by my side through the challenges that I faced while on my topic of research and been the source to my positivity and zeal to complete this thesis. In the course of this thesis, I faced many challenges and had to make tough decisions, which have proved to be fruitful at the end of my research. It has truly been a learning experience for me as I got to know the research etiquettes and knowledge associated to the v field of my research. It was a tediously enlightening process from the point where I started to the finishing line. Ojha Kritika vi Abstract The idea for this thesis came about from watching inspirational characters being created by filmmakers in the Indian Cinema with films that propagated women as more than a prop. Women have been portrayed as only dedicated lovers, mothers and wives. The identities are fixed to either good or bad. A woman is shown to be a selfless human being who is incapable of standing for herself. This research aims at defying these concrete ideas because identity cannot be in a water-tight compartment. The films under research depict women are free individuals and not someone who is an epitome of sacrifice and selflessness. The women are shown to find their way into the system they get placed in through the films. The research attempts at finding the various factors, interior as well as exterior, that determine the flow of thoughts and actions of the female characters in the films. They have been compared to the characters from the plays in order to verify what kind of changes have come about and why have they been incorporated. The first chapter looks at the factors that have affected the functioning of the characters from within. The chapter looks into the issues that prevail within the mind of the women reasoning with the way in which the plots unfold. Every individual reacts to a certain set of actions and situations in ways that are influenced by various factors other than internal conflicts and violence. The second chapter explores socio- cultural factors of identity determination. This is because Indian mentality is largely derived from the factors that affect the life around them such as ethnic identity, religion, caste and professional status and hierarchy. These aspects play a vital role in not just determining a man‟s identity but also affects the way in which the women around him react and perceive him. This chapter explores these issues. It also looks into the other changes that have come about in the Indian adaptations in order to make it more receivable to the Indian audience and fit in the cinematic history as well. vii Contents Approval of Dissertation ii DECLARATION iii CERTIFICATE iv Acknowledgements v Abstract vii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Women and Personal Identity Markers: Shakespearean to Indian 21 Chapter 3 Women and Social Identity Markers: Shakespearean to Indian 39 Chapter 4 Conclusion 67 Works Cited 72 Bibliography 75 Chapter 1 Introduction “Movies are entertainment. Movies are documents of their time and place. Movies are artistic forms of self-expression. Movies we see at theatres, on television, or home video are typically narrative films. They tell stories about characters going through experiences.” (Jacobs 01) Films include lines of dialogue and depict development of characters that explicitly communicate meaning to the viewers. The scope of Indian cinema has always remained wide with reference to the issues it picks up and portrays. The deep rooted male dominance in the Indian society has kept the portrayal of women stereotypical and covered from the reality. Most of the female characters depicted in Bollywood are still confined to the old norms of the society despite being put in a modern setup except a few where there have been attempts of representing free-spirited and open-minded women. The women characters under research in this thesis come close to being free spirited, but caught in the traditional setup of a male dominated world. This research attempts to unearth the factors that are considered while shaping these women characters through a detailed study of the aspects of technicality and storytelling. Shakespeare and his works have always been under research and have been considered canonical as it has been successful in holding relevance to the society even after four centuries. What his works captured were very minute qualities of the human psyche but they were the most significant in determining the identity of his characters. Shakespeare‟s idea and construction of his characters is neither completely black nor completely white has not gone out of style even in the contemporary context. The plots of his plays incorporate complexities and reactions of the human mind to pressure, power and politics which have remained significant even today. With the branching out of English literature to other countries and OJHA KRITIKA 2 exposure to other cultures, literary works got attached to different ideologies, perspectives and frameworks. India was the first country to have studied English literature as part of the curriculum and studied them critically. With the passage of time, these works became open to interpretations which were influenced by various cultural and psychological backgrounds. Shakespeare‟s work also underwent this process of interpretations and appropriation to the Indian context. When the motion pictures first came to existence, the storylines were taken from canonical works. It started with absolute adaptations of plays and novels, but as technology and freedom of creativity increased, diversion from the original work became more acknowledged and practiced. Shakespeare has been considered to be one of the most popular scriptwriters of Hollywood. Not just adaptations but also spin-offs of Shakespeare‟s works became popular with time. Enough has been commented on the issue of Shakespeare‟s connection and belonging to India and vice versa. With the progress in time, Shakespeare‟s works on the Indian foreground have become a way to convey imbalance in various facets of the nation like acts of crossing racial and religious barriers laid by the normalized framework of society. Over the years, many works of Shakespeare have been adapted to Indian cinema.