Research Symposium

BIO

I am a first year student at Florida State University, currently studying English. I am a first-generation college Asian American college student going towards a career in research. The Undergraduate Research Program has been an amazing experience for me, and has taught me much in providing an opportunity for me to grow my skills in collaboration, time management, and so much more. I am grateful to have done UROP over the past year.

Representation of Women in Bollywood Films

Abstract

During this study, we explored the influence of women directors on the portrayal of female characters in Bollywood films. In the past, Bollywood films cast women in supporting roles with dependence on the male characters. This is mainly because women were being portrayed from the male perspective, by male directors. In recent years, there has been an increase in women directors in Bollywood films who are carving away at the misogynistic stereotypes. This study focused on a carefully chosen sample of three films directed by women, utilizing the film coding technique to assess both the quantity and quality of female characters. This data was organized and submitted into Qualtrics Surveys for each female character in the films. These questions helped determine what each female character's purpose and role was in the film. After all three films had their data collected, we were able to combine the data into charts to make connections between the films. This work is still ongoing, so these results remain inconclusive, but we have begun to notice evident patterns in the data. The future of this project will allow us to see the progress being made in Bollywood films in relation to its characters.

Keywords: Bollywood, Women, Film, Representation