Glossary of Key words:

Vamp- refers to the transition of female roles in Bollywood. These females appear to be highly seductive and michieveious yet flirty.

Books i can use for guidance and evidence:

*Encyclopeda of Indian Cinema-Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willeman.
*Bollywood-Tejaswini Ganti
*Bollywood cinema, Temples of desire-Vijay Mishra.

Ttitles of movies I will be refferring to alongside Provoked:

As i will be talking about British Asian movies and wil be comparing them to Bollywood movies, here is the list of movies i shall be including in my study:

British Asian movies- Bend it like Beckham, East is East, Anita and Me, The Guru, Life isn't all hahehehe, Monsoon wedding, Bride and Predjudice.

Bollywood movies i shall be reffering to- Mother India, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Khabi Kushi Khabi Gham, Black, ChameliI(where the main female is only suessful in life because she is a prostite).

Theorists I will be referring to:

Mulvey-Male Gaze:
Aishawariya Rai in one scene wears revealing attire and this scene is later followed by her spouse taking advantage of her and therefore forcing himself on her and carrying out the activity of maritual rape.

Shulasmith Firestone: She stated females are biologically oppressed in their families and this idea is evident as the victim is unable to defend herself as she is physically weaker than the male is appears to be masculine and powerful.

Levi Strauss:
He talked about binary oppositions in media texts, and my study conforms to his idea from the dated stereotype of females in Bollywood movies in comparision to its British Asian counterparts which attempt to subvert the typical sterotype of females whenever there is a chance.

Gunter's 'Media, Gender and identity' hypothesis claims that women were twice as likely to be seen inside the home than men. This is clearly advocated through various scenes in Provoked which manifest Aishawariya Rai as the typical indian housewife, whilst her husband goes 2 work. Not only is this conforming to steroetypes of Asian females, but is also strenghthening the male position as the sole breadwinner in families.

Analysis of the trailer: Provoked!

Within seconds of the jovial familial ideology created, this consensual and harmonic depiction of the family is demolished as forms of female oppression are evident in this biased marital relationship as the male inflicts violence onto Aishwariya Rai which promotes the ideology that society is still patriarchal even in the 21st century. The short caption which then appears stating “victim” when the female faces abuse followed by a freeze in the movement of the trailer emphasises the shock value of domestic violence, and can also reflect the fear in the females emotions. Also, the significance of the high angle shot highlights male superiority and paints the image of the female as being vulnerable and intimidated by her husband. Alongside with this, the typical stereotype of females being emotional is reflected through the medium shot of the mother hugging her two children, and no references are made to the male showing affection to his children which shows females are still perceived to be the main nuturers in the family. However, beyond this moment, this British Asian film attempts to subvert the sterotype if females in many ways. For example, many of the criminals in the prison are females which to some extent exemplifies that females are infact capable of commiting devious crimes in life too, and that they are not as innocent as they are not as innocent as they were in previous ages. Moreover, Aishawariya Rai confides to Southall Black sisters who forward her case and bring attention to the members o the public in order to server Aishawariya Rai justice. They are successful in doing so, which depicts that females in modern day society are capable of taking control of significant issues in a diplomatic and intelligent way and will still be heard. Moreover, the ending slogan: “In prison she found her freedom”, not only acts as a catalyst to lure the audience into watching the movie, but also conforms to Levi Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions as prison is normally associated with isolation and that is where she found her freedom which is unusal. Nevertheless, this represents how socially deprived she was in her marriage and now that she has gained freedom by going to prison higlights her happiness as she never did endure that before. She is now an indepedant lady as the trailer shows her wearing smart attire which subverts the sterortype of females up the social hbeing a housewife as she can move up the social hierarchy in the workforce and has the ability to predominantly be a breadwinner. Therefore, Provoked challenges the sterortype of women as it represents them as ambitious females in the end.

Hypothesis

I will be investigating how far British Asian films such as Provoked attempt to subvert the steroetype of women, whilst Bollywood films such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and Khabi Khushi Khabi Gham still reinforce traditional stereotypes of females being most suited to a domestic/housewife role, and often act upon the idea of the female being a "damsel in distress" where females are emotional and in need of a man in order to maintain security within themselves.

How far do British Asian movies such as "Provoked" attempt to subvert the typical stereotype of Asian females in comparison to Bollywood movies?

Provoked is a deplorable British Asian film directed by Jag Mundra in 2007. It encapsulates a realistic portrayal of domestic violence that is still evident in the 21st century. With its narrative based upon a true story that took place in Southall, the audience for Provoked are stunned with shock and curiosity to see the transition in the social status of the main protagonist as justice is bought about into the life of Kiranjit Aluwalia (Aishwarya Rai) as she becomes stronger and gains independence as the film progresses and the stereotype of a female being initially feeble is strongly subverted. She is given the criminal life sentence of life imprisonment as she attempts to break through her oppression by her husband in marital life, and in order conduct this, it was vital for her to kill him so that she can escape from lady inside her who was a victim of constant marital rape and violence and can no longer face the brutality of her spouse. In the form of self defence, she unintentionally kills him by setting fire to him, and wrongly receives a unjust sentence. However, towards the end of the movie, she not only gains strength and courage, but will the help of Southall Black sisters she brings her plight to attention of the media to support moves for her freedom. Eventually, after serving time due to manslaughter instead of murder, she is reunited with her children and faces a fruitful future. She is even awarded by Cherie Blair for her crusade against domestic violence and the audience see a stark change in her previous character which bordered on intimidation and instability, to a character whose now frivolous, emotionally secure and full of strength and courage.