The
Undying Dichotomy of Devi vs. Devil in Hindi Cinema: Female
Assertiveness and Patriarchal Anxiety
Pratibha Singh
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
New Delhi, India
Abstract: This paper
examines the ongoing ideological difference of "Devi vs Devil" and
the penalty of female assertiveness as a sign of patriarchal fear using
examples from Sansaar (1987)
and Cocktail (2012). This Paper
examines the clash between "Devi
vs Devil" that reflects deeper cultural tensions, showing that women who
speak up often face backlash and that this is a
pattern tied to male anxiety. Films like Sansaar (1987) and Cocktail
(2012) reveal these dynamics through character struggles. Power shifts unsettle
tradition; authority in female hands meets resistance disguised as morality.
What seems like spiritual contrast turns out rooted in control. Assertive women
get labelled dangerous while silence earns praise. Fear hides behind reverence.
Symbols shape perception, yet they serve old rules. Female strength questioned
not because it fails, but because it dares.
Looking closely at
older Indian films shows something quiet but clear about women who take charge.
A woman making her own choices around money, love, or life often becomes the
problem in the story. In Sansaar
from 1987, Rajni lives out that pattern; her strength pulls people off balance,
so the plot pushes back until she “fits” in the societal template again.
Instead of being accepted, such characters face damage, isolation, or defeat.
On the opposite edge, those who give up their needs tend to gain approval,
acceptance, belonging. Fast forward to Cocktail
almost two decades later, and things seem different at first glance. Yet even
there, behind modern outfits and city lights, defiance still leads to chaos
while submission brings peace. The message shifts shape but keeps its core.
What changes is how smoothly it blends into new stories. Not gone but simply
just quieter and subtle now. How we see women deciding for themselves stays
trapped inside old rules dressed as new ones. Even when women in today’s movies
seem stronger, they’re only welcomed if they fit old ideas about family and
ideal relationships. In the end, the study shows how (Hindi) cinema keeps
reinforcing unequal gender roles, even as society changes around it.
Keywords: Hindi
Cinema, ideological regulation, patriarchal anxiety, assertion, representation
as power, dichotomy, symbolism, reward-punishment
In Hindi cinema, female assertiveness has been portrayed
as a narrative danger to patriarchal authority. This conflict was frequently
resolved by portraying such women as adversarial characters who need to be
marginalised, punished, or morally corrected.
There is
broad agreement in the fields of film and gender studies portrayal that Hindi
cinema significantly promoted a dual structure of femininity, in which
assertive, self-sufficient, financially autonomous women were frequently
labelled as morally questionable while "ideal" women were often shown
to be subservient, selfless, and family-oriented. The whole protagonist vs.
antagonist duality has persisted, as India marched towards change, transition
and advancement in a number of areas that ultimately resulted in changing
gender roles and upending society of whatever wrong they were genuinely doing.
Interestingly, several studies and investigations indicate that cinema does not
just mirror society, but actively influences norms and viewer acuities,
especially in young people. This then strongly supports the statement that
assertive female characters have always been portrayed negatively. This is not
a matter of chance but a conscious decision and also structurally ingrained in traditional
narrative conventions of cinema.
India is often recognised and celebrated for its rich
cultural diversity, dynamism and fervent enthusiasm for popular media,
especially cinema. The Hindi cinema, casually and popularly called Bollywood,
plays a significant role in the daily lives of its viewers and serves as a
powerful tool of culture and a source of amusement. Thus, films have an impact
that goes beyond the screen, affecting social attitudes, promoting normative
ideals and sometimes subtly and overtly influencing individual as well as
collective consciousness. Cinema is so convincing because it creates and
circulates stories that make ways of thinking and identifying feel normal.
These stories have a big influence on how society perceives things, even ideas
about gender roles and gender identity, and it’s not just about language or
what’s “in” in fashion. These portrayals are particularly vulnerable to young
audiences in particular, who often internalise movie ideals as benchmarks for
social acceptance.
Historically, Bollywood has played its part in
perpetuating gender stereotypes by highlighting the supposed characteristics of
femininity: obedience, selflessness and emotional control. Women who are shown
to be forceful, independent or having agency, and thus defying these
expectations, are often portrayed as adversarial or morally dubious characters.
Using the character of “Rajni” in Sansaar (1987) as a focal point of
research, this paper aims to examine such representational leanings, with a
specific focus on the portrayal of assertive women as villains in 1990s Hindi
cinema.
Hindi cinema has always depended on a strong “Devi–Devil”
conflict in terms of depicting women, where women characters are placed within
rigid normative dichotomies. The heroine, or “Devi,” embodies idealised
femininity, characterised by selflessness, submission, emotional strength, and
moral purity. Society rewards these characters with approval, the domestic
rewards acknowledgement and narrative catharsis in the form of a "happy
ending" regardless of their suffering disgrace, misery or emotional
neglect throughout the story. On the other hand, traits associated with
autonomy, assertiveness, sexual agency or rebellion is often associated with
the “Devil” or vamp/antagonistic woman. In the story structure she is often
punished for deviating from patriarchally approved norms. Importantly, it is
not immoral behaviour or transgression in the traditional sense that is often
demonised, but rather these women’s exercise of independent thought, refusal of
subservience or challenge to gender norms imposed by society. As a result, the
cinematic binary serves as a moral "reward–punishment" process that
upholds conventional notions of femininity. This dichotomy is consistent with what
feminist cinema theorists refer to as the patriarchal control of female
subjectivity, in which women who demonstrate agency or resistance are
narratively marginalised while those who conform to idealised femininity are
socially praised.
This
pattern of representation can be critically examined in the perspective of
Cultural Studies, especially what is it about ideologies, power and
participation. Cultural studies does not simply see culture as creative
expression, but as a “way of life” that produces and circulates socio-cultural
definitions, values and power relations. The argument stresses the importance
of cultural forms, and film in particular, in making normal identities like
gender, which are socially produced and not inherently fixed. This is central
to Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, which concerns the exercise of power
by dominant social groups through both cultural consent and force. Thus,
popular cinema is an ideological tool, marginalising some societal norms,
normalising others. The importance of representation in Cultural Studies is
that cinema is not only a mirror of reality but also the producer of meaning
and creator of public perceptions of social identities. For Stuart Hall the
representation operates through systems of signification which structure the
ways in which people and groups are seen in society. In Bollywood films, women
are usually defined in terms of moral binaries which help to reinforce a
submissive form of femininity and to define female freedom as a threat to society.
Thus, the cinematic representation acts as a disciplinary tool to legitimise
the patriarchal demand in a cultural sense.
According to a Cultural Studies analysis, the 1987 Hindi
film Sansaar illustrates how the film is a site of ideological
contestation between the changing individualistic aspirations and traditional
patriarchal codes. The story emphasizes the importance of joint family system
and upholds patriarchy as the part of social stability. Through what Stuart
Hall would describe as a "dominant-hegemonic" reading, audiences are
expected to perceive Rajni's inter-community union and Vijay's (the oldest son,
played by Raj Babbar) desire for a nuclear family as challenges to cultural
order and familial harmony. Ultimately, the film portrays Rajni's desire for
emotional independence and self-sufficiency as anomalies that require
correction.
Symbolic characterisation serves to support this
ideological stance. Through her emotional fortitude, selflessness, and efforts
to bring peace back to the family, Uma personifies the idealised Indian woman.
Rajni, on the other hand, is portrayed as the “Other”- a character connected to
disruption, modernity, and individualism. Conflict, instability, and emotional
collapse are narratively associated with her interfaith marriage,
assertiveness, and refusal to follow patriarchal norms. Sansaar uses
this contrast to symbolically portray "modern" female choices as
potentially harmful to Indian society. Therefore, it is possible to understand
Rajni's character as a part of a broader representational trend in Hindi cinema
where female assertion is coded as excess, deviance, or danger. She is punished
because she undermines patriarchal predictability rather than because she is
intrinsically wicked. Rajni confronts male authority, speaks up, confidently
occupies social space, exercises personal choice, and refuses to remain silent.
Her portrayal highlights the degree to which mainstream cinema punishes women
who deviate from socially acceptable standards of femininity, thereby reinforcing
the societal norm that women should continue to be submissive, constrained, and
focused on the home.
The movie is about narrative punishment and demonstrates
that a woman who crosses the line is subject to a terrible fate and only finds
redemption when she gives up her opinionated self and learns that her good fate
and acceptance by her family comes only from compliance, not security, because
she has none of her own. This is very much evident in the film where we see
Rajni being presented as a free-spirited lady who decides for herself about her
career and marriage even though she is teased by her father and brothers for
it. Additionally, the women attempt to paint a very specific picture of her
demise if she disobeys the family patriarchs. Uma, Rajni’s
eldest sister-in-law (played by Rekha), her opposite character, confidently
declares that she was able to obtain a safe haven in her married family because
she had no say or control over her decisions. The manner in which Rajni is made
to sit and present herself in front of her prospective in-laws infuriates both
her and the audience who understand. She immediately gave her father yet
another reason to lament her life when she said that she wanted to marry a boy
who wasn't of their tribe. She feels humiliated, intimidated, and ashamed for
having the audacity to make such a questionable choice.
So, is
it true that decades have passed and things have changed? The portrayal of
strong women in Hindi cinema has gone from absolute villainisation to a
somewhat humanised conditional acceptance but this does not mean the genre has
turned completely progressive or the roles have been totally reversed. In other
words, assertive women are still expected to be emotionally nurturing,
regardless of how successful or goal-oriented they may be. If. they are to be
domestically “acceptable” and, most importantly, morally redeemable. They have
also been presented as financially and professionally successful and somewhat
narratively central. She is no longer so much marginalised, because the film
gradually domesticates her and sweetens her with romance and family values.
Female assertiveness is only acceptable if it doesn't conflict with
heteronormative family systems. Citing a more pertinent example of Veronica
from the film Cocktail (2012) where another contrast is depicted inside
the narrative-will help to clarify this. It is sufficient to characterise
Veronica as someone who defies the notion of femininity since she is vocal,
contemporary, emotionally expressive, aggressive, overt in her lifestyle,
drinks, parties, sexually independent, and financially independent. In the
story, she is still deprived of "respectable love," but the softer,
more conventional Meera, her antithesis, becomes the perfect companion. As a
result, decades later, we are subtly informed that this is essentially the
updated version of the modern heroine-vamp dichotomy. In other words, the
"vamp" has changed cosmetically but not ideologically.
Despite the fact that contemporary Bollywood seems to
offer more room for female independence and assertiveness, these
representations are somewhat nevertheless conditional. Even while women can now
speak up, express their desires at will, and inhabit public spaces more
visibly, cinematic storylines still reward femininity that eventually resonates
with relational dependence, emotional sacrifice, and patriarchal comfort.
Therefore, it can be stated that the heroine-vamp dichotomy has not copiously
vanished; rather, it has merely evolved to echo fluctuating social perceptions.
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