ABSTRACT
Nationalist fervour which was in vogue through the various movements was also reflected in the choice of subject in Indian cinema, particularly Bollywood. Bollywood, an important apparatus in the hands of the nation state, has religiously dealt with the dominant narratives and the multiple socio-political contexts in the nation state. Being the largest film industry, it caters to the needs of the dominant section and produces films that are often centred around and presented from the perspective of the dominant castes. This chapter aspires to analyse the construction of lower-caste women characters and understand how caste in movies did ascribe to the age-old traditions. An attempt will be made to problematise the invisibility of such women in the leading roles both in front of and ‘behind’ the camera with special emphasis on films, namely Ankur (1976) and Manjhi—The Mountain Man (2015) and a web television series titled Leila (2019).
