Indian women rising: Tracing star and screen coordinates of the Hindi film industry post #MeToo

Abstract

Using the case study of women film professionals’ collective Indian Women Rising and Instagram accounts of film workers, this chapter will locate the origins of the first female-lead cinema collective of the Hindi film industry. In an interview with Anupama Chopra, Guneet Monga stated that less than five percent of the film industry professionals were women. Additionally, the film and media industries in India are increasingly platformised (Athique and Parthasarathi, 2020). As a result, filmmakers, crew members, and film stars need to have an active social media presence. These social media accounts showcase the “glamorous” work in the industry. In 2017, with the MeToo movement finding its feet in film industries of India, Women in cinema collective was found – primarily by the film and media professionals of the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. However, my field interactions in the Hindi film industry at the time suggested that this movement may not work as well for the industry's precarious “portfolio careers”. Unlike the warning listicles of perpetrators created by female news media professionals, the Hindi film industry professionals did not indulge in list making endeavours. The irony of this moment was the duality of the usage of social media accounts. On the one hand, female film professionals capitalised on these platforms to generate glamorous online portfolios; on the other hand, they also shared stories of discrimination in the workplace. This shift in platform appropriation has reorganised stardom in the Hindi film industry – particularly for female film professionals. Thus, this chapter attempts to outline the transitions and setbacks as an outcome of the MeToo movement for the Hindi film industry professionals.