sciously, wanted to be wooed by Shiva in this assaulting, violating fashion). Very few distinctive views emerge on race and sexual orientation in this scene. To compete in the global market, Bollywood has increasingly relied on Hollywood concepts including the pre- dominance of fair skin and heterosexu- ality in lead characters. As a result, Avantika is shown to have glowing pale skin, adhering to the Western ideal of female beauty; this feature and her unaccompanied presence as the only desirable woman excludes darker females in Indian society, suggesting a possible racial bias. Likewise, Avantika and Shiva, both clearly heterosexual, do not represent any queer, trans, or non- heteronormative tendencies in this scene, marginalizing those members of society merely through a lack of representation (also indicative of perhaps a large prejudice within India, which legally banned homo- sexual intercourse). Essentially, this supposedly romantic scene between Avantika and Shiva in Baahubali: The Beginning in an extremely subtle, almost unperceivable, enforces seri- ously misguided views about the domestication of females in romance, and the man’s inherited right to assault her in courtship; such ideas elucidate what stereo- types prevai in the national context of India, including the ambiguity between sexual assault and love in societal val- ues. References: 1. Macdonald, Alison. "'Real' and 'Imagined' Women: A Feminist Reading of Rituparno Ghosh's Films." PhD diss., University College London. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/res earch/working-papers/032009.pdf. 2. "Romantic Scene in Bahubali." Video file, 04:20. Youtube.com. Posted by One 4 All, September 7, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKS cnUwyyyc. 3. Sherafat, Samareh. Representation of Women's Identity in Bollywood. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bistrea m/10603/22634/10/10_chapter_4.pdf.
subjugating Sita-like Indian woman. For example, her warrior attire connotes a rugged, aggressive, and authoritative power; the leather armor and earthy- colored garb do not aim to repress her identity as an autonomous, ferocious being, like a sari (conservative female attire) might. Her swift, elegant swordsmanship and immediate instinct to attack Shiva, a man twice her size, when he paints on her, shows that she rejects the ascribed feminine desires of male approval or domesticity and instead embraces dominance. Yet somehow, in the end of the scene, Avantika herself expresses joy at her newfound femininity, thus suc- cumbing to Shiva’s love, acquiescing to his authority over her body, and in the process diminishing any value her non-
naturally must succumb to status of a plaything, or object of desire, in the hands of a powerful man like Shiva (indeed, Mahismati, the setting of the film, is where Rama comes to save Sita in the Ramayana from danger of marry- ing Ravana, and as a result the danger losing her defining identity as Rama’s wife; this may parallel to how Shiva sal- vages Avantika from the dangers of los- ing her core femininity – therefore her subservient nature – by molding her into the ideal Indian woman rather than a warrior who defies that stereotype). As I mentioned earlier, the camera’s mainly follows Shiva’s perspective, focusing on Avantika’s nakedness, or vulnerability. When her upper body is barely clad, it gradually pans across her abdomen, covering its every square
inch; later, as Shiva pushes Avantika under the waterfall, the lens zooms into her wet physique. Additionally, Shiva says “Ab dard hua” (“now I really feel the sting in my heart”), only when Avantika is completely exposed, suggesting a woman’s physicality impacts a man’s emotions first rather than her strength, independence, or intel- ligence. Because of this apparent inclination toward the male per- spective, this scene is layered in
conformist qualities held. In other words, she becomes entrapped in the very stereotypes she originally defied, shifting the meaning of what was origi- nally empowering in her character, to actually reinforcing a skewed gender dynamic. For instance, her clothing, which could formerly be interpreted as an emblem of female strength, now becomes a repressive device meant to contain her body and hide her inner sexuality – an animalistic, undignified quality a stately, masculine warrior like Avantika could not possibly possess. Most importantly, her eventual accep- tance of Shiva’s actions also indicate that, no matter what a woman’s ideolo- gies may be, she will relent to the affec- tions and superiority of a man, even if he infringes upon her basic freedoms (even more horrifying, her acceptance suggests Avantika, perhaps subcon-
a veneer of affectionate, passionate romance that expertly masks the demeaning methods of Shiva’s courtship. Avantika’s narrative is com- pletely alienated, meaning nobody in the audience relates to her story. Consequently, she becomes the “other,” a female minority who lacks a voice. As such, even if Avantika’s feels sexually assaulted, the audience members would never know, because the male view eclipses all else . And thus Avantika is not only downgraded to the ideal, sub- missive Indian woman, but also a to a worthless object of lust – extremely ironic considering her skills in battle should have enabled her to immediately prevent an untrained and inexperienced Shiva from manipulating her. And therein lies the paradox. When considered individually, Avantika clear- ly defies the aforementioned stereo- types of the ideal, conservative, and
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