Inebriation and death of women: Making sense of women’s alcohol and drug consumption in Bollywood and society

Abstract

Addiction is a complex condition, Bollywood’s engagement with the issue is often fraught with misrepresentation and sensationalism. There have been instances where on-screen violence has inspired real-life incidents of violence against women. Four Bollywood films from different decades will be analysed using a feminist theoretical lens. Tropes around women’s addiction/alcoholism will be examined as will the culture in which violence is normalised. One particular trope is that of the intoxicated woman whose body becomes the object of male sexual violence. While this trope is not limited to Bollywood alone, it is however coded in a particular manner that encompasses nationalism. Eschewing reality and therapeutic entanglements in place of melodrama becomes a means to convey a message against excesses. The inebriated woman titillates but ultimately her lack of morality is her downfall. It is pertinent to ask why death is presented as an inevitable possibility amongst other cinematic choices.