TY - JOUR TI - Changing portrayal of a woman in Bollywood cinema: special reference of movies of Vidya Balan DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-xh4s-vz43 PY - 2021 AB - Bollywood cinema had a stereotype image of woman in its movies since the beginning. Women were loaded with the patriarchal values. There portrayal matched with the image of woman which the society had in its mind like that of Sita and Radha (Hindu goddesses). Majority of the roles were those of obedient housewives or obedient daughters. In the last decade i.e. after 2010, in India, there are more women centric films with women in leading and meaningful roles like Highway (2004, Imtiaz Ali), No one killed Jessica (2011, Raj Kumar Gupta), Kahani (2012, Sujoy Ghosh), Mardani (2014, Pradeep Sarkar, Pink (2016, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury), Chhapaak (2020, Meghna Gulzar) Thappad (2020, Anubhav Sinha) etc. These movies also have special messages for the Indian masses, and they are helpful in bringing positive changes in the society. This change is interactive in nature. The changing scenario has made much more space for and options for women in cinema and at same time such cinema can be a useful tool in bringing positive changes in society and that too at a fast pace. These changes as well as this interactive nature need to be properly assessed. The impact of these movies can be used for gender sensitization. Some important events that took place in India will also be summarized as they are catalyst to production of women-centric movies in India. We will review the famous women-centric movies from that focused on representing strong women and their specific achievements. Comparative study of these movies, film reviews, interviews of stars and actors/actresses as well as various articles and books are consulted for this study. Ultimately, through my research and readings, I will conclude that Bollywood Industry has been finally successful in giving proper roles to the Indian actresses. Also, actresses like Vidya Balan have done highly commendable work that has brought glory to heroines. I chose to include Vidya Balan in this Capstone Research as she is a trendsetter when it comes to top women- centric movies in India like Kahani (2012, Sujoy Ghosh) and Dirty Picture (2011, Milan Luthria). KW - Women in Bollywood cinema KW - Liberal Studies LA - English ER -