India of the 1970s and Gulzar’s Construction of Gender: Aandhi as a Case for Indian Women

Abstract

This paper examines the social construction of gender by Gulzar in the film Aandhi and maps it with the cultural and socio-political changes that took place in the country during that era. Aandhi is the first Hindi film that narrates the dilemma of a modern woman politician - a space largely occupied by men. Gulzar went against the norms of film making in the seventies and directed a film based on woman politician which broke certain gender stereotypes. Aarti, the female protagonist in the film, wishes to have everything in life at her whims and fancies. She is a non-conformist. She challenges the norms set by society and refuses to become a sandwich between her father’s selfish ambitions and husband’s patriarchal needs.