SINGING THE SONGS OF SORROW: A STUDY OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY THROUGH RIMA DAS’ BULBUL CAN SING

Medha Devi; Ved Prakash

doi:10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i3.2024.1492

Authors

Medha Devi Research Scholar, Department of English, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India
Ved Prakash Assistant Professor, Department of English, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i3.2024.1492

Keywords:

Gender, Sexuality, Patriarchy, Assam, Women’S Cinema

Abstract [English]

The paper examines Rima Das’ film Bulbul Can Sing (2018) from the perspective of gender and sexuality. Made in Assamese, it is a coming-of-age story of three friends who have to find their identity, sexuality, and voice through the odds of society. The women characters in the film actively indulge in dialogue and question the traditional patriarchal norms. Indian cinema has mostly constructed a binary with active male and passive female; in this film, the binary is dismantled. The film also subverts the male gaze, making the female not an object of desire but someone who has control over their desires and fantasies. It is a fact that women have to struggle to find their way within the oppressive social framework, and men too have to succumb to the dominant idea of being. Apart from exploring the trope of ‘Women’s Cinema’ and cinema by women filmmakers in India, the paper studies the cinematic shots regarding Bulbul Can Sing to decode various natural tropes and images used as part of the narrative, keeping Auteur theory in mind. The paper also looks into the dominion of female desire and agency concerning Rima Das’s cinema. The paper examines how patriarchy works regressively towards creating and circulating the idea of masculine and feminine. The last part of the paper deals with the issues of patriarchy and toxic masculinity and the impact of the same on the larger mobility of individuals within the social fabric.

References

Biswas, S. (2019, February 25). Rima Das: I don’t Believe in Shoving Feminist Issues in anyone’s face. [Interview]. Times News Network.

Butler, A. (2002). Women’s Cinema. Wallflower Press.

Chaudhuri, A. K. (2014). ReWriting Women – Revisiting Women’s Narratives in Film: Adajya and Joymati. Margins: A Journal of Literature and Culture, 4, 100–105.

Das, R. (Director). (2018). Bulbul Can Sing. Flying River Films.

Datta, S. (2000). Globalisation and Representations of Women in Indian Cinema. Social Scientist, 28(3/4), 71–82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3518191

Dowerah, S. (2020). Assamese Cinema and its Revival at the Age of Globalisation: A reading of Rima Das’s films. Global Media Journal – Indian Edition, 12(2).

Hall, S. (1981). Notes on Deconstructing the Popular. In D. Morley (Ed.), People’s History and Socialist Theory (pp. 227–240). Routledge and Kegal Paul.

Hennen, P. (2023). Toward a Typology and Genealogy of Effeminacies. In Berkowitz, D., Windsor, E. J., & Han, C. W. (Ed.). Male Femininities. (pp. 21–34). New York UP. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479899166.003.0004

Hermans, G. (2019). Rima Das about BULBUL CAN SING: I can teach you how to dance in a car! [Interview]. European Children’s Film Association, 3, 30–31.

Jenkins, C. (2021). ‘Counter Cinema’ in the Mainstream. Feminist Media Studies, 22(5), 1179–1194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1877767

Johnston, C. (2014). Women’s Cinema as Counter-Cinema. In S. MacKenzie (Ed.), Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures: A Critical Anthology (pp. 347–456). University of California Press. (Original work published 1973)

Moscoso, J. (2023). Arc of Feeling: The History of the Swing. Reaktion Books.

Mulvey, L. (1989). Visuals and Other Pleasures. Palgrave. (Original work published 1975) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19798-9

Read, H. (1932). Towards a Film Aesthetic. Cinema Quarterly, 1(1), 7–10.

Sarris, A. (2008). Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962. In Barry Keith Grant (Ed.), Auteurs and Authorship: A Film Reader, Blackwell Publishing, 35–45.

Soloway, J. (2016, September 11). The Female Gaze. TIFF, Master Class.

Tholia, S., & Singh, A. (2022). Recontextualizing the Cinematic Code: The “Female Gaze” of Sai Paranjpye in Sparsh, Chashme Buddoor, and Katha. Open Cultural Studies, 6(1), 113–126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2022-0153