89
The
Politics
of
Solidarity
in
Women’s
Friendships: a Note on Angry Indian Goddesses
C. S. BHAGYA1
The 2015 Hindi drama film Angry Indian Goddesses has been upheld as
an example of India’s first female “buddy film”, promising to treat its
subject – female homosocial friendships – with care and nuance. While
the film fails to live up to its promise of incisively portraying relationships
between its lead characters, it nevertheless presents itself as a site for
critically examining the politics of such friendships, which are riven with
problems of gender vis-à-vis the largely patriarchal nature of Indian
society depicted in the film. This essay attempts to contextualise the
narrative arc in Angry Indian Goddesses, and examines the construction
of its characters and their interpersonal relationships to draw out a
critique of solidarity as advanced by the representation of women’s
friendships in the film.
Introduction
Between being hyped as India’s first female “buddy film” 2 and being touted as
something of a minor revolution in mainstream Bollywood3 in its no-holds-barred
treatment of women’s issues, Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), directed by Pan Nalin,
was in the news for multiple reaso ns. Apart from its refreshing all-female cast, the
film drew attention over the Indian Central Board of Film Certification’s stipulation
to introduce sixteen cuts in the film – including glossing over “offensive” visuals of
goddesses Lakshmi and Kali, erasing a reference to a man as a woman’s “lunch”
(Nagpaul 2015), phrases such as “I have the Indian figure”, and “Sarkar kaun hoti hai
1
C. S. Bhagya has just completed her M.Phil from the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi, India. She can be reached at: [email protected].
2
In a promotional interview for the film, Pan Nalin claimed that “[w]omen as heroes in films are
few… most films don’t have women as central characters. But we needed a good story first. Story has
to be strong and emotional. We were not clear if it would be a buddy film when we were researching
but it all came together in the right way” (Sen 2015).
3
A name for the Indian film industry, based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay).