Exposing and Creating Nuance in Cinema: A Study on the Representation of Marginalized Identities in Neeraj Ghaywan Films

Abstract: Being a perception-inducing and reinforcing medium, films can make remarkable efforts to humanize the lives of marginalized identities. Indian cinema has been largely criticized for its upper-caste gaze, sexual objectification of women, gagged or stereotypical representation of minorities, and other cultural identities. Neeraj Ghaywan is necessarily one of the young contemporary filmmakers from Bollywood who, regardless of the status quo, attempts nuance in terms of representation and portrayal. Diversity in the organizational structure of our society should reflect in mainstream cinema narratives to impact the process of democratization. The presence of more filmmakers from diverse identities would energize this process in its due course. This study is designed to analyze the representation of marginalized identities and explore the auteurship of Neeraj Ghaywan. As choosing not to talk about is itself a political act of subversion, under-representation would impact only social exclusion, while misrepresentations might perpetuate and bring about toxic stereotypes. The films of Neeraj Ghaywan are keen on both aspects of faulty representations.