(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Art House Productions presents "Representations Matter: Deconstructing Bollywood's Women Through a Feminist Lens Virtual Lecture" on Thursday, April 29 at 7:00pm. Bollywood, India's Hindi film industry, produces films on an epic scale. Anchored around cinema, Bollywood has morphed into a globally popular cultural form. Yet, cinematic representations in Bollywood cinema remain problematically masculinist and gendered. This talk by Dr. Swapnil Rai will unpack Bollywood's representations of women protagonists through a feminist lens.

From Rita in Awaara (1951) and Simran in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) to Geeta and Babita in Dangal (2016), women's agency within Hindi cinema's narratives has been precariously constructed. This talk will focus on the representation of women and women's agency from the 1950s to contemporary Bollywood – to explicate the duality of benign patriarchy that only accords women the semblance of power that must be unerringly nurtured by masculine guidance.

Registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Suggested donation $5.  Click here to register.

r. Swapnil Rai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Television and Media at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on global film and television, media industries, women and gender studies, race and ethnicity, transnational stardom, and celebrity culture. Her current book project examines the history of global flows of Indian films and the role of stars in Bollywood production culture and industry globalization. Dr. Rai holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Radio, TV and Film at the University of Texas at Austin. She has served as a Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow at the Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University and has taught at the College of Film and the Moving Image at Wesleyan University. In her prior experience as a journalist, writer and editor, Swapnil has covered beats pertaining to cinema, art and culture. She has also worked in the multimedia and information services industry for Thomson Reuters.

Art House Productions was founded in late September 2001 by Christine Goodman, a community leader and professional performing artist. Art House began as an informal gathering of poets and community members in direct response to the tragedies of September 11th. At that time, there were no consistent performance venues for artists in Jersey City to meet one another and share new work. Art House's inaugural event sprung from the desire to connect a devastated community through art and dialogue. Since then, Art House has established itself as a pioneer of artistic and cultural programming in Hudson County. In 2007 Art House became incorporated and was granted nonprofit 501(c)(3) status. In late 2007, the organization was presented with the Key to the City and an official Proclamation for its outstanding contributions to the City of Jersey City, NJ.