Reclaiming Subjectivities: A Psychoanalytic Feminist Perspective on Item Songs in Contemporary Indian Cinema

Item Songs have recently become established as new genre of songsin the mainstream Indian Cinema, although they have remained apart of Bollywood movies since at least 1970s. Such songs, despitetheir widespread appeal to masses, have often been panned by Filmcritics (particularly from the Radical Feminist School) for their eroticdances, and an overly glamorized and sexualized depiction of halfnudefemale bodies. Based upon the textual analysis of two popularitem songs in Indian cinema, Sheila ki Jawani from Tees Maar Khan(2010) and Munni Badnam Hui from Dabangg (2010), this paperseeks to problematize such readings which focus exclusively on theissue of the objectification of women through the concept of the malegaze. Drawing upon more recent studies in Psychoanalytic FeministScholarship, the paper departs from this conventionalunderstanding. It argues that such item songs can also be interpretedas a means of liberation for women, and as devices for reclaiming thenarrative on female sexuality, and a woman's right to her body. Morebroadly, using Judith Butler's concept of Gender Performativity inthe Feminist Phenomenological tradition, the paper argues that itemssongs can be construed as performative acts that subvert the malegaze and viewed as constitutive of new feminine subjectivities incontemporary Indian society