Padmaavat (2018)

relations of gender and nationalism from the story of a Rajput queen

Abstract

The present article has the objective of explore the possibilities of analysis about the movie Padmaavat, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, that was launched at 2018 January. The movie tells the story of Queen Padmini, a character that supposedly lived in the 14th century and still popular in the Indian subcontinent today, however the production and exhibition of the feature film creates a series of conflicts between the Indian society due to the way that the story was showed and because it is linked to many communities and their national identity. I intend to contextualize the rising of Padmini’s narratives and develop three principal reading lines and interpretation of the movie, focusing at the process of politization of this narrative and its use for maintaining gender issues, islamophobia and the formation of the Indian nation, mostly in the pass of XIX and XX century.

feature film creates a series of conflicts between the Indian society due to the way that the story was showed and because it is linked to many communities and their national identity. I intend to contextualize the rising of Padmini’s narratives and develop three principal reading lines and interpretation of the movie, focusing at the process of politization of this narrative and its use for maintaining gender issues, islamophobia and the formation of the Indian nation, mostly in the pass of XIX and XX century.