Snaptshots of Indian Otherness in Aparna Sen's Cinema

  • Felicity Hand Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25145/j.recaesin.2021.83.07
Keywords: Aparna Sen, Otherness, Disability, Ageing, Loneliness, Commitment, Indianness

Abstract

Aparna Sen turned to film directing in 1980 after a highly successful career as an actor. Her debut film, 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) highlights the loneliness of an elderly Anglo-Indian woman. One of her best-known films outside India is Mr & Mrs Iyer (2002), in which an upper caste Hindu woman saves the life of a Muslim stranger in an act of personal commitment with the Other. In 15 Park Avenue (2005), a film that focusses on schizophrenia, Sen shows how the female members of a family struggle to cope with mental illness. In this article I discuss how Sen explores different ways of being Indian in these three films and how she draws attention to values such as personal commitment and tenacity in the face of disability, ageing and communalism.

Published
2023-03-15
How to Cite
Hand, Felicity. 2023. “Snaptshots of Indian Otherness in Aparna Sen’s Cinema”. Revista Canaria De Estudios Ingleses, no. 83 (March), 91-104. https://doi.org/10.25145/j.recaesin.2021.83.07.
Issue
No 83 (2021): Cultural Representations of India and Indian Diasporas on Screen
Section
Monography