Published By: Alfaraz Laique

Stereotypes that exists in Indian cinema

Indian cinema is one of the oldest cinemas in the world. It has given some memorable movies to watch and cherish. Gone are the days when Indian movies were all about romance and love, in the recent times, new crop of filmmakers have raised the bar by giving some meaningful stories about some of the important social and economical issues. However, one cannot ignore the fact that Indian cinema suffers from stereotyping and has been doing it since a long time.

Almost all forms of cinema that exists around the world have some kind of stereotyping issues. One can say that stereotyping is a part of storytelling which should be avoided as much as possible. Indian cinema, however, is quite famous for its heavy stereotyping that it does with some belonging to different ethnic groups, cultures, traditions and ideologies. Let’s talk about the kinds of stereotypes that exist in the Indian cinema, especially in Bollywood.

Punjabi and their loudness

It is sad to acknowledge the fact that Bollywood has made n number of films in its life spanning over 100 years but there are very less movies which have shown a common Punjabi character. These characters are often written to either provide comic relief or to induce action in movies. If you look at the movies which have Sikh protagonists like Son of Sardaar or Singh is King, you will notice that even these characters are portrayed as dumb and dimwit with no idea of what’s happening around them. Another common mistake which Bollywood does with these characters is that it gives them loud and funny background music, combined with a Punjabi slang like ‘balleballe’ to make them look funny.

South Indian characters

Have you ever seen a South Indian character in a Bollywood movie that does not say ‘ayyo’ or talks about Idli and dosa every now and then? You will not find any such characters because South Indian characters in Bollywood speak Hindi with a heavy accent and they are mostly Tamil-Brahmins. Even the movie which was based on the cultural difference between South Indians and Punjabi heavily stereotyped both the cultures.

Village girl

In Bollywood, if there is a female character from a small town or a village, she is always seen running around and troubling others. No village girl in Bollywood is ever seen dealing with the complexities of a rural area and trying their way to fight with it. From Dabangg to Mimi, almost all small town or village girls are extroverts who love to pick a bone with people.