Political Conflict and Social Issues; A Comparative Analysis Bol, Society Girl, and Madam Chief Minister

Abstract

By focusing on the examination of three South Asian films, namely: Madam Chief Minister (2021), Society Girl (1978), and Bol (2011), this essay aims to examine the depths of social and political strife. We use these films as spectres to exorcize gender, caste, and class within their socio-political contexts using intersectionality, feminist theory, and postcolonial theory. Bol lays bare gendered violence and patriarchal tyranny, rooted in the intersection between gender and religious conservatism, Society Girl addresses modernity with a focus on the class mobility and economic participation of women. Madam Chief Minister continues this tradition by depicting a Dalit woman’s ascent to power in spite of structural inequity, shedding a light on political rights and casteism in modern India.  This study uses criticism of these South Asian films and the stories they contain, the characters they use, and cinematic techniques they employ to offer an examination of South Asian culture and society.