Being Young and a “Muslim Woman” in Postliberalization India Reflexive Documentary Films as Media Spaces for New Conversations

Abstract

The Indian documentary film landscape is currently expanding with exceptional dynamism, despite the fact that structural problems such as insufficient funding and distribution mechanisms are still prevalent. The number of film festivals organized in this vein in the country has also increased, allowing documentary films and directors from India to gain a new global visibility, which in turn makes the industry increasingly interesting and relevant for academic discussion. In this article, I focus on three reflexive documentary films by Fathima Nizaruddin that could be considered a trilogy and in which the director has sought to deal with the different points of view of Muslim women on the questions of gender, identity and religion. I argue that a growing interest in these new articulations and critical reflections on the prevailing discourses and visual regimes about Muslim women is discernible in India and is likely to expand in the next couple of years.