Shifting narratives: Globalisation, women's rights, and domestic violence in select Hindi films between 1996-2001

During the 1990s, India underwent significant changes with the implementation of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation policies, following the Balance of Payment crisis in 1991. This shift coincided with the ratification of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights treaty in the Indian Parliament alongside intensive global and Indian campaigns advocating for women's rights and against violence. These shifts deeply influenced both the legal and cinematic landscapes, altering cultural narratives surrounding heterosexual marriage, family dynamics, and heterosexuality. Films such as Agni Sakshi (With Fire as Witness) (1996), Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (The King’s Entourage Will Arrive) (1997), Mehendi (Henna) (1998), Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence (2001), and Lajja (Shame) (2001) depicted domestic spaces and marital relationships as abusive and violent, marking a departure from the traditional portrayal of marriage as a sacred institution. The arrival of universal human rights discourse provided a new framework for understanding marital unions and women's rights within the household, challenging traditional norms and advocating for greater equality and justice. Utilising the frameworks of ‘contact zone’ by Pratt and ‘sentimentalization of marriage’ by Harrison, the article is a narrative analysis of the aforementioned films. It examines these films as examples of India’s cultural response to western feminist theories on domestic and gender-based violence within the universal human rights framework.