Gendering the Rags-to-Riches Hero in Contemporary India: Post-Crisis Masculinity, Aspiration, and ‘the Discourse of the Real’ in Bollywood Life-Narratives

In contemporary Indian popular culture, which is shaped by socioeconomic neoliberalisation, resilient masculinities occupy a central position in the celebratory discourse of upward social mobility, ranging from reality talent shows that commodify struggling men’s ‘sob stories’ to biopics depicting life-narratives of exceptional men. Gendering this category of aspiration through the archetype of the rags-to-riches hero in Bollywood cinema, this article locates the shifting representation of masculinity within the neoliberal mediascape of social mobility, which is preoccupied with ‘the discourse of the real’. Under the influence of emergent discourses of gender equality, the contemporary rags-to-riches hero appears as a figure of ‘post-crisis masculinity’ who, in response to conditions of precarity, embodies ideals of responsibility and emotional sensibility rather than resorting to violence. However, these aspirational masculinities simultaneously re-enact essentialist gender expectations of potent manhood as provider, navigating the neoliberal logic of self-sufficiency. The article examines such gender reconfigurations in cinematic engagements with ‘real-life’ narratives of social mobility in two recent Bollywood films, Gully Boy (2019) and 12th Fail (2023). Through a qualitative analysis of these films’ narratives and published interviews with their makers, this study explores the politics of inspiration that transform the realities of peripheral masculinity into motivational subjects.