The post independent India, while brought many shifts in the overall idea of nationalism in India, however it equally shifted many traditional modern notions of thoughts. The post independent Indian government while shifting focus to modern education as well as development of scientific temper. Similarly, it is understood that the how culture can be an important medium for devising social change and uplifting conflict free social bonding. As a result, we can see a significant focus was on developing cultural policies such as unity in diversity, which not only aim to redefine the idea of free India but equally elevated the sense of belongingness and modernity. Very importantly within these modern terrains of changes it is significant to understand how ‘women’ became an important voice of empowerment. Probably because of the expansion of education and subsequent reframing of codes related to the issues of Women such as Marriage, divorce and their participation into the electoral system through Indian Constitution these new forms of voices were surfacing into the scene. As Geraldine Forbes rightly pointed, “The Indian Constitution declared equality a fundamental right. This document also guaranteed equal protection of the law, equal opportunities in public employment, and prohibited discrimination in public places. The Hindu Code, passed as separate Acts between 1955 and 1956, rewrote for Hindus the laws of marriage and divorce, adoption, and inheritance. Adult suffrage added women to the electoral roles and political parties pledged their commitment to women's issues.(Forbes). There may be ample amount of research work on shifting paradigms of women narrative in colonial and post-colonial India. However, this paper aims develop a reading of the representation of women and the subsequent rise of modern nationalism within India through two iconic films Aurat and Mother India.
Ashraf Ali (Fri,) studied this question.