Desiring Otherwise: Ethical Subversion and Affective Feminism in Indian Cinema Author:

Abstract

This article explores how contemporary Indian films reconfigure female subjectivity by centering desire, agency, and emotional complexity. Through films like Laapataa Ladies, Parched, Goynar Baksho, and Bulbbul, it argues that women are no longer portrayed as passive figures but as active epistemic agents. Drawing on feminist theorists like Sara Ahmed and Teresa de Lauretis, the study shows how cinema shifts from ornamental representation to insurgent storytelling, where desire becomes a powerful tool for redefining ethics, identity, and narrative structure.