• Abhijith S Nair

Indian Popular Cinema has picked up an interest in Sports only in recent times. In its more than 100-year-old history, it is only with the success of Lagaan did Indian Popular Cinema gain confidence to work on more sports-based themes. With Chak De India, the skewed gender equations in the sports domain came to cinematic prominence. Now we have a plethora of women-centered popular Indian films like Chak De India, Mary Kom, Ethir Neechal, Godha, Dangal, etc. Chak De India, Dangal, and Saala Kadhoos are the cinematic texts taken up for this research. At the surface level, such cinematic narratives on women tend to showcase the trials and tribulations that women face in the sporting arena and how they manage to reap success despite heavy odds in a deeply patriarchal society. However, the trope of having a male coach (played by stars Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Madhavan respectively) who has a central role to play in the narrative goes unscrutinized. The male coach in these films is a benevolent person with his own unrealized dreams going to coach women and thereby reaping success. This research article using critical discourse analysis methodology attempts to unpack such entrenched forms of gender inequity.

Culture, Gender, Hegemony, Indian Popular Cinema, Patriarchy, Sports.

"READING THE ROLE OF THE MALE COACH IN INDIAN SPORTS CINEMA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.109-115, June 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907613.pdf

"READING THE ROLE OF THE MALE COACH IN INDIAN SPORTS CINEMA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp109-115, June 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907613.pdf