The recent release and reception of the web series, Chiraiya, perhaps marks a decisive moment in the evolving portrayal of sexual violence in Indian cinema. For decades, mainstream Hindi films relied on a grammar that rendered assault as spectacle or as a catalyst for male heroism, with the survivor reduced to a narrative device. The contemporary shift, reflected in the keen reception of OTT content such as Chiraiya, Maharaja and Assi, among others, signals an intent at recalibration. Sexual violence is increasingly depicted with attention to its myriad aftermath, its crippling psychological consequences, and the structural conditions that enable it rather than an act designed
to provoke shock or justify revenge.
This transition has undoubtedly been accelerated by the rise of OTT platforms, which have expanded both the range of stories and the voices telling them. Streaming services have reduced the constraints imposed by theatrical distribution and censorship practices — content on OTT platforms do not need pre-release censor certificates — allowing film-makers to engage with subjects previously considered commercially or socially unviable. The entry of a larger cohort of women film-makers has been central to this change, bringing perspectives that resist the reduction of survivors to passive victims. Thappad, Bulbbul, and Pink, to name a few films, thus explore the layered tensions among autonomy, consent, and the complexities of lived experiences around desire and depravity. Encouragingly, some of the content is breaking new ground. Article 15 situates sexual violence within caste hierarchies; NH10 confronts the brutality of honour-based violence without romantic mediation; Maharaja complicates entrenched tropes by allowing the survivor to determine the contours of justice, unsettling the expectations of patriarchal vengeance. Some of these creative endeavours even engage with subterranean issues, including marital rape and domestic abuse, locating them within broader conversations about power and entitlement. The visual language has correspondingly shifted, with a reduced reliance on sensationalism and a greater emphasis on context and consequence.
The significance of this transformation lies in its capacity to challenge deeply embedded cultural assumptions. This new wave of storytelling disrupts this continuum by insisting on the centrality of a woman’s agency and by exposing the everyday — normalised — dimensions of sexual violence. Admittedly, such an evolution has not led to the complete elimination of problematic tropes — the glorification of domestic violence as a manifestation of love in films like Animal and Kabir Singh, for instance. Nor has it resolved the tensions between the commercial imperative of making a profit from a mass entertainer and the ethical treatment of women as the roaring commercial success of blatantly sexist films like Housefull 5 shows. It does, however, establish a framework in which cinema can engage with violence against women — physical, verbal or even the kind inflicted through a misogynist joke — without reproducing the hierarchies that sustain it. The shift from spectacle to scrutiny represents an essential step in aligning popular media with a more accountable understanding of gendered violence.