(De)Mystifying gendered precarity: representation of lived experiences of slum women in Indian documentary

According to the 2011 census of India, 65.4 million people live in urban slums in India, forming a significant demographic often excluded from dominant narratives of urban development. Within the epistemological framework of subaltern urbanism, Indian slums emerge as critical subaltern spaces, zones of both marginality and agency where residents engage in alternative modes of self-organization and resistance. Yet, mainstream cinematic portrayals of resistance in the slum narratives, particularly in Bollywood, overwhelmingly center male protagonists and visual heroism, thereby obscuring the everyday lived reality and the affective narratives of resistance enacted by those women who belong to the slums. The article interrogates the gendered contours of slum narratives by foregrounding women’s lived experiences in three PSBT documentaries: Shazia (2005), Mera Apna Sheher (My Own City) (2011), and My Bangalore: Portraits from Hakki Pikki Colony (2011). Drawing on the theoretical framework of feminist standpoint theory and intersectionality, the study examines how these marginalized women negotiate structural precarity through informal labor, caregiving, and aspirational resilience. By focusing on women’s testimonies and embodied resistant practices, these documentaries disrupt formulaic representations of slum life and emphasize the epistemic privilege of the marginalized.