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@article{186759,
        author = {Praneta Garg and Kirti Chhabria and Prarthana Agrawal and Dr. Shweta Patel},
        title = {BEYOND THE REEL: GENDER BIAS IN POPULAR INDIAN ENTERTAINMENT},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {6},
        pages = {3111-3117},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=186759},
        abstract = {From the first Indian movie in 1913, film there has grown into a lively part of culture - shaping beliefs, reflecting life, also driving cash flow. Even though more women now work behind and in front of cameras, Bollywood still struggles with deep-rooted views about gender plus outdated character roles. The project looks at why unequal treatment sticks around in India’s media world, checking out reasons and fixes by studying how films get made, who gets to create them, what viewers respond to. Using earlier findings, it pulls together different angles: how having women on screen affects money matters (Ravi, 2025), how TV keeps pushing narrow standards of beauty (Chatterjee & Rastogi, 2022), but also how meaningful movies can shift public thinking (Chandra & Bhatia, 2019). On top of that, it looks at how sexual boundary-pushing scenes tie into crime theories (Mehta, 2019), alongside how Bollywood shapes views on gender across overseas Indian communities (Kundra et al., 2025), then shifts to the struggles women in the spotlight face online today (Mitra, 2020). In closing, findings about hidden systems and tech-driven bias (Biju & Gayathri, 2024) push the conversation toward how digital tools can deepen social gaps. When combined, this research shows change has happened - just not everywhere - and old patterns still hold strong. To wrap up, the article pushes for fairer rules, balanced workplace norms, along with sharper media awareness from viewers so real gender fairness takes root in India’s film world.},
        keywords = {Indian cinema, Bollywood, gender inequality, female representation, gender bias, stereotypical portrayals, beauty norms, digital culture.},
        month = {November},
        }