Name: Priyanka Chakraborty
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Vol-11, No.2, July-Dec-2026
Page Number: 26-40
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21389902

ABSTRACT
For years, to express social tensions, generational frustrations, and changing ideals of masculinity, Hindi cinema has historically used male anger as a core narrative and emotional vehicle. From the `angry young man` of the 1970s to the present-day towering figures of disturbing hyper-masculinity, representations of male anger have changed with India’s socio-economic changes. This chapter examines the trajectory of male anger and masculinity in Hindi popular cinema from the 1970s to the present. Starting with the rise of the “angry young man” in Amitabh Bachchan starrers like Deewaar and Zanjeer, this chapter explores how cinematic masculinity has historically indexed and reflected larger socio-political concerns of unemployment, corruption, and institutional failure in post-Emergency India. The chapter will then go on to juxtapose this earlier figure of socially engaged anger with more contemporary depictions of hyper-masculine heroes in films like Kabir Singh and Animal, starring Shahid Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. While the anger of the 1970s hero was socially engaged, more contemporary figures are increasingly exemplars of a form of individualized and performative “alpha masculinity.” Through a close engagement with the scholarship on masculinity studies and popular cinema, this chapter argues that this shift is symptomatic of larger cultural shifts in India associated with liberalization, consumer culture, and shifting gender politics. Through this examination of the trajectory from Deewaar to Animal, this chapter will show how Hindi cinema continues to engage with male identity, authority, and emotional expression across generations.
Keywords : Masculinity ,Male Anger, Hindi Cinema, ,Gender Representation, Patriarchy