Inebriation and death of women: Making sense of women's alcohol and drug consumption in Bollywood and society.

The article examines Bollywood's portrayal of addiction, particularly focusing on female alcoholism and drug use, through a feminist lens across four landmark films from the 1960s to the early 2000s. It highlights how these films commonly depict addicted women as morally transgressive figures whose deaths are portrayed as inevitable, reinforcing cultural anxieties around female sexuality, Indian femininity, and national identity. The analysis situates these cinematic representations within broader social contexts, including the criminalization and stigmatization of addiction in India, and discusses how on-screen violence and tropes around women's addiction may influence real-life attitudes and violence against women. Ultimately, the article argues that Bollywood's narratives often prioritize melodrama and moral judgment over therapeutic or nuanced understandings of addiction, contributing to the marginalization and disposability of women who deviate from traditional cultural norms.