{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T18:03:43Z","timestamp":1789495423675,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"BMJ","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    In contradistinction to an expanding corpus of texts that depict experiences of menopause in the Global North, there has been a paucity of cultural representations of the menopausal experience in the Global South. A recent exception to this has been the Hindi web series\n                    <jats:italic>Bombay Begums<\/jats:italic>\n                    (2021), directed by Alankrita Shrivastava and Bornilla Chatterjee, which has explicit depictions of a middle-aged successful professional coping with menopause. The character\u2019s body is repeatedly shown as the register for her experiences of menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, in lieu of a merely diagnostic or medicalised presentation. The article argues that the audiovisual medium emerges as the primary representational site where long-standing cultural reticence in depicting menopause is addressed in India. Drawing from Elizabeth Grosz\u2019s argument of \u2018textualised bodies\u2019 the paper proposes the concept of\n                    <jats:italic>menopause textualities<\/jats:italic>\n                    as an alternative framework to analyse the complexities of cultural productions such as\n                    <jats:italic>Bombay Begums,<\/jats:italic>\n                    where the semantics of menopause are presented by the character\u2019s physical actions while the audiovisual mode employs its narrative devices to stay sympathetic and give an account of such embodiment. It is through the experiences of the central character, who is facing a crisis in her leadership role, as also her simultaneous exploration of new desires and ambitions, that the series addresses and presents a nuanced intertextuality of gender, class, age and health of the urban subject, thus breaching collective silences in a manner that has no precedence in the Indian cultural industry.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2026-013909","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T17:20:26Z","timestamp":1789492826000},"page":"medhum-2026-013909","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Hot flashes, brain fog, nobility: menopause narratives and breached cultural silences in\n                    <i>Bombay Begums<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1136","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-3505-2008","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Meghna","family":"Haridas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Manipal Institute of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8614-0087","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gayathri","family":"Prabhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Manipal Institute of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.1","unstructured":"Bombay begums [web series]. India Web Series; 2021."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gopinath S . \u201cAbsences and Solitude Representation of Older Women and their Ecosystem within Select Works by Indian Women Novelists\u201d. In: Ecocritical Menopause: Women, Literature, Environment, \u201cThe Change\u201d Rowman & Littlefield, 2024: 193\u2013217.","DOI":"10.5040\/9798216432340.ch8"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sivakami M . Normality, freedom, and distress: listening to the menopausal experiences of indian women of haryana. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies. 2020: 985\u201399.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-15-0614-7_70"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1300\/J010v19n03_03"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/13675494241287931"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.maturitas.2015.12.006"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"911","DOI":"10.1080\/23293691.2025.2491022","article-title":"Margaret and Maria and Moesha and More: Perimenopause Fiction Comes of (Middle) Age","volume":"12","author":"Whitney","year":"2025","journal-title":"Women\u2019s Reproductive Health"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Grosz E . Volatile Bodies. Routledge, 2020.","DOI":"10.4324\/9781003118381"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.9","unstructured":"Sievert LL . Menopause: A Biocultural Perspective. Rutgers University Press, 2006."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.10","unstructured":"Beyene Y . From Menarche to Menopause: Reproductive Lives of Peasant Women in Two Cultures. SUNY Press, 1989."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.11","unstructured":"Melby M . Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese. Taylor Francis,"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.12","first-page":"58","article-title":"Puberty to Menopause: The Cycle of Femininity in Nineteenth-Century America","volume":"1","author":"Smith-Rosenberg","year":"1973","journal-title":"Fem Stud"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.13","unstructured":"Formanek R . Continuity and change and \u201cthe change of life\u201d:premodern views of the menopause. In: The Mean Menopause. 2013: 3\u201341."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0277-9536(87)90343-1"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"276","DOI":"10.1080\/13548500500093225","article-title":"Narrative review of changing medical and feminist perspectives on menopause: From femininity and ageing to risk and choice","volume":"10","author":"Murtagh","year":"2005","journal-title":"Psychology, Health & Medicine"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Safwan N , Saadedine M , Shufelt CL , et al . Menopause in the workplace: Challenges, impact, and next steps. Maturitas 2024;185. doi:10.1016\/j.maturitas.2024.107983","DOI":"10.1016\/j.maturitas.2024.107983"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Afridi I . Psychological and social aspects of menopause. In: Menopause Multidiscip Look At. 2017.","DOI":"10.5772\/intechopen.69078"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.18","unstructured":"World Health Organization Scientific Group . Research on the menopause in the 1990s. Geneva World Health Organization; 1996.866."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.19","unstructured":"Martin E . The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction. Boston: Beacon Press, 1987."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"366","DOI":"10.1080\/17458927.2024.2390729","article-title":"Creative reflections on embodied filmmaking: in, through and between the senses and spaces of the medicalized body","volume":"19","author":"Turner","year":"2024","journal-title":"Senses Soc"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.21","unstructured":"AMarie S . Islamic Names: An Introduction. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 1990."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.22","unstructured":"O\u2019Reilly A . Twenty-First Century Motherhood: Experience, Identity, Policy, Agency. Columbia University Press, 2010. Available: http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/10.7312\/orei14966"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.23","unstructured":"Bora A . Cinema as a tool for health and risk communication: Issues and challenges. Glob Media J-Indian Ed 2020;12."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.24","unstructured":"Aslam S . Bollywood movies: A contributing factor towards juvenile delinquency. Int J Res 2015;2."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.25","unstructured":"Aslam S , Sohail B , Riaz S , et al . Cinema and Social Change: Bollywood\u2019s Role in Shaping Public Health Narratives through Entertainment-Education. Available: https:\/\/jalt.com.pk\/index.php\/jalt\/article\/view\/47\/38"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.26","unstructured":"Brown W , Singhal A . Entertainment-Education Media Strategies for Social Change: Promises and Problems. Mass Media Soc Control Soc,"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2013.06.032"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.28","unstructured":"Kleinman A . The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition. Hachette, 2020."},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shome R . Cleansing The Nation: India The Hindu Modern and Mediation of Gender. Durham: Duke University Press, 2025.","DOI":"10.1215\/9781478061519"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ferro-Luzzi G . Women\u2019s pollution periods in Tamilnad (India). Ferro-Luzzi GE Womens Pollut Periods Tamilnad India Anthr 1974;2. doi:10.1080\/03670244.1973.9990346","DOI":"10.1080\/03670244.1973.9990346"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1080\/13697130500117920","article-title":"Profile of menopausal women in rural north India","volume":"8","author":"Singh","year":"2005","journal-title":"Climacteric"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.2752\/174589309X425111","article-title":"Touching Film: The Embodied Practice and Politics of Film Viewing and Filmmaking","volume":"4","author":"Cranny-Francis","year":"2009","journal-title":"The Senses and Society"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1212758"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Devasundaram AI . India\u2019s New Independent Cinema: Rise of the Hybrid. Routledge 2016;13. doi:10.4324\/9781315645018","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315645018"},{"key":"2026091510201774000_medhum-2026-013909v1.35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.2307\/3347130","article-title":"Rewriting Menopause: Challenging the Medical Paradigm to Reflect Menopausal Women\u2019s Experiences","volume":"19","author":"Ferguson","year":"1998","journal-title":"Frontiers J Women Stud"}],"container-title":["Medical Humanities"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2026-013909","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T17:20:36Z","timestamp":1789492836000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2026-013909"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]]},"references-count":35,"alternative-id":["10.1136\/medhum-2026-013909"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/medhum-2026-013909","relation":{},"ISSN":["1468-215X","1473-4265"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1468-215X","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4265","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]]}}}