Protagonists Who Must Lose: Sacrifice, Renunciation and Ethical Centrality in Contemporary Hindi Cinema
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70680/sanskriti.v3i2.54Keywords:
Hindi cinema, sacrifice, renunciation, ethical centrality, narrative ethicsAbstract
Romantic narratives in Hindi cinema frequently feature characters whose significance extends beyond the conventional fulfilment of love, occupying a space defined by ethical, emotional and psychological labour. This paper examines four such figures: Anirudh (Yugpurush, 1998), Dev (Dhadkan, 2000), Aman (Kal Ho Naa Ho, 2003) and Kundan (Raanjhanaa, 2013). Though central to their stories, none of them attains conventional romantic success. Each embodies a distinct form of sacrifice and moral engagement: Anirudh’s renunciation emerges from childhood trauma and psychological fragility; Dev negotiates desire, social constraint and eventual ethical growth; Aman consciously relinquishes love to secure the happiness of others; and Kundan’s obsessive devotion produces suffering and a delayed moral awakening that ends in ethical clarity. Across fifteen years of cinematic production, these narratives show that the power of such protagonists lies not in romantic union but in shaping the emotional and ethical trajectories of others and in driving narrative resolution. Together they exemplify the archetype of the “protagonist who must lose”, in which personal loss is inseparable from moral centrality and relational influence. The paper argues that heroism in Hindi cinema can be measured through ethical labour, sacrifice and the transformative impact of love rather than through conventional romantic attainment.
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