Spectacle, Corruption, and Catharsis: The Crisis of Morality and the Neoliberal Psyche in Contemporary Indian Action Films

This research paper explores the crisis of morality in post-liberalization Indian action cinema, examining how law, corruption, and violence are aestheticized to reflect the psychological and ethical disintegration of neoliberal India. By close readings of Force (2011), Satyamev Jayate (2018), Udta Punjab (2016), Shaitan (2011), and Dev.D (2009), the research investigates how the spectacle of crime and justice in cinema reflects the contradictions of contemporary governance and desire. The argument here is that films substitute moral order with spectacle, subjecting law to performance and corruption to catharsis. Referencing Lalitha Gopalan's theory of cinematic interruption, Ashish Rajadhyaksha's cultural interpretation of post-liberalization India, and Ravi Vasudevan's idea of The Melodramatic Public, the research finds that Indian action cinema is now a cultural repository of anxiety. It is a reflection of a society where the distinction between enforcer and offender, legality and crime, breaks down into moral complexity—a mirror to India's neoliberal mind.