Is Goddess Kali Underrepresented In Cinema?

In a country where mythology and cinema are deeply entwined with each other, it is remarkable how little we see of Goddess Kali. One of the most potent, visually arresting and symbolically complex figures

in the Hindu pantheon of gods – Kali – the fierce other has largely remained confined to the shadows and fleeting mentions in cinema. This is in sharp contrast to Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna and even Durga, who have found steady representation across eras and genres. For a figure who defines binaries in being both mother and destroyer, protector and annihilator, beauty and terror – one would have thought she would have found more mention in films, but her relative absence from the cinematic landscape highlights as much about the goddess herself as it does about the society that has envisioned her.

Kali: The Absent Goddess

Kali’s marked underrepresentation in Indian cinema is quite curious considering her iconography is inherently cinematic. She who is of midnight-blues skin, blood-red tongue, adorned in a garland of skulls - wild, fierce, unbound - can create a visual that could electrify any frame. And yet, beyond occasional invocations in cinema, she barely occupies the narrative arc.Also Read: Durga Puja 2025: Why Does Cinema Deify Its Women? Worshipped, Yet SilencedFilms on the ten-armed Goddess Durga - the slayer of Mahisasura - are perhaps easier to digest within traditional gender frameworks. Durga is fierce but composed. She embodies strength that coexists with restraint. Kali, on the other hand, is unrestrained fury, a goddess who loses herself in battle, who drinks blood, who dances on the corpse of her consort. That intensity sits uneasily with the aesthetic and moral sensibilities of popular cinema. Probably that is why mainstream Hindi cinema, which often finds ways to humanize the divine, has shied away from tackling Kali’s transgressive energy.

Kali: Stuck Between Fear And Reverence

Perhaps, part of the cinematic absence stems from the tension between reverence and fear when it comes to Kali. In Hindu mythology, the black goddess represents the force of time and transformation. She destroys illusion, ego and falsehood – violently. Representation of that on screen not only requires visual daring but also theological and emotional nuance. However, one has to understand that the Goddess Kali has found a stronger cinematic presence in regional traditions, especially in Bengal - the heartland of her worship.

Bengali cinema has often invoked Kali as both protector and a witness to social transformation. In Satyajit Ray’s Devi (1960), Kali’s spirit hovers over the narrative as patriarchal faith transforms a young woman (played by Sharmila Tagore) into a living goddess - a haunting commentary on devotion, delusion, and deification. Though not about Kali per se, the film is a haunting introspection of what happens when a society projects divinity onto women. Beyond Bengal, however, depictions are sporadic. The 1990 Hindi film Karishma Kali Kaa starring Amrita Singh and Shatrughan Sinha personified the goddess as an active divine force of protection and retribution.

Apart from this the Rakesh Roshan's Karan Arjun too has a climactic dance sequence Jai Maa Kaali featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Kajol and Mamta Kulkarni.

Between Symbolism and Misrepresentation

Interestingly, Kali’s image, while powerful, has also been misrepresented - especially outside India. Hollywood’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) notoriously distorted her as a symbol of bloodthirsty barbarism, reflecting colonial anxieties. The film’s “Kali Ma” chant became infamous for all the wrong reasons — a case study in how easily her radical power can be misread through an Orientalist lens.Closer home, however, more recent filmmakers have begun reclaiming her spirit rather than her surface imagery. In Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul (2020), the transformation of a wronged woman into an avenging supernatural being draws unmistakable inspiration from Kali’s iconography — the blood-red moon, reversed feet, and the climactic dance of vengeance echoing the goddess’s tandava of destruction.

Too Radical for the Mainstream?

Perhaps the absence of Kali in Indian cinema is not an oversight, rather discomfort. The Kali iconography does not neatly fit into cinema’s preferred feminine archetypes. She is not the nurturing mother, the virtuous lover or even the moral avenger. She is raw power itself. Perhaps the only deviation from this in popular culture is the Bengali serial Mahapeeth Taraphith which shows the ascetic Bamakhepa's unwavering devotion to the goddess.Also Read: Why Is Lord Ganesha Never The Hero In Our Films?

Can Kali Be A Goddess for a New Age

With time, cinema is evolving. Is it time our relationship with Kali evolves as well? The rise of feminist and experimental storytelling has opened new pathways for reinterpreting myth. Contemporary filmmakers are increasingly exploring binaries in cinema and subjects long neglected by mainstream narratives are suddenly finding voice. A modern retelling of Kali’s story could examine the idea of righteous anger, female agency and the cyclical nature of destruction and rebirth. Kali is not just a deity. She is a state of being – a metaphor for confronting darkness sans fear. Her underrepresentation in cinema perhaps says lesser about her relevance and more about our collective hesitation in facing truths such as chaos, death, and transformation.