This chapter explores the intersections of myth, gender, nationalism, and politics in Hindi films, and discusses the reworking of the mythological material in order to assert traditional or alternative role models for women. I examine the mythologizing of the Rāmāyaṇa epic in selected Bollywood films, and explore the ideological implications of representations of women, gender, and the nation from the perspectives of mythological and ideological criticism. The interpretation of mythological elements in contemporary South Asian literature and film oscillates between the romantic exaltation of national culture (often defining itself in opposition to Western culture) and a modernist search for archetypes. Often myths and mythical archetypes are linked to ideological critique and are used to express a highly critical stance toward society, political institutions, conservative tradition, and gender relations. I have based my analysis on several films, which have enjoyed great popularity in the 1990s and 2000s, such as Khalnayak (Villain), 1993; Ham Aapke Hai Kaun (Who Am I to You), 1994; Fire (1996); Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Something Happens), 1998; Ham Dil De Cuke Sanam (I Have Given My Heart Away), 1999; Dil Cahta Hai (What the Heart Wants), 2001; Devdas (Devdas), 2002; and Om Shanti Om (2007).