And Their Voices Resonated from Parallel Worlds: A Study on the Portrayal of Adivasi Women Characters in Malayalam Parallel Cinema (original) (raw)

Jaisa Desh, Waisa Vesh? Explorations on the representations of Adivasis in popular Hindi cinema

Studies in South Asian Film & Media, 2011

This article seeks to discuss specific examples of Adivasi representation in Indian cinema, particularly popular Hindi cinema (as opposed to ‘art’ or ‘parallel’ cinema), and the ways in which it has distilled and codified the representations of ‘other’ groups for a mass audience. Mainstream Hindi cinema, even in its postcolonial phase, has not provided images of Adivasis that reflect their reality. This ‘constructed reality’ of the cinema in which Adivasis exist remains the widespread (mis)understanding of their cultures. It is this cinematic marginalization and cultural stereotyping that will be explored further. This article is a preliminary exploration and will look at particular examples of representation in Hindi films, including Naagin [Female Cobra] (Nandlal Jaswantlal, 1954), Madhumati (Bimal Roy, 1958), Yeh Gulistan Hamara [This Flower Garden of Ours] (Atma Ram, 1972), Lal Salaam [Red Salute] (Gaganvihari Boratte, 2002) and Chak De! [Come On! India] (Shimit Amin, 2007). The...

Contesting Heroines and Critical Subjects: Caste in Recent Tamil Films

The paper seeks to study, critically, a component of popular contemporary Tamil cinema, especially foregrounding the films – Kadhal, Veyil, Paruthiveeran and Subramaniapuram – produced from the years 2004 – 2008, to read it differently, against itself, while departing from a general critique of the film, so as, to recover the portrayal of subaltern subjects – men and women - as critical interventions. I explore, to take issue, with the double stereotype – constructed within the claims - essentially stereotyped, by the PMK chief, of the men and women, implicated in his tirade against “lower” castes; of what is now being termed as prejudiced and casteist. The paper studies the disintegration of the type-heroes, heroines who contest and succumb to the caste imaginary, and the critical subjects who intervene.

Beyond ‘Othering’: Reconstituting the Cultural Stereotypes in Malayalam Cinema

2021

This study examines Malayalam Cinema as perpetuators of cultural and intersectional othering through the portrayal of people living in the high ranges of Kerala, comprising of Idukki and Malabar regions, as unrefined and uncivilized. In the light of characterizations in the movies Varathan(2018) directed by Amal Neerad, Jallikattu(2019) directed by Lijo Jose Pellisserry, Kettiyolaanu Ente Malakha(2019) by Nissam Basheer and Loudspeaker(2009) by Jayaraj the paper seeks the politics inherent in the repeated portrayal of the high ranges as uncouth and inferior. It also argues that the concept of othering is well suited for understanding the power-relations as well as the binary positions created by movies intentionally or unintentionally. Homogenization of masses is what that happens in such a situation where particular is generalized. The study also delves into the hidden layers of cultural stereotyping and addresses the need to reconstitute the idea of the high range as the ‘other’.

Deciphering Cinematic Transition: Context to Tribal Community of India

Praxis International Journal of Social Science and Literature (PIJSSL) , 2020

In the age of globalisation, Cinema has been the most influential mass medium for creating social awareness, mass appeal and generating public opinion. This helps in bringing the diverse mass population within the same perimeter. However, the tribal and the backward society people are not taken into account as a part of mass population. Their needs, opinion as well as efforts to be a part of mainstream population is deliberately neglected by the Medias, especially Indian Cinemas. There are very limited films made on/for tribal communities. The tribal peoples are mostly used as props or side kicks in movies to highlight the positive main stream heroes. They are distinctly discriminated from the mainstream mass by virtue of their language, their culture and so on. This article explores the indecent and inferior portrayal of tribal and backward community peoples in Cinema. Comparing few cinemas from past and recent years it is seen that there had been no changes observed in the portrayal of tribal peoples in Indian Cinema. Their development is stagnant. The same picture of their distress and oppression by high society people is evident; more over any biopic of internationally recognised entity with tribal root is deliberately ignored. In a nutshell, this article intends to throw light on the need to include the tribal and backward community people as apart of mass population, and Cinema is the most appropriate medium to make this initiative a success.

Patriarchy and Prejudice: Indian Women and Their Cinematic Representation

International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, 2017

Nurtured by Indian culture and history women's role in commercial Indian films is that of a stereotypical woman, from the passive wife of Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra' (1913) to the long-suffering but heroic mother-figure of Mother India (1957) to the liberated Kangana Ranaut of Queen (2014), it has been a rather long and challenging journey for women in Hindi cinema. Although this role has been largely redefined by the Indian woman and reclaimed from the willfully suffering, angelic albeit voiceless female actor, the evolution is still incomplete. Culture and tradition mean different things for different women, but there is always the historical context of what it entails in the form of ownership. What this paper seeks to unravel is what being a woman means in Indian cinema. Indian film industry is one of the largest in the world, my effort then is to understand how an industry so vast caters to half of the world population. In today's globalized world, how are female actors treated? How do directors and female actors deal with vital issues of the three-pronged 'trishul', othering, violence, and voicelessness? What effects do films have on perceptions of beauty, sexuality, and gender? It is important to note that the sheer number of Hindi movies produced each year is huge and viewership is even greater, yet, in this globalized world, peppered with neocolonialism, caste distinctions, intolerance and aggression, the portrayal of Indian women in Hindi films creates, produces, and reinforces women's roles in a strictly heterosexual and rigid fashion. This does not allow for many variations in representation. Unarguably there has been some progression in Indian movies as in, they are more accessible but as far as improvement of the Indian woman is concerened, little progress has been made.

Gender construct as a narrative and text: The female protagonist in newgeneration Malayalam cinema - - Dr Sony Jalarajan Raj, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada, Dr Swapna Gopinath

South Asian Popular Culture

The film industry in Kerala (popularly known as 'Mollywood' in the mediasphere) is an obvious example of the changing face of the regional film industries in India in accordance with the varying socio-cultural values and demands of the audience. These films claim a multifaceted 'newness' in their narration, ranging from the themes explored to their techniques of production and narration. This article seeks to analyze whether this 'newness' is contemplated in the conceptualization of female characters within films. We conclude that although women are conceptualized as part of a globalized culture in which 'she' has an identity, they are nevertheless subject to the familiar gender hierarchy and marginalized identity.

Understanding the Feminine Voices: A Study of Women in Selected Malayalam Cinema

International journal of english, literature and social science, 2022

The journey position of women portrayed in Malayalam cinema varies from victims to survivors angels to monsters fidels to infidels and much more which made Malayali audiences frown as well as clap. Our audience appreciated women's stereotypical roles more than women who are raising their voices against society. Cinema has always influenced people to commit heinous crimes because the impact of cinema on the mind of people Is so profound as said by Georgekutty in the movie Drishyam where he has created the image (drishyam) of A fake incident in the mind of people thereby befooling police. The discussion in the paper highlights the sexuality of women pictured in selected Malayalam films by closely examining the incidents of films. The paper enables the readers to recall some of the incidents in the movies from the past that women have encountered and understand how they overcome abuse and social disadvantages to become symbols of courage, strength and resistance. The role of female characters in Malayalam cinema has been a subject of discussion. In this context, a few issues need to be taken into account. In Malayalam cinema near the end of the 20th century, what kinds of roles were given to female artists? Can these characters be classified as gender stereotypes in general? Were the roles that were assigned expressly treated gender-biased? Are there any modifications to the positions given to women so far?

Between Two Worlds: Anglo-Indian Stereotypes and Malayalam Cinema

The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies, 2018

The Anglo-Indians of India are the racial hybrids of European and Indian stock who came into being through four centuries of European colonial contact with India. Malayalam cinema produced in the state of Kerala, albeit being the fourth largest film industry in India, by and large has always been ridden by dominant-caste favouritisms. Regrettably there is minimal representation of the Anglo-Indian community in Malayalam films and if they occupy the screen-space at all, misrepresentation, typecasting and a dogged discourse of estrangement characterises their portrayal. These films ideologically affirm all the denigrating Anglo-Indian stereotypes, slyly 'othering' this 'hybrid' community, ostracizing them as the 'romantic outsiders' of Kerala and typified as 'non-realistic' in their approach to life. Historicising the production and reception of Anglo-Indian delineations in Malayalam cinema from 1970s to 2018, this paper examines such films both as processes and products of the complex historical, cultural and nationalist policies of majoritarian isolationist politics. The paper explicates not just the politics of signification, but the politics of (mis)representation, which is how the Anglo-Indian community gets pigeonholed in the filmic narratives produced in Kerala. It foregrounds the need to destabilize and subvert the conservative and belittling attitude towards the Anglo-Indian community in Malayalam films. The paper thereby argues the need for a fair and inclusive perspective of the Anglo-Indians in the mainstream Malayalam cinemascape.

Gender construct as a narrative and text: The female protagonist in newgeneration Malayalam cinema

The film industry in Kerala (popularly known as ‘Mollywood’ in the mediasphere) is an obvious example of the changing face of the regional film industries in India in accordance with the varying socio-cultural values and demands of the audience. These films claim a multifaceted ‘newness’ in their narration, ranging from the themes explored to their techniques of production and narration. This article seeks to analyze whether this ‘newness’ is contemplated in the conceptualization of female characters within films. We conclude that although women are conceptualized as part of a globalized culture in which ‘she’ has an identity, they are nevertheless subject to the familiar gender hierarchy and marginalized identity.

Gagged Narratives from the Margin: Indian Films and the Shady Representation of Caste

Popular Hindi cinema provides a fascinating account of Indian life history and cultural politics. Hindi cinema is always a mirror of the Indian society but films also have fascinated entertained the Indian public for more than a hundred years and sometimes when we analyze the history of Indian cinema we can get an amazingly interesting but actual history of the contemporary society with all its virtues and vices in different colors. This paper deliberates on the various issues pertaining to the portrayal of specific caste, especially the Dalits in Indian films-both Hindi and regional.