Article Written By EIH Researcher And Writer
Aparnna R Menon
On Friday, the 9th of February, a doodle by Google caught the eyes of all people beyond movie aficionados as they celebrated the first female actor in the Malayalam film industry, P K Rosy.
Hailing from a Dalit Christian background Rosy played the role of an upper-caste Nair woman that met with an uproar among the Nair landlords. The fact that a Dalit woman was performing as an upper caste and romancing a man did not sit well with them. They burnt her hut and chased her from Kerala only for her to never be able to return to the screens or her land. The filmmaker, JC Daniel also faced severe opposition that put him in distress. The movie put him deep in debt as it failed to be a commercial success.
However, Vigathakumaran, the movie they created went into the annals of Malayalam movie history as the first one ever to be made.
It could be surprising that Mollywood, (Malayalam movie industry) often glamorized for creating masterpieces, had a less attractive past. The Malayalam movie industry is now seen as the flag bearer of realistic movies straying away from the popular trope of superstar cult. From Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Bodyguard, and Billu Barber to the recently released Drishyam, a bunch of Malayalam movies have been taken to the Bollywood audience as remakes. However many of them have failed to serve as satisfying counterparts.
Vigathakumaran provided a shift from the conventional path of using devotional threads for movie making and gave space to the social cinema. However, the tragedies that unfolded delayed the making of the movies thereafter. It took nearly 5 years for the second movie Marthandavarma based on a novel written by C V Raman Pillai and directed by Sunderraj to be made. In 1938, the first sound cinema Balan was produced by T R Sundaram and directed by M Sundaram. Neelakuyil (1954), which discussed the evils of untouchability, won the silver medal from the President taking Malayalam cinemas to national recognition. Scripted by the prominent writer Uroob, and directed by P Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat, this movie also carved an individual identity for Malayalam cinema distinct from Tamil cinemas. The political scenarios also served as interesting plot themes for cinemas. Prof Hari A S argues that with the onset of left leadership, ‘cinema became one of the crucial “political-pedagogical” devices for producing “mobilizational narratives and rhetorics addressing the masses.” The attempts to capture the socio-political conditions are evident in the films like Neelakuyil, Navalokam (1951), and Randidangazhi(1958). The role of neorealism is seen in movies of this period through the depiction of hard realities often conveyed through dramatic storylines. They use heroes from humble backgrounds to illustrate the difficulties of the past and the present and the hope that is awaited in the future. The contributions from illustrious Malayalam writers like Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer, Thakazhi Shivashankara Pillai, Parappurath, MT Vasudevan Nair and prominent playwrights like N Krishna Pillai, C J Thomas, G Sankara Pillai, KT Muhammad, Thoppil Bhasi is generous and cannot be disregarded. Malayalam literature heavily influenced the movies on the screen, especially in the 1960s which was termed a ‘decade of adaptations.’ Mudiyanaya Puthran (1961) initially a play of Thoppil Bhasi, Basheer’s Neelavelicham that was remade as Bhargavi Nilayam (1964) are a few examples. The 1970s saw a fresh wave of Malayalam movies with prominent filmmakers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, MT Vasudevan Nair, P A Backer, John Abraham and a few others transcending from melodramas to realism further critiquing social realities. Film critic C S Venkiteswaran asserts the presence of a “new self-consciousness” in Malayalam cinema seen during the time. Prof Suranjan Ganguly opines that Adoor’s films called out Kerala’s model of development for the exclusion and alienation of marginalized groups and communities. Thus, movies served a much larger purpose than being mere tools of entertainment.
Mollywood, despite the contributions to the larger arena of filmmaking, has not shied away from the mainstream patriarchal trope of cultivating a uniform normative idea of femininity. It often served as a manual for enforcing the dichotomy of masculinity and femininity and thereby pushing for heteronormativity. The portrayal of women as ‘veettamma’ (homemaker) who enjoys the traditional roles of cooking, cleaning, and caretaking without complaints has been displayed as the prototype of a ‘Malayali woman.’ This attempts to evoke the previously held role of women as tharavattamma in the dominantly seen matrilineality of Kerala but removes every role associated with her that goes beyond moral and reproductive duties. Writer Laura Mulvey opined how women on the screen are not ‘an individual but a type.’ Adding to this, Prof Meena T Pillai’s study shows the heavy presence of the ‘male gaze’ and ‘stereotypes’ that are present in Mollywood. As Prof Pillai points out, even though one sees women-centric titles in movies like Jnanambika, Nirmala, Prasanna, Chandrika, and Nallathanka, these movies hardly veer away from the romantic trope of a shy woman with “fluttering eyelids and timid gait, treated with loving reverence by the camera in soft focus and gentle backlighting.” Even if the woman exerts herself in the public space by taking up a job, she could fall into the good books only if she takes up the submissive role in the private space. In short, women exercising agency was not an image of the desired woman in Malayalam movies until recently. The revered women were the ones that had their sexuality and morality in check. The patriarchal language of Malayalam cinema, unfortunately, got re-iterated over and over again even with the new wave of Malayalam cinema in the 1970s (often termed as a golden age for Mollywood) with brilliant directors Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Aravindan, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, and John Abraham. This is not to diminish the roles played by directors like K G George whose movies like Adamintevariyellu and Mattoral took women-centric plots that addressed domestic violence and abuse. However, fair representation seemed so distant until the emergence of movies like 22 Female Kottayam, Khaddama, Uyare, and Take off that hit the screen as late as the post-2010s. Anyhow, the positive graph of women taking up onscreen and offscreen roles in film production is delightful as opposed to the older fad of married women stepping away from the limelight and taking up traditional roles.
The largely caste-blind nature of Malayalam cinema is also a topic that requires discussion. The glorification of hypermasculinity and portrayal of protagonists as virtuous upper-caste heroes in movies like Devasuram, Advaitham, Dhruvam cannot be ignored. Prof Hari A S opines how the role of this image of feudal lord results in “the systematic erasure of imprints of struggles fought against caste/feudal/patriarchal oppressions from the cultural memory of Malayalee.” If a couple of movies like Sree Narayana Guru (1986), Malamukalile Daivam(1983) etc are to be omitted, there has been a trend to submerge these nuances with the larger narrative that hopes to elevate the celebrated hero at the expense of the others. The upper caste of heroes was hardly a question and the lower caste was put into stereotypes. Recent movies like Kammatti Paadam (2016) and Ee.Ma.Yau. (2018) have been a breath of fresh air but it’s hardly sufficient. The Malayalam movie industry is also yet to make itself inclusive of gender minorities. Movies like Moothon by Geetu Mohandas, Njan Marykutty by Ranjith Sankar, My Life partner by M B Padmakumar, etc can only be seen as scattered portrayals of gender minorities though the problems remain to be hardly addressed and the representations scarce. Some intersectionality has been attempted in the movies like Udalazham (2018) of Ashiq Abu which portrays a tribal trans woman navigating in the heteronormative world. Even though attempts are commendable, mainstream movies continue to turn a blind eye toward this inclusivity. The participation of these groups in the process of filmmaking is also an important question to be raised.
Malayalam movies have been lauded for several of their contributions. The first 3D movie in the country was My Dear Kuttichathan released by the Malayalam movie industry. The role played by movies The Great Indian Kitchen and Jaya Jaya Hai for calling out the patriarchal constructs have also been recognized on the national level. However, how long will it take before the Malayalam film industry cracks the code of caste and gender-inclusive cinema disentangled from patriarchal tropes?
There are indeed miles to go!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A S, Hari, Cinema and its Fragments: A Social History of Malayalam cinema from its origins to 1990. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI) ISSN (Online): 2319 – 7722, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 7714 www.ijhssi.org ||Volume 10 Issue 6 Ser. II || June 2021 || PP 12-16
Pillai, Meena T. “Becoming Women: Unwrapping Femininity in Malayalam Cinema Meena T. Pillai.” Women in Malayalam Cinema: Naturalising Gender Hierarchies, Orient BlackSwan, New Delhi, 2010.
“Locating P K Rosy: Can a Dalit Woman Play a Nair Role in Malayalam Cinema Today?” Round Table India, Round Table India, 23 Feb. 2013, https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/locating-p-k-rosy-can-a-dalit-woman-play-a-nair-role-in-malayalam-cinema-today/.
“UDALAZHAM Movie Review {4.0/5}: Critic Review of Udalazham by Times of India.” Google, Google, https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/malayalam/movie-reviews/udalazham/amp_movie_review/67000299.cms.
Image credit
The Name of Rose. (n.d.). https://thebigindianpicture.com/2013/06/the-name-of-the-rose/.
