Time as Experienced by Women: A Critical Analysis of Selected Contemporary Malayalam Movies

Name of Author : Lal Surya S

Abstract: Popular media play a very significant role in shaping the public psyche and devising the popular discourse. Movie remains to be the most influential popular art and widely accepted cultural product. A product of art is a reflection of the socio-economic-political condition of its age, and hence Malayalam movies are no exception to this assumption. Malayalam cinema have taken a huge leap both in the technical and content wise over the period of last 90 years. With the implementation of revolutionary thoughts and realistic portrayal of events, Malayalam cinema retained its firm position, not only in the Indian cinema but also among the World cinemas. When it come to the case of portrayal of women in Malayalam cinema, it can be understood that several attempts have been made to emancipate women from the claws of patriarchal ideology, and the process is still on going. But still I presume that there are things which are hidden beneath the covering of ‘taboo’ and which need to be discussed. The movies that I have selected for my study are How Old Are You, The Great Indian Kitchen and Sara’s. In each of these movies a different dimension of gender issue is being discussed, that is, time as a cultural construct. So, this adds to the relevance of my study and I wish to look into the cultural dimension of time through this study.

Keywords : Time, Culture, Gender, Patriarchy, Cinema

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