Recent filmic portrayals of alcoholism in Kerala are a mixed bag–they do much to shed light on the condition and address the stigma around it, but also fall into tired and problematic stereotypes. Sreejith Varma writes.
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Tag: cinema
Unsettling the Camera’s Gaze: Who is Following Whom?
How and why do certain films make the viewer feel that they are being followed? Shonima N. analyses two recent Malayalam films to examine how they play with the male gaze to unsettle the spectator.
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A Smartphone of One’s Own
Renu Susan explores how smartphones have transformed women’s TV-viewing practices in contemporary times, and carry implications for identity formation, independence, and a sense of oneself.
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(Mis)Representations of the NRI Gulf Kid in Malayalam Cinema
Aathma Dious argues that Malayali filmmakers have failed to move past popular—often stereotypical—tropes when it comes to representing second and[…]
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Changing before their very eyes: Urban Expansion and Dispossession in Kammattipadam
Yadu and Sujeesh analyse how the visual world crafted by the 2016 movie Kammattipadam provides minute insight into the class[…]
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Between Fact and Fiction: Couple-photographs in Malayalam Cinema
S. Harikrishnan writes about how Malayalam cinema uses couple-and-wedding photographs as a useful plot device—to guide narrative, enhance contrast and add depth to characters.
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Ala Podcast: മൃദുലാദേവി: ജാതീയത, സിനിമ, രാഷ്ട്രീയം
ഈ വർഷത്തെ ‘ദി ഗ്രേറ്റ് ഇന്ത്യൻ കിച്ചണി’നായി പാളുവാ ഭാഷയിൽ മനോഹരമായ ഗാനങ്ങൾ രചിക്കുകയും, കഴിഞ്ഞ ആറ് വർഷമായി ദലിത്-അംബേദ്കറൈറ്റ് ഫെമിനിസ്റ്റ്, എഴുത്തുകാരി, ആക്ടിവിസ്റ്റ്, ചിന്തക എന്നീ[…]
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The Great Indian Kitchen: A Narrative of Upper-Caste Women’s Victimhood and Effortless Solidarities
In her critique of ‘The Great Indian Kitchen,’ Shruti Herbert questions the film’s attempt to frame upper caste women’s interests as all women’s interests.
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Miasmic Screens: Contagion and Control in Early 20th Century Cinema Halls
As cinema halls in Kerala emerge as sites of pandemic control, Bindu Menon explores a longer history of how moralized notions of public health and contagion played out in Kerala’s cinema halls, and through film as medium.
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‘Let us tie a “legal” knot’: Marriage, Family, and Transgender Identity in Malayalam Films
Anu Kuriakose critically looks at the traditional concepts of ‘marriage’ and ‘family,’ the recent marriages of transgender people in the[…]
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