Malayalam cinema and the multiverse of misogyny

(Warning: This article comprises spoilers)

Before movies like Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, Ee.Ma.Yau and Moothon, which delved into the depths of interpersonal relationships and ensured a good portrayal of its complexities, Malayalam cinema was as soon as well-known for dispensing a few of the most celebrated household/home dramas.

Most millennials and members of Gen Z should have not less than heard this as soon as from the elders: “The movies of these days are really bad. The way they endorse bad habits such as drinking, smoking, use of drugs and premarital sex is disturbing. You have to watch the flicks of our time to understand what cinema should actually be like.”

Ee.Ma.Yau (2018)

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True to an extent… If we think about films like Irakal (1985), Elippathayam (1981) and Deshadanakkili Karayarilla (1986), they had been certainly game-changers and helped the Malayalam movie trade make a reputation for itself on the worldwide area.

Irakal (1985)

However, most of those films that had been a part of the New Wave motion (early Nineteen Seventies to mid Eighties) — a direct results of the rise of movie societies in Kerala — did not eke out a achieve because the members of the identical technology stayed away from watching these films in theatres again then. Needless to say, variety of them bombed on the field workplace.

Then which films are they boasting about now?

Enter the Malayalam household dramas… Just by checking the field workplace numbers and reruns of those flicks on TV channels, one can simply perceive that these are the ‘qualitative works’ our older technology is referring to. Though many have, in latest occasions, referred to as out filmmakers and flicks that bolstered the anti-Dalit narratives and likewise the best way ladies had been portrayed on display, we, nonetheless, typically overlook how some filmmakers fortified the ‘good women/bad women’ narrative via household dramas.

Even because the refrain urging all to “watch cinema as just cinema” is louder than ever, it’s needed to understand that the appreciation these films nonetheless obtain clearly denotes the deep-rooted patriarchy in our society and the way we proceed to stay mute spectators to the identical.

Sadly, most of those films are crammed with good songs.

(Note: Without any doubt, there are a whole bunch of different Malayalam films that are much more problematic, in a socio-political sense too. There are films akin to Chunkzz (2017) and Dhamaka (2020) that present ladies as simply eye candies or mere ‘props’ solely present to obtain sexist remarks from males. However, right here we’re going to stick with the movies of only some household drama-makers and see how their feminine characters, although they seem not associated to one another, lead comparable lives with comparable character arcs in numerous ‘cinematic universes’. So, is the multiverse idea truly true? Malayali male filmmakers experimented with the multiverse materials a long time earlier than Marvel did? Maybe, possibly not.)

Balachandra Menon Cinematic Universe

An all-rounder who garnered fame not simply by showcasing his expertise in numerous realms of movie manufacturing but additionally by introducing a number of recent abilities, together with Shobana, Parvathy, Maniyanpilla Raju and Karthika, within the 80s, Balachandra Menon was arguably probably the most profitable multi-talented filmmakers of his technology.

Balachandra Menon

However, throughout his two-decade lengthy filmmaking profession (since his directorial debut in 1978), Menon time and time once more banked on the patriarchal notions that create a ‘complete family’. As a outcome, most feminine characters within the Balachandra Menon Cinematic Universe (BMCU), although they hail from completely different socio-economic backgrounds, lead just about comparable/parallel lives and find yourself turning into the stereotypical ‘ideal Malayali wives.’ Late lyricist S Rameshan Nair, in certainly one of his songs, clearly describes the qualities of the archetype in his tune Poomukha vathilkkal sneham vidarthunna poothinkal aakunnu bharya from the 1986 film Raakkuyilin Raagasadassil.

Most feminine characters within the BMCU begin off as daring and unapologetically themselves, possibly with a contemporary (for that interval) trend sense, however quickly fall for the main males who bodily greatest them and ‘correct’ their behaviour by way of humiliation and bodily violence.

While it could appear that Karyam Nissaram (1983) and Chiriyo Chiri (1982) don’t have something in widespread, a easy evaluation of the character arcs of each feminine leads will show in any other case.

Karyam Nissaram (1983)

A glimpse on the manner the characters performed by Poornima Jayaram (Parvathi) and Swapna (Sethu) had been written underline how Menon movies celebrated the “women are/should remain inferior to men” college of thought by bringing within the age-old notion of “if women are not ‘well-behaved’, it would affect the harmony of the family”.

Through Sethu, Menon gave validation to the idiosyncrasy of Malayali males that even self-reliant and employed ladies dream of a companion who can ‘correct’ their behaviour via modes of bodily punishment (vis-à-vis the great ol’ slaps), in case they do something flawed.

Parvathi’s mom Amminikutty (performed by Lakshmi) had it worse. Despite the truth that her husband Unnithan (Prem Nazir) was unemployed, she too was schooled, tormented and emotionally manipulated into believing that it was flawed to be a matriarch whereas the hubby was nonetheless round; and irrespective of how the companion heckled and humiliated her, she needed to stay servile.

In Shekhar’s (Menon’s character in Karyam Nissaram) phrases, “Women should never control or command men. However, it is always advisable that every woman has a man in their life to control and command them.”

Achuvettante Veedu (1987), one other film from the BMCU, additionally seems to be down upon ladies who stand their floor. It is befuddling that the best way the writer-director provides a gray shade to Aswathy (performed by Rohini) is by making her unapologetic and outspoken, after the story empathised with the soft-spoken, dhavani-draped youthful model of the character for a very long time.

In quick, most Menon household dramas reinforce that no matter how boastful, abusive, guileful and self-centred the patriarchs are, the onus of saving the household will at all times be on the ladies, who’ve to understand that they don’t have any existence with out the lads of their lives. Sobhana (performed by Shobana) from April 18, Valsala (Shanthi Krishna) from Nayam Vyakthamakkunnu, Parvathi (Annie) from Ammayane Sathyam, and Vasantha (Geetha) and Beena (Parvathy) from Kuruppinte Kanakku Pustakom have all been ‘corrected’ this manner, serving to them turn out to be ‘better women.’

Thulasidas Cinematic Universe

Thulasidas, although he hasn’t made as many films because the others on the listing, is one other filmmaker who created a number of superhits by repurposing the identical method.

Most of his films present ladies as both an extension of the manic pixie dream lady (MPDG) trope or those prepared to undergo any form of struggling to dwell their lives with the protagonist males who’re fully unaware of their emotions (Nandini Raichand, performed by Jaya Bachchan, from the 2001 blockbuster Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham will be taken for instance to grasp this stereotype).

Thulasidas

For occasion, Ganga (performed by Meena) from Mr Brahmachari (2003) and Aswathy (Sangita) from Manthrikumaran (1998), all through the flicks, are desperately engaged in grabbing the person’s consideration. While one of many males doesn’t give two hoots in regards to the girl’s existence, the opposite marries the girl solely as a result of he thought she labored as an air-hostess.

In each the flicks, regardless of the male characters taking the ladies’s emotions with no consideration, the latter find yourself bearing all of the brunt of the lads’s actions only for the sake of conserving the bottom of their respective households intact.

At the identical time, Thulasidas’ Kouthuka Varthakal (1990) is a basic instance as to how the Casanova trope is usually romanticised and the insensitivity meted out to ladies by such males neglected.

In this flick, after exhibiting a number of situations that set up the truth that Mathew Ninan Koshy (Mukesh) is a ‘player’, we’re launched to a brand new ludicrous subplot that accentuates Mathew’s ‘talent’ additional.

In this a part of the film, Mathew’s roommate Ravi (Suresh Gopi) shamelessly locations a guess with the previous by asking him to attempt to make a lady named Ashwathy (Urvashi) fall for him, with out telling Mathew that she is his fiancée.

Regardless that we’re proven this behaviour by the lads, the complete blame falls on Ashwathy when she tries to assist Mathew win the guess with out realizing that she is getting used as a pawn of their masculine ego battle.

Here too, the truth that the lads behaved like full narcissists is neglected and on the finish, the duty of saving their relationship falls on Ashwathy.

Dhosth (2001) is one other Thulasidas flick that celebrates the ‘beauty’ of bromance (absurd) by making the ladies undergo. Though faculty mates Ajith (Dileep) and Vijay (Kunchako Boban) begin off on the flawed foot, they quickly turn out to be BFFs. Meanwhile, Vijay realises that the girl he’s been stalking is Ajith’s sister Geethu (Kavya Madhavan). However, since his love is trustworthy (the filmmaker has made this beautiful clear by making him stalk her always), Geethu too falls for him. In the meantime, Vijay learns about Ajith’s different sister who eloped with certainly one of his shut pals, resulting in Ajith’s father’s dying. As Ajith narrates this as a traitorous act, Vijay, in a bid to save lots of his friendship with the previous, decides to sacrifice his love for Geethu. Neither does he talk the identical with Geethu, nor give her any rationalization as to why he’s behaving in a negligent method. Now, it’s Geethu’s duty to save lots of their relationship.

Mr Brahmachari (2003)

The film additionally glorifies patronising ladies and justifies (male) sibling abuse on the pretext of exhibiting additional care.

Thulasidas’ Sooryaputhran (1998) too is a tough watch, whereby a girl is utilized by an ultra-rich man to get a child adopted and when she begins looking for materials favours in return, he instantly begins plotting methods to do away with her.

And identical to the 2008 Bollywood hit Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi which reintroduced the “making wives realise their love for husbands by manipulating them” tactic, Thulasidas used the identical motif and created Melevaryathe Malakhakkuttikal in 2000!

There shouldn’t be a lot to say about this film as the one factor it focuses on is that the spouse is extra subservient to her mom than in the direction of her husband which irks him. The couple’s 4 youngsters, all women, love their father a bit an excessive amount of and therefore, need their mom to cease being subservient to the grandmother and begin being submissive to their father. What makes the film much more grotesque is a plan that the male lead Sethumadhavan (performed by Balachandra Menon) hatches to make his spouse ‘realise’ that he’s significantly better than different males on the market.

Melevaryathe Malakhakkuttikal (2000)

As a part of this technique, Sethumadhavan arrives on the home the place his spouse and children dwell, by dressing up as his father, a sexual assaulter and Sethu’s archrival, to assist them combat towards the previous. Sethu, within the guise of the aged man, begins misbehaving with all ladies, together with his spouse, to show the aforementioned level.

In the top, regardless of realising that it was Sethumadhavan who was residing of their home, all the ladies cheer as they learnt a worthwhile lesson: irrespective of how males attempt to cheat or violate you, if they’re doing it for the sake of defending your loved ones, do flip a blind eye to them being absolutely the worst.

Anthikad Cinematic Universe

The most profitable filmmaker within the listing, Sathyan Anthikad, is the creator of a number of commercially profitable movies and is well-known for his collaborations with Mohanlal and actor/author Sreenivasan.

He too grew to become an expensive title to Malayalis by making a few of the most celebrated household dramas. However, it’s simple {that a} good variety of them are problematic, particularly by way of the portrayal of girls.

Sathyan Anthikad

Two films he made in the course of the late 80s – Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu (1988) and Thalayana Manthram (1990) – carried misogyny and brilliantly ‘proved’ that girls are the foundation reason for all issues that males face. Both films have since then stood as a testomony to Chandu Chekavar’s dialogue in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, penned by veteran author M T Vasudevan Nair: “Women will see things that others don’t; [they] will curse while pretending to be frolic; smile while crying; hate while desiring…”

Both Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu and Thalayana Manthram function the wonderful Urvashi, delivering incredible performances, like at all times, as the feminine lead. However, her characters in each films are crafty, devilishly devious and egoistic. While she performs Snehalatha, an individual who dumps her boyfriend for egocentric causes , in Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu, her character (Kanchana) in Thalayana Manthram is an avaricious girl who wrecks her husband’s household. While the feminine leads in each the flicks are proven in a gray shade, the writers conveniently whitewash the male protagonists who’re both incapable of beginning a household and fleece their companions, or are those who ignore the humiliation being confronted by the ladies from inside the household. In the top, the ladies are portrayed as those answerable for sabotaging the households.

Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu (1988)

In later years, Anthikad shifted to prime gear and began making flicks that spotlight the significance of sustaining familial relationships, it doesn’t matter what. Two films that depict this doctrine are Innathe Chinthavishayam (2008) and Bhagyadevatha (2009). Both the flicks handle to gaily empathise with the male protagonists although they’re clearly conniving and each works conclude that girls ought to at all times forgive their husbands, even though they’re at fault, and provides them (not one or two) however as many probabilities as doable in life, no matter how abusive they’re.

While Innathe Chinthavishayam offers with the lives of three ladies, who saved themselves from the clutches of their husbands – one a cheater, one other a person who is totally towards his spouse main an unbiased and self-sufficient life and the third an especially possessive, jealous and insecure man – Bhagyadevatha offers with, or extra precisely tunes out the abuse related to dowry harassment.

In each the flicks, despite exhibiting numerous circumstances from which viewers can conclude that the lads are at fault and may by no means be empathised with, the maker finds the silliest of how to reunite the survivors with their abusers, only for the sake of conserving the bases of the households intact.

Anthikkad’s Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal (2000) additionally had the same possessive, jealous and insecure man, ruining the lifetime of his artiste spouse. However, even then the maker commiserates with the protagonist exhibiting that he’s a ‘good father’.

Innathe Chinthavishayam (2008)

Another certainly one of Anthikkad’s most problematic movies is Yathrakarude Sradhakku (2002). Even after Ramanujan ( Jayaram) ruined Jyothi’s wedding ceremony (late Soundarya), he was portrayed because the one with a golden coronary heart — certain, possibly for his pals. But from Jyothi’s POV, he’s somebody who hid the truth that he had emotions for her, thwarted her marriage, didn’t right/cease his good friend when the latter lied to everybody that they had been in a live-in relationship although they had been simply flat mates, precipitated her father to undergo a coronary heart assault, married her with out looking for her opinion, sneaked into her bed room, and in any case this, gaslit her into believing she’s the petty one.

Despite all this, Anthikkad and author Sreenivasan reunites them, after Jyothi realises that her husband is an efficient particular person (how did she realise it you ask? Oh, his mom died and… that’s it).

Rajasenan Cinematic Universe

Most of actor Jayaram’s blockbusters had been born on this cinematic universe. And Rajasenan was, with no second thought, probably the most beloved comedy-drama makers of the 90s, along with his films having wonderful theatrical runs.

However, most films from RCU observe the identical sample – first, the ‘humorous’ incidents taking place within the household in focus, adopted by a misunderstanding between a number of members, which within the due course of time will blow up creating main tiffs amongst them, and eventually, a decision by the use of an emotional speech by one of many central male characters within the climax.

What connects most of those films additional is the best way ladies are portrayed in them.

Rajasenan

A take a look at films like Meleparambil Anveedu (1993), Aniyan Bava Chetan Bava (1995), Aadyathe Kanmani (1995), Swapna Lokathe Balabhaskaran (1996), Sreekrishnapurathe Nakshathrathilakkam (1998), Kottaram Veettile Apputtan (1998) and Darling Darling (2000) will show as to how misogynistic most Rajasenan works are and the way the maker, by plugging within the notion that fallouts between members of the family ought to be resolved irrespective of, normalised home abuse confronted by ladies.

While Meleparambil Anveedu revolves round a gullible Tamil girl (Shobhana) who’s compelled by her husband to work as a servant (actually) at his home since he’s scared to introduce her as his partner in entrance of others, Aniyan Bava Chetan Bava tells the story of a person who woos two sisters on the similar time and make one of the best use of their emotions in the direction of him simply to make sure the protection of his job on the ladies’s home.

Meleparambil Anveedu goes on to turn out to be extra problematic with all male members of the husband’s household, regardless of their age, attempting to court docket the girl, whereas the husband brushes all of it underneath the rug as ‘funny incidents’. In truth, these scenes from the film nonetheless evoke giggle in most Malayali households, ‘thanks’ to the wonderful performances by late Narendra Prasad, late Meena Joseph, Jagathy Sreekumar, Vijayaraghavan, Janardanan and late Paravoor Bharathan.

On the opposite hand, Aadyathe Kanmani has a ruthless girl (performed by late KPAC Lalitha) who torments all her daughters-in-law for not having the ability to give start to a child boy. The story is not only misogynistic but additionally crosses all types of traces by joking about feminine feticide fairly a number of occasions.

While Swapna Lokathe Balabhaskaran has one other casanova who tasks his spouse as an evil particular person for throwing tantrums at him after coming to find out about his premarital affairs which he didn’t open up to her even as soon as, Sreekrishnapurathe Nakshathrathilakkam banks on the age-old patriarchal narrative of “women are naïve, senseless and greedy”. Again, these are two different films that also evoke a whole lot of laughter amongst Malayalis.

But, not one of the films talked about until now can match the extent of misogyny contained within the subsequent one: Rajasenan’s Njangal Santhushtaranu (1998).

It seems the film was made simply to announce the makers’ hatred for daring ladies. The flick reeks of misogyny and sexism from tip to toe. Furthermore, the film refuses to empathise with the feminine character till it’s revealed that she is adopted. It additional reasserts all of the male chauvinistic notions akin to “a woman’s life can be considered complete if and only if she knows her mother tongue and how to cook, takes care of her in-laws, wears sanskaari dresses, obeys her husband, and so on”.

Interestingly, this film too has a tune (Aanalla pennalla adipoli vesham) that describes how a perfect girl ought to behave, written by the identical S Rameshan Nair.

The Multiverse and the affect it nonetheless has over Malayalam cinema

Though it might sound unfair to contemplate all these works as a homogenous complete, it could certainly be scrutinised in that manner as all of them, in just about the identical method, have capitalised on sexism. The makers additionally extenuated the identical by slipping the flicks in as those that discuss in regards to the significance of “Parampara, Pratishtha and Anushasan.”

What makes it even worse is the truth that a few of the most gifted ladies actors within the Malayalam trade made a reputation for themselves by enjoying such characters written irresponsibly by the lads of that interval. Since these had been the one form of characters out there for actors akin to Urvashi, Shobhana and Parvathy, all of them put their coronary heart and soul into it, making these roles timeless and ideal. In a manner, they too had been residing parallel (skilled) lives whereas being caught within the Multiverse.

Though most of those films got here out earlier than 2008-09, the interval throughout which Malayalam cinema began witnessing a paradigm shift following the discharge of Anjali Menon’s Manjadikuru (2008; although the movie obtained its theatre launch solely in 2012) and Shyamaprasad’s Ritu (2009), these films are nonetheless extensively thought of healthful and should not typically referred to as out for propagating the problematic ‘ideal woman’ archetype.

Mr. Marumakan (2012)

A take a look at the household dramas that got here out after 2008 will present us that even newbies are nonetheless counting on comparable themes. In truth, although the younger audiences should not very eager on such age-old problematic narratives, the household drama viewers (on whom a whole lot of filmmakers pin their hopes even now) nonetheless make a beeline for these films.

The acceptance that the flicks of actor Dileep (an accused in a sexual assault case) like Mayamohini (2012) and Mr. Marumakan (2012), Saji Surendran’s Happy Husbands (2010), Akku Akbar’s Veruthe Oru Bharya (2008), Jibu Jacob’s Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol (2017), and Nissam Basheer’s Kettyolaanu Ente Malakha (2019) obtained certainly factors out that the affect the Multiverse exerted may be very a lot alive.

The Great Indian Kitchen (2021)

However, it must be underlined that films like The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) and Kumbalangi Nights (2019), which discover the intricacies of interpersonal relationships (amongst members of the family too), are like a breath of recent air for Malayalam cinema.

It is hoped that not less than the brand new period filmmakers break themselves free from the multiverse of misogyny’s affect and create inclusive flicks that reject benevolent sexism.

(Images, courtesy of m3db.com)