This document summarizes the evolution of female representations in Malayalam films from the early 1900s to present day. It discusses how early films portrayed women based on patriarchal norms, showing them as subordinate to men. In the 1950s, films like Neelakkuyil began addressing social issues faced by Dalit women. The 1960s film Chemmeen portrayed women's roles as defined by marriage, motherhood and being objects of male pleasure/gaze. The 1970s saw films from a female perspective like Aravindan's Kanchana Seetha. The 1980s featured strong female lead characters and commentary on women's struggles. More recent films continue addressing women's issues while also having female participation in all

1. WELCOME

2. Presented By
Jithesh J Nair
Asst. Professor
Dept. of English
N.S.S College
Pandalam
Rereading
Gender
Sensibilities:
Evolution of
Female
Representations
in Select
Malayalam Films

3.  The representatives of gender and oppressions
upon the female artists inside and outside the
silver screen has been started from the first
Malayalam film Vigathakumaran itself.
 Rosi is the first female artist suffered a lot from
feudalistic patriarchal society
 Representatives of strong female sensibilities
and power of both motherhood and womanhood
are very evident when we analyze the character
Lekshmi in the first box office hit Jeevitha
Nouka.

4.  The turning point in Malayalam film
industry, Neelakkuyil, joint venture of P
Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat released in
1954. It won great reputation and national
recognition.
 It tells the story of a love affair of a Dalit girl
(Neeli) and an educated, high caste school
teacher (Sankaran Nair). Neeli becomes
pregnant and Sankaran Nair refuses her and
she dies in child birth.

5.  Though strong representation of gender was
absent in Neelakkuyil, it succeeded to narrate
the social and cultural conditions of Dalit
women and evils of untouchability during
those days.

6.  In 1965, The world famous film Chemmeen
released. In it one can trace the representation of
woman as subordinate to male majority in the
domestic sphere through the institutions of
marriage love and motherhood.
 Karuthamma’s chastity never spoiled but even
her small step towards her lover, resulted in the
accidental death of her husband,
 Message is very clear, woman were never
allowed freedom. If she enjoyed freedom it
would be resulted in death.

7.  Represent the heroine as a sexual object for
the pleasure of male viewer.
 In feminist theory it is known as male gaze.
The term coined by Laura Mulvey. In simple
term we can call it as pleasure of looking.
 In visual representation the male gaze has 3
perspectives
1. That of the man behind the camera
2. The male characters within the
cinematic representations
3. That of the spectator gazing at the image

8. • Thus in Chemmeen we have different
dimentions of the same character
Karuthamma
• Stands for her legal love
• An object of sexual pleasure
• The cause of destruction of innocent
males(Pareekutty and Palani)

9.  In 1970’s Aravindan’s arrival with his famous
adaptation of Ramayana Kanchana Seetha
reconfigured Ramayana as Seethayana or
Urmilayana. Deconstructed Ramayana with
women perspective
o She questions patriarchy
o She expresses her will
o She explains her negations
o She occupies more space
o She interferes in main contexts
o She takes decisions
o She achieves self respect
o She is never sidelined

10.  The last years of 70’s , Malayalam Cinema
witnessed the representations of
revolutionary women.
 She broke the barriers and challenged the
conventional male centered frames.
 K.G George’s Adaminte Variyellu (1983)
is considered to be one of the best social
commentaries. It recounts the story of three
women belonging to different strate of the
society

11. 1. Fail in Life - Alice
2. Struggle in life - Vasanthi
3. Hardships but change in life - Ammini

12.  Mohan’s Randu Penkuttikal and Balachandran
Menon’s Radha enna Penkutti depicted the
female life by female perspective.
 During that time we had several item no: dance
scenes in commercial cinema.
 Celebration of the flesh.
 That dances were not important to the plot and the
dancers are only guest actresses.
 Thus the time of 80’s both in high magnitude and
in low magnitude represent gender in Mollywood
 Avalude Ravukal

13.  Female as demonic other in almost all the
ghost films
 They were sex maniac and most often
they become a ghost after their murder
during the time of their pregnancy.
 Lisa, Veendum Lisa

14.  The representation of women in Vadakkan pattu
legend adaptation was quite different, Strong
women characters expert in material arts were
narrated.
 We have a series of Unniyarchas Begins from
Ragini and ends in Vani Viswanath
 Nayamadathu Thampuratti, Kadathanattu
Makkom, Thumbolarcha,
Unniyarcha…Puthooram Puthri Unniyarcha.

15.  In these types woman is physically and
mentally inexorable
 They can fight against males and defeat
them and make decisions in their family.
In short they are the centre figures.

16.  Elippathayam by M.T
 Ennale by Padmarajan
 Aravam by Bharathan
 Panchagni by Haricharan

17.  Superstardom vehemently attack the female
spaces in Malayalam Cinema
 But
 How old are you
 Rani Padmini
 Saira Banu
 Udaharanam Sujatha
 22 Female Kottayam
 Escape from Uganda
 Om Shanthi Oshana

18. CONCLUSION
 In short the evolution of female
representation in Malayalam silver screen
is quite evidently the exact narration of
how we identify and understand female
sensibilities in the cultural and societal
space of kerala.
 Not in acting only,but in all sections of
movie making now we have female
figures.

19. THANK YOU