Malayalam cinema is a vibrant creative space that post 1990s, underwent a transformation, leading... more Malayalam cinema is a vibrant creative space that post 1990s, underwent a transformation, leading to a proliferation of films, uniquely experimental in nature. An interesting perspective explored in detail was that of mortality, analysis of death from a microcosmic perspective. Evaluating death as an event in Deleuzian framework enables us to gain interesting insights and the film used for study here is Ee. Ma. Yau. (2018) which has a funeral foregrounded in the narrative. The paper traces the encounter with death in popular films, over time, to comprehend social discourses built around mortality in India, specifically in the southern state of Kerala in India. Death and the social interventions in this context emerge as aspects significant for this study.
COVID-19 demands a paradigm shift in modes of human interaction and challenges hegemonic social s... more COVID-19 demands a paradigm shift in modes of human interaction and challenges hegemonic social structures to adapt and evolve themselves to the altered reality of human existence. Across the world, these shifts have been triggered by the new social order threatening to erase existing social systems. My paper attempts to look at the lives of the precariats, caught up within neoliberal structures, assuming these structures to be hegemonic normative systems, and the manner in which they refuse to change, thereby putting the precariats into a more exploitative crisis situation, dehumanizing them, demonizing them, thereby risking their erasure from the socio-political and legal systems that rule the world. I have used the context of India to substantiate my argument. My paper is divided into the following sections: a reading into the concept of precarity and contextualizing it in the neoliberal framework, analysing the pandemic against precarity using examples from Indian society.
Abstract: The overwhelming acceptance of neoliberal capitalist perspectives by the new Indian soc... more Abstract: The overwhelming acceptance of neoliberal capitalist perspectives by the new Indian society, post globalization, has transformed itself and shifted away from the socialist vision of Nehru and other leaders of the earlier decades. Indian identity has been evolving, accommodating the altered social realities and in the new age of nationalistic fervour of a militant nature, the body of the citizen has emerged as the site where conflicting ideologies battle it out. Several forces are at play – economic, political, religious, cultural and of course the powers that define caste and class hierarchies as well. The shifting power centers in the new India demand from the bodies of its citizens a nationalistic fervour that often finds resistance and interestingly, voices of dissent find expression through bodily acts as well. This paper aims to trace this reshaping of national identity and the increasing methods of appropriations with regard to the corporeal selves of its citizens. C...
The Panchatantra has been enchanting children all over the world for many decades. They aid men i... more The Panchatantra has been enchanting children all over the world for many decades. They aid men in knowing men, in becoming worldly-wise and in comprehending the ways of survival. These stories have been popular for more than at least 5000 years in India and they still continue to enthrall everyone. Various interpretations and adaptations of these stories can be found in various parts of the world. The original collection of The Panchatantra tales were in Sanskrit and numbered about 84. But over a period of time, the stories increased in number. It is difficult to accurately place its date of composition, yet it is assumed that it was composed in Kashmir, by about 200BC. The translated version by Arthur W. Ryder, which I have used for this presentation, is based on a Sanskrit edition of 1199 AD. The word 'Panchatantra' means the 'Five books'. Each of the five books is independent consisting of a framing story with numerous inserted stories narrated by characters in t...
When the world is a global market, advertisements rule the psyche of modern man. The immense powe... more When the world is a global market, advertisements rule the psyche of modern man. The immense power of advertisements over the masses has made them important tools of persuasion and manipulation by the hegemonic class. Advertisements appear everywhere and the images creep into the lives of men, often unknowingly. These images exist in our consciousness, appealing to man at a deeper level. Reading these texts help us understand the manipulative power of these messages and its impact in reinforcing the power structure in society.
Indian theatre has a long and rich tradition of adapting theory and practice from a variety of re... more Indian theatre has a long and rich tradition of adapting theory and practice from a variety of representational modes from western theatre that subsequently played key roles in major political and cultural upheavals and provided fodder for social changes and progress in Indian social and cultural life. Feminist theatre practice in India clearly demonstrates this cross-cultural interaction, and Nireeksha from the southern state of Kerala is one among them. As a women’s theatre, Nireeksha has a unique history of survival not only through its theatre productions but also through its committed social work in bringing women and children together as part of its community projects. This article focuses on Nireeksha’s incessant struggle to build resistance and find a creative space within the main stream theatre and patriarchal society of Kerala. I do a close analysis of Nireeksha’s performances and its methodology of practice to understand and explain how aesthetics and ideology inform the...
Indian urban public spaces have witnessed massive transformation post liberalization and globaliz... more Indian urban public spaces have witnessed massive transformation post liberalization and globalization. In 2017, city spaces offer novel experiences and unravel new political dynamics in tune with the paradigm shifts in socio-political, economic and cultural domains. The city was shaped by the colonial and later modernizing forces, is being foregrounded in the postmodern, postcolonial discourses, and its public spaces therefore emerge as significant components in the social developments as witnessed in the new millennium. Ganesh Utsav in Mumbai is closely linked to India’s history of political struggle against British colonialism. There has been a phenomenal growth in its popularity and visibility, as a festival for ten days, encapsulating the whole city, transforming its identity as a financial capital of the country to a multiple layered carnival ground, with processions and festivities involving the majority of its population. Post globalization and neoliberalisation, the festiva...
The theme of subalternity with its inherent ramifications is yet to find favour among film makers... more The theme of subalternity with its inherent ramifications is yet to find favour among film makers in India. Progressive film makers of the 1960s attempted to address the theme of subaltern and dared to give the subaltern a voice, but they remained singular attempts. Through a case study on a Malayalam film (a regional film industry from the state of Kerala in India) Papilio Buddha this article tries to analyze the representation of Dalit community in Indian cinema. Though Malayalam film industry has tried to address the concern of Dalits, they have been stereotyped in many ways and reduced to being sidekicks to villains or unskilled labourers having no identity. They remained as instruments to idolize the hero, to act as a contrast to the elite protagonist or as the poor helpless victims who offer the protagonist an opportunity to display his heroism. Papilio Buddha grabbed media attention when it was denied clearance by the censor board as it explores the territory of Dalit conscio...
Contemporary India is witnessing interesting shifts in its socio-political, economic and cultural... more Contemporary India is witnessing interesting shifts in its socio-political, economic and cultural structures. India’s demographic patterns are changing, so are its social identities and political affiliations. A site that has been witnessing these changes in a radical manner is the body of the citizen. In a post-colonial environment, nation and national identity emerge as strong identity markers and India has been transforming itself through its discourses on national identity. Tropes of national identity have gained in prominence and public debates on the same crowd media spaces, both in India and abroad. In a neoliberal capitalistic world, discourses around identity have a significant role to play and the Indian context emerges as a complex one with its debates on national identity and the citizen’s body as a site for nationalist discourses. Deleuze and Guattari (A Thousand Plateaus. Bloomsbury, London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney, 1988) envisioned the capitalist societ...
Malayalam cinema is a vibrant creative space that post 1990s, underwent a transformation, leading... more Malayalam cinema is a vibrant creative space that post 1990s, underwent a transformation, leading to a proliferation of films, uniquely experimental in nature. An interesting perspective explored in detail was that of mortality, analysis of death from a microcosmic perspective. Evaluating death as an event in Deleuzian framework enables us to gain interesting insights and the film used for study here is Ee. Ma. Yau. (2018) which has a funeral foregrounded in the narrative. The paper traces the encounter with death in popular films, over time, to comprehend social discourses built around mortality in India, specifically in the southern state of Kerala in India. Death and the social interventions in this context emerge as aspects significant for this study.
COVID-19 demands a paradigm shift in modes of human interaction and challenges hegemonic social s... more COVID-19 demands a paradigm shift in modes of human interaction and challenges hegemonic social structures to adapt and evolve themselves to the altered reality of human existence. Across the world, these shifts have been triggered by the new social order threatening to erase existing social systems. My paper attempts to look at the lives of the precariats, caught up within neoliberal structures, assuming these structures to be hegemonic normative systems, and the manner in which they refuse to change, thereby putting the precariats into a more exploitative crisis situation, dehumanizing them, demonizing them, thereby risking their erasure from the socio-political and legal systems that rule the world. I have used the context of India to substantiate my argument. My paper is divided into the following sections: a reading into the concept of precarity and contextualizing it in the neoliberal framework, analysing the pandemic against precarity using examples from Indian society.
Abstract: The overwhelming acceptance of neoliberal capitalist perspectives by the new Indian soc... more Abstract: The overwhelming acceptance of neoliberal capitalist perspectives by the new Indian society, post globalization, has transformed itself and shifted away from the socialist vision of Nehru and other leaders of the earlier decades. Indian identity has been evolving, accommodating the altered social realities and in the new age of nationalistic fervour of a militant nature, the body of the citizen has emerged as the site where conflicting ideologies battle it out. Several forces are at play – economic, political, religious, cultural and of course the powers that define caste and class hierarchies as well. The shifting power centers in the new India demand from the bodies of its citizens a nationalistic fervour that often finds resistance and interestingly, voices of dissent find expression through bodily acts as well. This paper aims to trace this reshaping of national identity and the increasing methods of appropriations with regard to the corporeal selves of its citizens. C...
The Panchatantra has been enchanting children all over the world for many decades. They aid men i... more The Panchatantra has been enchanting children all over the world for many decades. They aid men in knowing men, in becoming worldly-wise and in comprehending the ways of survival. These stories have been popular for more than at least 5000 years in India and they still continue to enthrall everyone. Various interpretations and adaptations of these stories can be found in various parts of the world. The original collection of The Panchatantra tales were in Sanskrit and numbered about 84. But over a period of time, the stories increased in number. It is difficult to accurately place its date of composition, yet it is assumed that it was composed in Kashmir, by about 200BC. The translated version by Arthur W. Ryder, which I have used for this presentation, is based on a Sanskrit edition of 1199 AD. The word 'Panchatantra' means the 'Five books'. Each of the five books is independent consisting of a framing story with numerous inserted stories narrated by characters in t...
When the world is a global market, advertisements rule the psyche of modern man. The immense powe... more When the world is a global market, advertisements rule the psyche of modern man. The immense power of advertisements over the masses has made them important tools of persuasion and manipulation by the hegemonic class. Advertisements appear everywhere and the images creep into the lives of men, often unknowingly. These images exist in our consciousness, appealing to man at a deeper level. Reading these texts help us understand the manipulative power of these messages and its impact in reinforcing the power structure in society.
Indian theatre has a long and rich tradition of adapting theory and practice from a variety of re... more Indian theatre has a long and rich tradition of adapting theory and practice from a variety of representational modes from western theatre that subsequently played key roles in major political and cultural upheavals and provided fodder for social changes and progress in Indian social and cultural life. Feminist theatre practice in India clearly demonstrates this cross-cultural interaction, and Nireeksha from the southern state of Kerala is one among them. As a women’s theatre, Nireeksha has a unique history of survival not only through its theatre productions but also through its committed social work in bringing women and children together as part of its community projects. This article focuses on Nireeksha’s incessant struggle to build resistance and find a creative space within the main stream theatre and patriarchal society of Kerala. I do a close analysis of Nireeksha’s performances and its methodology of practice to understand and explain how aesthetics and ideology inform the...
Indian urban public spaces have witnessed massive transformation post liberalization and globaliz... more Indian urban public spaces have witnessed massive transformation post liberalization and globalization. In 2017, city spaces offer novel experiences and unravel new political dynamics in tune with the paradigm shifts in socio-political, economic and cultural domains. The city was shaped by the colonial and later modernizing forces, is being foregrounded in the postmodern, postcolonial discourses, and its public spaces therefore emerge as significant components in the social developments as witnessed in the new millennium. Ganesh Utsav in Mumbai is closely linked to India’s history of political struggle against British colonialism. There has been a phenomenal growth in its popularity and visibility, as a festival for ten days, encapsulating the whole city, transforming its identity as a financial capital of the country to a multiple layered carnival ground, with processions and festivities involving the majority of its population. Post globalization and neoliberalisation, the festiva...
The theme of subalternity with its inherent ramifications is yet to find favour among film makers... more The theme of subalternity with its inherent ramifications is yet to find favour among film makers in India. Progressive film makers of the 1960s attempted to address the theme of subaltern and dared to give the subaltern a voice, but they remained singular attempts. Through a case study on a Malayalam film (a regional film industry from the state of Kerala in India) Papilio Buddha this article tries to analyze the representation of Dalit community in Indian cinema. Though Malayalam film industry has tried to address the concern of Dalits, they have been stereotyped in many ways and reduced to being sidekicks to villains or unskilled labourers having no identity. They remained as instruments to idolize the hero, to act as a contrast to the elite protagonist or as the poor helpless victims who offer the protagonist an opportunity to display his heroism. Papilio Buddha grabbed media attention when it was denied clearance by the censor board as it explores the territory of Dalit conscio...
Contemporary India is witnessing interesting shifts in its socio-political, economic and cultural... more Contemporary India is witnessing interesting shifts in its socio-political, economic and cultural structures. India’s demographic patterns are changing, so are its social identities and political affiliations. A site that has been witnessing these changes in a radical manner is the body of the citizen. In a post-colonial environment, nation and national identity emerge as strong identity markers and India has been transforming itself through its discourses on national identity. Tropes of national identity have gained in prominence and public debates on the same crowd media spaces, both in India and abroad. In a neoliberal capitalistic world, discourses around identity have a significant role to play and the Indian context emerges as a complex one with its debates on national identity and the citizen’s body as a site for nationalist discourses. Deleuze and Guattari (A Thousand Plateaus. Bloomsbury, London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney, 1988) envisioned the capitalist societ...
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