Vol II Issue 1.Pmd

A Quarterly Journal for TAPTAPASAMASAM Kerala Studies Adn-bm\pw Xm]kw in Malayalam - English Adn-bn-°m\pw c≠mw h¿j-Øn-te°p {]th-in°p∂p Vol: II / Issue 1 / July 2006/ Reg. No: M2 11257/ 05 Xm]kw c≠mw hmeyw H∂mw -e-°-Øns‚ tI{µ-hn-jbw P\-{]n-b-kw-kvImcw (popular culture). P\Iob-kw-kvImcw (folk culture), P\-{]n-b- Jenny Rowena “The Age of Tears is Over!” - A Brief Account of kw-kvImcw F∂ hn`-P-\-Øns‚ HuNnXyw tNmZyw sNø-s∏- the Evolution of the Laughter-films in Kerala............... 2 Sp∂ L´-am-Wn-Xv. am[y-ao-I-c-W-Øns‚ `mK-ambn Bƒ°q´ kwkvIm-chpw A\p-Zn-\-Po-hn-X-Øn-eqsS P\Iob/P\-{]n-b Sunil P. Elayidom Melodies of Modernity: Emergence of Popular Music and/as Public Sphere in Kerala ................................. 27 kwkvIm-c-hp-ambn IÆn tN¿°-s∏-Sp-∂p. ka-Im-enI Pohn-X- ssien apgp-h-\mbn Ah-tem-I\w sNøm≥ {ian-°p∂h¿°v — N. P. Ashley The “Kerala” of the Space : Ah-cn¬ A°m-Z-anIv Xev]-c¿ am{X-a√ I®-h-S-°mcpw Love Songs of P. Bhaskaran..................................... 45 aX{]h¿Ø-Icpw am[y-a-{]h¿Ø-Icpw cmjv{So-b{]-h¿Ø-Icpw C. Rajendran Kathakali in the Globalised World................................ 53 Dƒs∏-Spw — Pohn-X-ssi-ensb kwkvIm-c-ambn ]cn-K-Wn-®p-sIm- ≠p≈ ImgvN-∏m-SmWv D]-I-cn-°p-I. F¥n\pw GXn\pw s]mcp- PbmkpIp-am-c≥ A©v B\-µ-a-T-ßƒ ˛ Xmc-X-ay-]-T\w....................... 62 fp-≠m°n hymJym--\n-°m≥ Ign-bp∂ a\p-jys‚ _u≤n-IX hni- {]nb-Z¿in\n Fw. Fkv. samss_¬ kwkvImcw tIc-f-Øn¬................................ 111 Zo-I-cn-°m≥ kwkvIm-c-sØ-°p-dn®p IqSp-X¬ kwth-Z-\-tI-{µo- Ir-X-amb ]T-\-ßƒ D≠m-h-Ww. Nncn-∏-Sw, t{]a-Km-\-ßƒ, P\- F≥. sI. tacn ae-bm-f-hym-I-cWw {]n-b-kw-Ko-Xw, samss_¬ t^m¨, ]pXp-c-N-\-I-fnse lmkyw hymI-c-W-an-{X-Øn-se-Øp-tºmƒ............................................ 150 XpS-ßn-bh ChnsS N¿®m-hn-j-b-am-Ip-∂-Xns‚ ]›m-Øew CXm- From the Archives A List of L. V. Ramaswami Aiyer’s Articles Wv. Saumya Baby............................................................. 165 B\-µ-a-T-Øns‚ A©p ae-bm-f-hn-h¿Ø-\-ßƒ Xmc-Xayw sNbvXp Kth-j-W-cwKw Fw. B¿. hnt\mZv/Im´q¿ \m-cm-b-W-]n≈ Pbm-kp-Ip-am-c≥ Fgp-Xn-bn-cn-°p∂ teJ\w X¿P-a-bpsS cmjv{So- kn. sP. tPm¿÷v/ A\n¬ h≈-tØmƒ........................ 181 bhpw kuµ-cy-im-kv{Xhpw shfn-hm-°p∂ anI-hp‰ ]T-\-am-Wv. ae-bm-f-hym-I-c-W-]-T-\-Øns‚ ]ptcm-KXn ASm-f-s∏-Sp-Øp-∂-h-bmWv Complementing the Books tUm. F≥. sI tacn-bpsS teJ-\hpw kn. hn. kp[o-dns‚ ]pkvX- APp \mcm-b-W≥ kz¿Æ-tI-c-fw................................................................................ 188 I-\n-cq-]-Whpw. kuay t__n Xøm-dm-°nb F¬.-hn.-B¿ teJ- \-kqNn ae-bmf hymI-c-W-]-T-\-Øns‚ kp{]-[m\ Kth-j-W-tc- Fw. B¿. atljv kmlnXyw Ncn{Xw kwkvImcw ˛ amdp∂ ka-hm-Iy-ßƒ........................................................... 193 J-bm-Wv. IqSp-X¬ ]pkvX-I-ßƒ ]pkv-X-I-]q-c-W-Øn¬ Dƒs∏-Sp-Øm≥ {ian- lcn-Zmkv sI. 196 Ncn{Xw A‘-Xsb ImWp-tºmƒ......................................... ®n-´p-≠v. hmb-\-°m-cpsS A`n-{]m-b-ßfpw cN-\-Ifpw £Wn-°p- cmtPjv Fw. B¿. kn\n-a-bnse ico-c-`m-j............................................................ 201 ∂p. kn. hn. kp[o¿ `mjm-]-T-\-Øns‚ Ncn-{X-h-gn-Iƒ......................................... 204 kvIdnbm k°-dnb FUn-‰¿ THE ASSOCIATION FORXm]kw COMPARATIVE STUDIES TAPASAM, KARIKKAMPALLY, PERUNNA - 686 102, CHANGANASSERY, KERALA, TAPASAM TAPASAM INDIA ¾July 2006 BK-Ãv, 2006 August,2006 Pqsse 2006 ¾Xm]kw Jenny Rowena Manjil Virinja Pookal (‘The flowers of the snow’) directed by Fazil. The comic story that Olasa narrates in the name of Manjil Virinja Pookal Vaadiyapool reveals the ideological purport of the laughter-film. He narrates this story dramatically to the chief editor: A father! A mother! Two small children! A small family! (soft, sentimental music) A contended family! (Slightly up beat background music) Night! 12 o’clock! Still night! Everywhere a “The age of tears is over!” thick silence! LOOK!! From the darkness a man appears! And!!!!! (Music moves on to a crescendo) BOMB!! Two bombs! Three 1 The difference that laughter made A brief account of bombs! Four! Five! Six! Seven! the evolution of the laughter-films in Kerala The next shot shows the room filled with the smoke, apparently from the bombs in Olasa’s story. The chief editor begins to scold Jenny Rowena Olasa, but he pays no heed and rambles on: The children run! The parents die! In between, they are Today laughter-films (or chirippadangal or thama- separated! Sentiments! (The moan of a violin) Then years ashappadangal, as they are called), need no introduction later they meet! Take revenge! Sir, we can say that one of the to the Malayalee film viewers. However, these films were boy’s girlfriend has cancer or kidney trouble, if we want. I hardly present until a few decades earlier. They came already have a side plot ready for that too. forward as a noticeable phenomenon in the 80s and fully The target of this gag is the women-oriented films of that period, established themselves as a specific genre only by the like for instance, Manjil Virinja Pookal. It is these films with their early 90s. emphasis on emotions and relationships and lives getting disrupted The laughter-films changed everything about Malayalam by dramatic events – such as diseases (cancer) and unknown enemies cinema with their distinct features that challenged all the (bombs) that is being satirized here. It was exactly this genre that had available methods of narrative, plot structure, assimilated/facilitated the project of consumerism in the 70s and it is characterization and moral scheme. This paper, without this that comedy worked to eradicate. Olasa’s narrative, then, is not going into the cultural implications of these films, tries to just a “simple, lighthearted comic exposition.”4 His gag and the laughter examine their evolution, paying close attention to the that it induces are aggressive postures against the centrality of the difference that they made in the Malayalam cinematic space of the women’s films. It is this space that he bombs to death scene.2 and separation through humor. A comic scene from Boeing Boeing (Priyadarshan 1985) provides Once he does that, the chief editor of the newspaper immediately an excellent illustration of the ideological shift that occurred with the advises Olasa to start writing comedies. Following this advice Olasa laughter-films. In Boeing Boeing, Jagathy Sreekumar, one of the most transforms into the soothradhar/ interpreter of Boeing Boeing, one of popular comedians of Malayalam, plays the role of O.P. Olasa, an the most important of the laughter-films. He appears from behind tree aspiring young writer trying to sell his “long, long, long, long, long story” trunks and street corners, announces the interval breaks, and towards written on scrolls of toilet paper, to the chief editor of a small time the end, the climax. From then on, always shown with a pen and book newspaper. The repetition of the adjective and the writing material used in hand, he also guides the main characters of the film and is often clearly satirizes the Neenda Kathakal or “long-stories” of the Ma responsible for bringing about the major “twists” in the plot. Thus, Magazines of that period.3 The title of this “long” story reveals more; it is when this aspiring writer transforms into a soothradhar, after a comic called Manjil Virinja Pookal Vaadiyapool (‘When the flowers of the denigration of the genre of the present day films, we realize that it is the snow withered’). This is a direct parody on the “super hit” film of 1980, “comedy” of Boeing Boeing that he actually writes. Xm]kw TAPASAM TAPASAM 2 ¾July 2006 BK-Ãv, 2006 August,2006 Pqsse 2006 ¾Xm]kw 3 ‘The age of tears is over’ Jenny Rowena In a strikingly similar way, the laughter-films also changed many with a slightly complex answer: laughter is a result of the interaction aspects of Malayalam cinema – its narrative methods, plot structure between the text of the comic and the circumstance – social or individual and even its moral scheme. It was these changes that helped the that it interacts with. In other words, people laugh when there is an laughter-films to remasculinize Malayalam cinema and reassert the appropriate combination achieved between what they know (their values of a casteist patriarchy. However, without going into the cultural circumstance) and what they hear or see (the comic or joke that is implications of the laughter-films, in this paper, i would like to illustrate being represented). If the audience or the addressee is not culturally the specific features that these films evolved as it worked to modify or linguistically cued in to a joke, that joke fails to produce laughter. Malayalam cinema and assert its own identity of difference. Towards Given the interplay of the dynamics of the representation and the this i would chart the course of laughter in Kerala, from the 80s to the circumstances in which it is received, it can never be predicted when early 90s, by examining some of the most important laughter-films.

Load more