JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 Being and Becoming: Representation of Women Issues in New Generation Malayalam Movies -Arya.C.A, Research Scholar,Dept.of English Muslim Arts College, Thiruvithancode, Tamilnadu (Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Thiruneleveli). Email:[email protected] Ph:9072934597 &Prof.Dr.D.Radharemanan Pillai (Research Supervisor) Dept.of English Muslim Arts College, Thiruvithancode, Tamilnadu Abstract : Cinema has now become one of the most popular forms of entertainment for all classes of audience-young students, tradition-bound house wives, struggling workers, busy corporate heads, and bureaucratic government officials, disciplining policeman etc. it has become a powerful tool to influence and impress the audience. Compared to earlier days there are women- oriented movies in our age. Women issues have become more commercialized now. Women who were always represented as the shadow of male have now turned as central characters. Apart from the role that the society imposes upon women, she has moved far away from that viewpoint. This paper focuses on how recent feminine issues are represented in the film and how it has given voice to the total womenfolk. The study concludes that women in these movies are conceptualized as modern women, but they actually are a modification of traditional feminine identity. A few films are selected for the study. Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 295 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 Keywords: Women Issues, Film, Conceptualization From earlier days onwards the society has defined the role of women in society. She has been conceptualized according to the age group. First as a girl child to obey her parents, she is confined within the four wall of her family; she has to select anything according to her parents wish. Later when she is grown up she is getting married to an unknown man, there her role as a wife to please and obey her husband, and soon upgraded into the role of a mother. Somewhere in between these changes she might lose her identity. Wherever it is, the role of women was to please their men. But now the scene has totally changed. We can simply divide the movies into 3 sections: 1. Women characters who become strong under the support of male 2. Women who were still submissive. 3. Female centric Though the movies are classified into three sections, the most interesting fact is all movies have women who possess these three characters. No one is free from these perceptions. The question arises who creates the problem? What creates the problem? Who are the real suppressors? Though the women at the beginning of the century were submissive, now they are trying their best to break that boundary. But the issues of women have become much commercialized now. Recent releases in Malayalam cinema depart from pigeonholing women in domestic roles. Female characters explore their fates on their own terms. Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 296 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 “Female leads were earlier just dolled up and made to dance around trees, but now we are seeing strong female characters. They are gritty and determined,” says Sajayan tells B Link The films- in tone and location - shifted to urban settings, speaking in the slang particular to the region, and portrayed characters as naturally as possible, breaking with a longstanding tradition of airbrushing. Grand, melodramatic narratives of land, loss and love splintered to show multiple, smaller stories of ordinary people grappling with ordinary life. As the movement gathered steam, female leads were observed to be undergoing subtle yet significant shifts in representation. “Women in Malayalam cinema until now were presented through a bipolar construction - either they were saintly caregivers or they were hypersexual, uncontrolled women out to seduce the hero,” says director-screenwriter Sanju Surendran, noted for his award-winning film Aedan. The powerful women characters: Though the film has shown a variety of women characters, the powerful characters portrayed in the film are always mesmerizing. They not only impress the audience but also influence and make them strong. When we are analyzing the day today affairs of our country it is really pathetic that the media is really enjoying the women atrocities and rape. They consider women as a piece of news material to increase the rating of their channel. This idea has been discussed in the movie ‘Ira’, where a vibrant journalist and activist Ms.Vaigadevi has been brutally raped and killed by the corporate company head and his father (Minister Chandi). Her father and mother were also activists who fought for the right of the adivasis, but were burned alive in front of their children. What dropped by her parents was further followed by Vaigadevi which is the pen name Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 297 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 of Karthu. As part of an investigation she met with Rajeev who is a police officer. Rajeev find out the real identity of Karthu. They soon fall in love. At the day of confessing his love Karthu was raped and killed by the enemies. Rajeev find out the culprits and the whole film is about the revenge of Rajeev and Karthu’s sister. They never disclosed the name of Karthu anywhere but have fulfilled their revenge. At a particular scene Rajeev said that the media use a word to refer the raped girl whether she is alive/dead as ‘victim’/ ‘Ira’. The case will soon extend for years and the real culprits will surely escape from the law. This should not be like that; Karthu’s murderers should be killed. They never want to use the name of Karthu by the media and public as a victim to enjoy. A strong fighter of rights can be seen in the face of Vaigadevi. She has the courage to question the public and finally she shed her blood for the same purpose. Shikkari Shambhu directed by Sugeeth and written by Nishad Koya. The story revolves around three small-time fraudsters, Peelipose aka Peeli (Kunchacko Boban), Achu (Vishnu Unnikrishnan) and Shaji (Hareesh Kanaran). They overhear a conversation between a priest and his assistant and learn about a tiger unleashing terror in a village called Kurudimalakaavu and the region’s MLA (Manianpilla Raju) looking for a hunter. Peeli and his friends were already in trouble where they were and sensing an opportunity, move to the village as hunters, eyeing the Rs 5 lakh reward as also the rare panchaloha idol in a temple. They become the darling of the villagers when they succeed in capturing the beast, though by a fortunate turn of events. Instead of bagging the cash prize, they request that they are allowed to stay in the village, obviously to pocket the idol that would make them rich. But there is another twist to the tale or is it better described as a tail? The unfolding events take the story forward. Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 298 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 It’s always a rare incident that women who works in slaughterhouses. Here in the movie Anitha (Shivada) is a worker in the village slaughterhouse. Her mind too becomes bold as she has grown up under her father’s vengeance. Her father was dump, he can’t speak while the little girl was young some villagers who were also powerful people in the village urges this man to steal the idol of Devi in the forest temple. As they offer huge money he agreed and steals that idol. But while moving back he was attacked by the forest guards and was shot down. He escapes with his young daughter, but his wife who was nine months pregnant was burned alive. This man soon becomes mad but he still has the vengeance for those people who destroyed his life. His daughter too wants to fulfill her father’s dream. Her aim was thus to reach Kurudimalakkavu. For that purpose she married a widower and he was soon dead. Later at night by wearing the tiger mask she attacked and killed those people who destroyed her life but finally towards the end she was caught red-handed. The courage and vengeance of a lady makes the movie a real thriller. The girl was forced to do all this as her mother was burned alive in front of her. Ishq: The film involves a situation that a love-struck couple gets dragged into, while on a late-night drive. The film gives a glimpse into the kind of moral policing that many are constantly subjected to, on our streets. It also shows how such experiences get etched into the minds of those who have had to go through such ordeals. The constant ogling, sleazy comments and character assassination that women are subjected to, when spotted with men in public, are aptly brought out through the scenes in the movie. The finesse with which the film’s director showcases our society’s double standards when it comes to treating couples or women also deserves a mention. It urges the audience to cheer for the revenge story, and the answers to the many questions triggered within viewers while watching Ishq are cleared at the right junctures of Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 299 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 the story. Vasutha the central character of the movie shows the real courage to break the relation, as she understood that if something bad had happened, her lover won’t accept her.