Reading Duality of Existence in Kerala of the 1980s through P. Padmarajan’s select films A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in English by Kalyani Nandakumar (Reg. No 1630022) Under the Supervision of Arya Aiyappan Asst. Professor. Department of English CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY) BENGALURU, INDIA December 2017 APPROVAL OF DISSERTATION Dissertation entitled Reading Duality of Existence in Kerala of the 1980s through select films by P. Padmarajan by Kalyani Nandakumar (Reg. No.1630022) is approved for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in English Supervisor: ______________________ ____________________ Chairperson: _____________________ _____________________ General Research Coordinator ____________________________________________ Place: Bengaluru Date: _________________ ii DECLARATION I, Kalyani Nandakumar, hereby declare that the dissertation, titled ‘Reading Duality of Existence in Kerala of the 1980s through select films by P. Padmarajan’ is a record of original research work undertaken by me for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in English. I have completed this study under the supervision of Dr. Arya Aiyappan, Asst. Professor and Coordinator of M.A English Studies, Department of English. I also declare that this dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or other title. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there is no plagiarism in any part of the dissertation. Place: Bengaluru KalyaniNandakumar Date: Reg. No.1630022 Department of English Christ University, Bengaluru iii CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the dissertation submitted by Kalyani Nandakumar (Reg. No. 1630022) titled ‘Reading Duality of Existence in Kerala of the 1980s through select films by P. Padmarajan’ is a record of research work done by him/her during the academic year 2016- 2018under my/our supervision in partial fulfilment for the award of Master of Philosophy in English Studies. This dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or other title. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there is no plagiarism in any part of the dissertation. Place: Bengaluru Dr. Arya Aiyappan Date: Asst. Professor of English Christ University Bengaluru Head of the Department Department of English Christ University Bengaluru iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a special delight to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to Christ University for facilitating and providing an extremely stimulating, inspiring and enriching academic environment for this research. I sincerely thank Rev. Dr. Thomas C Mathew, the Vice Chancellor and his team, for making available such a platform. One person who inspired me to focus on cinema is my good friend Midhun Kumar without whom this research and my interest in the field would remain incomplete. I would like to extend my gratitude to my friends Janhavi Chadha, Sohail Guledgudd and Mani Sankar whose constant support and suggestions helped in making my research find a balance between creativity and academic writing. C.S Venkiteswaran is an Indian film critic without whose valuable suggestions, my thesis would have been half-baked. Dr. Satyaraj Natesan of NIT Trichy helped conceptualising the difference between theory and the need for theorising on an academic level. Some of the few actors from the films that I had picked, Asokan and Karthika, shared their experiences on the set of these films. They brought Padmarajan’s world closer to me. I am grateful to the Librarians of the University who were pro-active with ready assistance and help. The Head of the Department of English, Dr. Abhaya N B, who is also my Internal Examiner, had meticulously worked out the M.Phil programme leaving no stone unturned to see the course progressed bit by bit through thick and thin. Nor less were the efforts of Mr. Joseph Edward Felix, the Coordinator of the English M.Phil course, for, he accompanied us from the beginning to the end guiding every step of ours in this academic pursuit. Sincere thanks are due to all those professors who enlightened us through their lectures on different topics foundational and supplementary to the course. v Finally, my deepest sentiments of gratitude are to my guide Dr. Arya Aiyappan, Asst. Professor of English and M.A Coordinator of the English Studies Programme, Christ University. It was her down to earth, critical, timely and patient approach that steered the research in the right direction and to the successful completion as well. Thank you for your shared interest in Padmarajan and your kind treatment towards my constant doubts and queries. Thanking the Almighty God is not a cliché, but, the most appropriate act of gratitude, for, had it not been for his invisible hand in everything I did, this research, however insignificant it may be, would not have been successful. Kalyani Nandakumar vi ABSTRACT This research deals with the idea of duality as an angle through which existence has been understood in Kerala of the 1980s through the selected films of Padmarajan. Most academic works that deal with Malayalam Cinema look into the age during which Padmarajan thrived. But they have been viewed from the angles of Middle Stream Cinema. Padmarajan’s films are open to different levels of interpretation and ‘duality’ becomes a key concept while looking through some of his films. The multiple possibilities that the concept of duality puts forth to read people, society and physical areas form as the main crux of this paper. The central focus of this research is to identify what this duality that exists in the films speaks about Kerala of the said time period. The levels at which duality functions speaks not merely of the way in which the human mind functions, but also what influences an individual from the outside. Padmarajan opens up endless possibilities to evaluate the nature of the 1980s. By breaking stereotypes, Padmarajan recreates the idea of what is normally accepted and what isn’t, rewriting the ideas of good and evil and how this defines Kerala of the 1980s. This research aims at reading duality through the lens of Existentialism and Kantian philosophy. The first chapter is an introduction into what the research aims to deal with by looking at existing literature on the topic. The research in itself will be divided based on duality- External and Internal. The first core chapter titled ‘External Duality’ will analyse the various aspects that are dual in nature, outside of the characters’ lives and will be looked at through the aforementioned theories. Internal, the second core chapter deals with the individual, his/her mind and its’ functionality. This chapter will read the characterisation of the individuals present in the film to arrive at how duality functions on an internal level. The research aims to identify what is real and apparent in the 1980s society through these films. Following this chapter is the conclusion which will attempt to briefly summarise the chapters and to associate and link the findings from both the core chapters. vii ABSTRACT This research deals with the idea of duality as an angle through which existence has been understood in Kerala of the 1980s through the selected films of Padmarajan. Most academic works that deal with Malayalam Cinema look into the age during which Padmarajan thrived. But they have been viewed from the angles of Middle Stream Cinema. Padmarajan’s films are open to different levels of interpretation and ‘duality’ becomes a key concept while looking through some of his films. The multiple possibilities that the concept of duality puts forth to read people, society and physical areas form as the main crux of this paper. The central focus of this research is to identify what this duality that exists in the films speaks about Kerala of the said time period. The levels at which duality functions speaks not merely of the way in which the human mind functions, but also what influences an individual from the outside. Padmarajan opens up endless possibilities to evaluate the nature of the 1980s. By breaking stereotypes, Padmarajan recreates the idea of what is normally accepted and what isn’t, rewriting the ideas of good and evil and how this defines Kerala of the 1980s. This research aims at reading duality through the lens of Existentialism and Kantian philosophy. The first chapter is an introduction into what the research aims to deal with by looking at existing literature on the topic. The research in itself will be divided based on duality- External and Internal. The first core chapter titled ‘External Duality’ will analyse the various aspects that are dual in nature, outside of the characters’ lives and will be looked at through the aforementioned theories. Internal, the second core chapter deals with the individual, his/her mind and its’ functionality. This chapter will read the characterisation of the individuals present in the film to arrive at how duality functions on an internal level. The research aims to identify what is real and apparent in the 1980s society through these films. Following this chapter is the conclusion which will attempt to briefly summarise the chapters and to associate and link the findings from both the core chapters. vii CONTENTS READING DUALITY OF EXISTENCE IN KERALA OF THE 1980S THROUGH P.PADMARAJAN'S SELECT FILMS i APPROVAL OF DISSERTATION ii DECLARATION iii CERTIFICATE iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ABSTRACT vii CONTENTS viii CHAPTER 1 1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1 1.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 10 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 10 1.3 RESEARCH GAP 10 1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW 11 1.5 LIMITATIONS 21 WORKS CITED 24 CHAPTER 2 26 EXTERNAL DUALITY 26 2.1. APPEARANCE 26 2.2. SPACE 30 WORKS CITED 53 viii Nandakumar 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Malayalam Cinema like most other industries has witnessed the growth of schools of thought and movements.