LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 24:8 August 2024
ISSN 1930-2940

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         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
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Unmasking the Features of the Pandemic Through Malayalam Cinema:
A Study of Sanu John Varghese’s Aarkkariyam and Dileesh Pothan’s Joji

Krishna Priya and Dr. M. Raja Vishwanathan

Abstract

The pandemic provides an opportunity for filmmakers to identify the potential of the limited space. The pandemic-driven perspectives of the filmmakers widen the horizon of space beyond the spatial and temporal dimensions. Malayalam films have responded to the unprecedented and shocking outbreak of COVID-19 faster because space and its utilization have been always minimal in the industry. People have been shattered in isolation and the new normal imparted new phrases and idioms to the language of life. The desire to socialize, the angst to stay and work at home, the issues of parenting, and the financial crisis have all become part of the new normal. To narrate any kind of story has appeared challenging because the pandemic is an amalgamation of anxieties and it demands to be faithful to all the unfortunate situations of life while featuring it. Thus, the idea of shifting from the physical space to the psychological space progressed and it paves way for extraordinary films with brilliant performances. This paper is an attempt to explore the documentation of the pandemic in Aarkkariyam, a 2021 mystery drama and Joji, a crime thriller. The paper focuses on the many facets of the pandemic like psychological trauma, isolation, work from home, social and financial instability, and the change in the dynamics of ‘home’.

Keywords: COVID-19, Malayalam cinema, trauma studies, pandemic fiction, new-normal.


Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joji_(film)

Introduction

Joji is a 2021 Malayalam crime drama directed by the Dileesh Pothan and written by Shyam Pushkaran. Joji is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, starring Fahadh Fasil as Joji. The film has limited cast and crew considering the seriousness of the pandemic. The story of the Patriarch Panachel Kuttapan, his three sons Jomon, Jason and Joji, grandson Poppy and daughter in law Bincy brings Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy into a Christian household in Kottayam, Kerala. Aarkariyam is a mystery drama released in 2021 during the pandemic, written and directed by Sanu John Varghese. The movie tells the mystery tale of the family of Ittiyavara played by Biju Menon along with his daughter Shirly featuring Parvathy Thiruvoth and her husband Roy played by Sharafudheen.

The opening scene of Joji features a delivery boy wearing his mask sets out from an office full of workers wearing masks to Joji, the protagonists home. The trauma of pandemic is established in the first few scenes of the film where all the characters appear alienated from each other physically.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Krishna Priya
Research Scholar
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
National Institute of Technology, Warangal
kpriyadas@student.nitw.ac.in

Dr. M. Raja Vishwanathan
Associate Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
National Institute of Technology, Warangal
vishwanathan@nitw.ac.in
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