Avenging angels

By: Anjana George
One of the most-celebrated movies in Malayalam in 2022, Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, based on the theme of domestic violence, shows its protagonist, Jaya’s husband slapping her 21 times. Though the story is about how the woman manages to come out of the relationship breaking the societal codes, it is an abuse-revenge drama following the ‘eye for an eye’ commandment.
Malayalam cinema since its beginning has witnessed films that revolve around avengers and assault on the ‘weaker sex’, especially women. The protagonists in such films, be it the father, brother, lover, husband or the woman herself would be the fighter, the retaliator or the vigilante justice warrior. The year 2022 saw many Malayalam films such as The Teacher, Naaradan, Anthakshari, Pathaam Valavu, Vaashi and Eesho focusing on similar subjects persuading the audience to question the creative imagination of Mollywood.
The Teacher, directed by Vivek starring Amala Paul released in the first week of December tells the story of a physical education teacher who has been raped by four school students. Such avenging-woman movies in Malayalam cinema, unfortunately, mimic toxic forms of glorified male violence, reducing it to being reactive rather than reflecting the layers of emotions women go through after assault – from fear to the urge to fight, to the sorrow or guilt that follows, and even redemption. “I feel that the unrealistic portrayal of abuse on women on screen is due to the commercial aspect of it. If we were shooting 22FK now, we would have portrayed it in a different way. We pictured it with the sensibilities we had 10 years ago. As we evolved, we understood that we have failed to respect the trauma and opted for violence which really set a domino effect of avenging women among contemporary filmmakers. I regret that we influenced in creating a few iconographies which include the victim being transformed into a sexual being,” says Shyam Pushkaran.
There are many interesting films like All About My Mother among the top 20 films across the world centred on women that passed the ‘Bechdel test’, a measure of the representation of women in films. They aren’t just about abuse and violence. “There is a tendency to restrict women to sexuality in Malayalam cinema. We still hesitate to go beyond these narratives even when we say there are a lot of movies that speak for feminism and gender empowerment. We need to have more stories like that of Wonder Women that create a counter-narrative. As an actor, I am looking forward to doing characters like Krishnaveni in Wonder Women than films that do not project assault and abuse on women sensitively,” says actor-researcher Padmapriya Janakiraman.
Filmmaker Shyamaprasad does not see these films as genuine social responses of the filmmakers to the changing sensibilities on gender. “It is a very superficial look at society and the whole system of justice. It is one of the most common sellable formats of stories that fit into different contexts. However, it also reflects an amount of reality in society. While rage is also a way of protest, art could look at its different dimensions without making it sensational and voyeuristic,” he observes.
Actor-writer Sajitha Madathil who scripted Aanu which was screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala says that she isn’t someone like Jaya in Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey who would come out from abuse by learning Karate and acting on it. “It could be also a way to reach a state where the opposite person also understands that what he does is wrong. Aanu also deals with a similar subject but in a different way. However, I am glad that the young generation is growing up watching films that create a new set of images on gender violence,” she says.