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Cinema and the (Re) construction of the Left Popular in Kerala
(Uiversity of Calicut, 2017) Afzal, P. Muhammed
Looking at the re-efflorescence of what may be called red f ilms—fi lms that thematize and celebrate the spirit of communism— and the visible presence of Left- leaning fi lm makers in the Malayalam film industry, in this paper I argue how popular cinema has emerged as a key site in the reconstruction of a Malayali national-popular. Despite the apparent distrust the Left in Kerala shows towards popular cinema, the domain of the popular has played a significant role in the construction of a national-popular centred on the linguistic identity in Kerala. While Marxism shares a historical affinity with popular forms such as romance, opera, melodrama, etc., the Left in Kerala shows a renewed interest in the field of culture as a result of the rise of Hindu nationalism in the country which conf lates culture with religion. Apart from the “cultural interventions” of the right-wing, the Left also faces serious challenges from the part of various social movements centred on the question of caste, gender and religious identities. The rise of social movements in the 1990s “brought to the fore the questions of caste and gender that were submerged under the earlier socio-cultural consensus generated by the hegemonic Malayali national popular shaped by the communists” (Devika 2013).
Imagining the Malayali Nation: Early Malayalam Cinema and the Making of a Modern Malayali identity
(DIALOGIST, 2021) Afzal, P. Muhammed
In this paper I explore the role that early Malayalam cinema played in the consolidation of a nascent Malayali linguistic identity. The paper examines the nationalist address that Malayalam cinema adopted as part of its industrial and aesthetic realignments in the context of mobilizations around the Malayali identity. The paper also offers a brief discussion of how the Left-affiliated artists in the Malayalam film industry offered a cultural vision for modern Kerala in mid-twentieth century. Through a discussion of the Left intervention in the field of popular cinema, the relationship among language politics, Left politics and popular cinema in the region is examined.
Melancholic Vision and Utopian Imagination: Amma Ariyan and Left-wing Culture in Kerala in the 1970s
(Rupkatha Journal, 2021) Afzal, P. Muhammed
Situating the Malayalam film Amma Ariyan in the context of radical Left politics in Kerala during the “long 1970s”, this paper argues that Left-wing cultural productions during the period offered a melancholic vision of history that sustained a utopian imagination. In popular discussions, the 1970s is seen as a period of “misguided adventurism” and defeat, and the nostalgia for the period is treated as a paralyzing, backward looking attitude. Drawing on contemporary scholarship on Left melancholy, nostalgia, and utopia, this paper looks back at the 1970s from a perspective where melancholia is a stance that offers a critical vision of the past as well as the future. This paper argues that the “failed heroes” in Left-wing cultural productions in the 1970s refused to “resign themselves to … the inevitable and ‘natural’ character of the most monstrous inequalities”. This “refusal to be realistic” has been very central to the sustaining of a utopian imagination which acquires more significance in the context of the perceived reactivation of “communist desire” in the contemporary times.
Melodrama, Ascetic Modality, and Communist Self-fashioning: Mukhamukham and the Communist Hero in Malayalam Cinema
(Rupkatha Journal, 2021-03) Afzal, P. Muhammed
This paper treats the Malayalam film Mukhamukham and the debates it engendered in the Kerala public sphere about the history and legacy of communism as an archive of passions and disavowals that have shaped the political subjectivities in contemporary Kerala and explores how the film offers a critique of the Left popular in Kerala. Through a critique of the ascetic modality of the communist hero, Mukhamukham offers a critique of the representative strategies through which the communist hero was produced in the early Left political melodramas in Malayalam, which have been a significant part of the Left’s constitutive role in the construction of the domain of the popular in Kerala. The attempt in this paper is to read the film as one that, while marked by liberal prejudices, offers a critique of the Left popular and certain prevailing notions on the Left in Kerala. The paper explores how the film represents the figure of the revolutionary; and the shift from the melodramatic conventions of the construction of the revolutionary figure that Gopalakrishnan attempts in the film.
Popular Cinema and the (Re)construction of the Left Popular in Kerala
(Communication & Journalism Research, 2017) Afzal, P. Muhammed
Looking at the re-efflorescence of what may be called red films- films that thematize and celebrate the spirit of communism- and the visible presence of left leaning film makers in the Malayam film industry
Vignettes of defiance – I (An Interview with Sanjay Kak)
(Himal Southasian, 2014-03) Afzal, P. Muhammed
Documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak discusses his earlier films, the development of his politicalconsciousness and on-screen engagement with Kashmir. Documentary film in India has transformed from primarilybeing a medium for the independent state to promoteconsolidation of national identity to a critical and evenoppositional tool to depict deprivation, conflict andstruggle in society. Political documentary, in particular, isexperiencing a period of vibrancy with layered and in-depth depictions of issues that are often submerged bydominant media representations.Despite (or because of) the quality of the films and their social and political engagement, very few of thesedocumentaries are ever screened in commercial cinemahalls or by television channels. For instance