Subaltern Resistance and Cinematic Representation: Reading Ajayante Randam Moshanam Through Postcolonial Theory
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper examines the representation of caste based marginalisation, inherited stigma and resistance in Jithin Laal's Ajayante Randam Moshanam (2024) through perspectives drawn from subaltern studies and postcolonial criticism.Centred on Kunjikelu, Maniyan and Ajayan, the film traces the persistence of social exclusion across three historical periods.The Chiyyothi Vilakku serves as the central symbol through which questions of cultural authority, access and exclusion are explored.Kunjikelu's attempt to make the sacred lamp accessible to people of all castes, Maniyan's response to caste humiliation and Ajayan's continuing exclusion from the shrine reveal how social prejudice survives across generations.Through close attention to these moments, the paper considers the changing forms of resistance available to marginalised individuals.It also examines the limits of the film's political vision, particularly its dependence on individual heroism and its limited treatment of women's agency.Although the film remains within the conventions of mainstream fantasy and adventure cinema, it brings caste, memory and social exclusion into a popular narrative form.The paper considers both the possibilities and limitations of this representation of marginalised experience in contemporary Malayalam cinema.
Source: Literariness Journal
Language: English
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7220394239