Dissertation submitted to the University of Calicut in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts

in

English Language and Literature

By

Sahla P.S

Reg.No CCASAEGR31

March 2021

P. G. Department of English

Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda

Kerala – 680125

Portrayal of feminism in the movies Roma and Uyare

Declaration

I,Sahla P.S , hereby declare that this dissertation entitled Portayal of feminism in the

movies Roma and Uyare, submitted to the University of Calicut in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English Language and

Literature, is a bonafide research work done by me under the supervision and guidance of

Ms.Jasheena PB , Assistant Professor, P.G . Department of English, Christ College,

Irinjalakuda

Irinjalakuda Sahla P.S

March 2021 P G Department of English

Christ College (Autonomous)

Irinjalakuda-680125

March 2021

Certificate

This is to certify that this dissertation entitled Portayal of feminism in the movies Roma

and Uyare, is an authentic record of research work carried out by Ms Sahla P.S under my

supervision and guidance in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the

degree of Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature submitted to the University

of Calicut.

Dr. Hemalatha. P. Jasheena P.B

Coordinator, P. G. Department of English Assistant Professor

Christ College (Autonomous) P.G. Department of English

Irinjalakuda (SupervisingTeacher)

Acknowledgement

I owe my sincere gratitude to the God Almighty for his abundant blessings in the

preparation of this project report. I am happy to acknowledge my heartfelt thanks to my

supervising teacher, Ms. Jasheena P.B, Assistant Professor, P. G. Department of English,

Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda, for her guidance and painstaking correction and

revision.

I do thank Dr. Hemalatha.P. , Coordinator, P. G. Department of English, for the timely help

and generous encouragement.

I am very grateful to Rev.Dr. Jolly Andrews CMI, Principal in -charge, Christ College

(Autonomous), Irinjalakuda for the congenial research he has always tried to foster.

My deep sense of gratitude to Fr Sibi Francis, the librarian and his staff for the facilities

they offered in the library.

I would also like to express my love and regards to my parents, teachers, friends and all

those who have helped me directly and indirectly, in the successful completion of this

project work.

Sahla P.S

Contents

Chapters Contents

pages

Introduction

1 – 5

I Poetic Realism and

Socio-politics in Cinema

6 – 1 3

II The Heights of Uyare

III A Comparison

Conclusion

Works Cited

14 – 21

22 – 27

28 – 32

33

Introduction

The concept of women empowerment within the broader spectrum of gender

equality has been the primary focus of countries across the world. It has become

widely recognized and accepted that economic and social growth development cannot

be achieved in it's true sense of we do not simultaneously concentrate on ensuring

that gender equality is maintained. It has been noticed that even on a global

level,there is no country where women enjoy equal rights as men. This is shameful in

the light of the fact that women contribute enormously in the form of unpaid or

invisible economic activity.it is a widely accepted fact that women assume a dual role

in society. The selfless and assumed caregiver and the independent income earning

individual. Women constantly strive to maintenance a balance between the two with

unfortunately little or no help from the society they live in.They are most cases

denied the basic economic, social and even legal rights that their male counterparts

enjoy. It was this observation that made women empowerment and gender equality

feature as the third of eight millennium development goals.It further came to be

acknowledged as an instrumental prerequisite to achieving all other goals.Empover

must be understood providing the power of decision-making to someone who did not

have it previously.

The relationship between women empowerment and economic development

of society becomes successful only when a vicious circle is formed the one

following the other. Economic development in itself as mentioned above cannot help

raise the status of women. This is primarily because the neo-classical discourse makes

2

a fundamental but flawed assumption that industrial development would

automatically lead to reduction in the gender disparities since it will provide equal

opportunities in the spheres of education, employment and political voice to both

men and women which are the primary tools of ensuring equality. This narrow

approach does not consider the possibility that the existing patriarchal systems would

not allow women equal footing as men.hence what is needed is a change in the social

stigma attached to women participation in order to achieve economic progress.

Following the same argument, women empowerment is bound to fail if women are

not given the opportunities to participate and contribute to economic development.

There must be a justification for the various programs carried out to promote women

participation. Only when women are able to contribute to economic activity, These

reforms become feasible both economically and socially. Hence economic

development and women empowerment cannot be considered in a vacuum and must

follow one another

In this context the women in Development discourse recognizes the

shortcomings of the neoclassical ideology but makes an assumption that the

institutional roadblocks will weaken after a certain age of growth and would begin to

usher in more opportunities for women.This discourage goes on to explain that once

the bottlenecks are cleared,the instruments of empowerment would automatically

start being implemented by the government. This has called for the need for another

more comprehensive discourse which led to an altogether new approach called

'Gender and Development'.The GAD approach realized that the conventional

indicators of employment, education and political power would not fully enable the

empowerment of women and may lead to a generation of further problems and

3

obstacles in the process. It pointed out the need to also focus on non-conventional

indicators that would complement the conventional indicators that would help to

effectively measure the gender inequality. Such non-conventional indicators may

include the power relations within in the family,The role of women in decision

making and the power to translate resources in to opportunities.

In a country like India,where several goddesses are worshipped, it is pitiful to

see that women are treated with lesser status than men and even slew of reforms post-

independence has not been able to pull women out of their repressed,marginalised and

exploited state.The major flow in appropriating women to godesses is that the

comparison portrays the picture of a strong women,ready to fight evil.However,this

does not make sense.It promotes the false premise that normal women cannot make a

mark for themselves and that successful women are superwoman.It than goes on to

promote only a small category of women,leaving the majority in the dark.Moreover,

it fails to recognize that even the goddesses lived within a society governed by male

dominant and their powers were limited to instances of protecting their husbands or

extreme cases of protecting society

Gender disparities have been widely prevalent across India and several states

have shown very poor measures on the conventional indicators despite several

initiatives by the state.while the rest of the country has grappled with gender

disparities.kerala has been an exception to the general trend in terms of women

development.similarly,in terms of literacy,life expectancy and mean age at

marriage,women in kerala have a higher score when compared with women in the rest

4

of the country.Thus historically too,a favorable ground was set for kerala women

while most of the indian states where deplorably poor in this regard.

The status of women in modern India possesses a paradoxical picture. As

compared with past women in modern times have achieved alot but in reality they still

have to travel a long way. Earlier the status of women in india as a whole was very

low when compared to their male counterparts due to several socio-economic and

cultural factors like dominance of male chauvinism in the society, non-existence of

employment opportunities, lack if education, absence of absolute property

rights,social prejudices,social evils like sati,jaguar,pardha,child marriage,denial of

remarriage to widows and restriction on girl education etc. During the vedic

Age,women were accorded an honoured place in the society.

Apala,Lopamudra,Viswambara were the most enlightened women of that age who

have surpassed their male counterparts.

Uyare, much like Roma is politically left oriented. It is feministic without

apologising. It brings about some of the same theories in Roma. Most notably being

Feminism and Toxic Relationships, PTSD, and the Impact of Social Media. All of

these without being a muddled mess. And these theories and issues discussed in a

film set in the 70s and a film set in the present times are both powerful enough to

move us and be empathetic. These films suggest that we have yet to move a lot

forward as a society and these theories will be discussed in the upcoming chapters in

detail.

5

In this project, I aim to make a study on the portrayal of feminism in

contemporary movies. For this, I have taken a Hollywood movie called Roma(2018)

and a Mollywood movie called Uyare(2019).Despite the fact that both movies are

from different cultures , they share the same concept. Hollywood movie "Roma " is

taken in "Mexico" it happens in the past. And malayalam movie "uyare " taken in

kerala and happens in the present.In this project both these movies are included not

because they share similarities in concept but because they reveal the silent scream of

women's lives . Roma explores the theme of loneliness where "uyare " explores a

poignant tale of courage and survival .Malayalam movie uyare is the best example of

success of Indian cinema on portraying women characters that were powerful enough

to inspire a generation . Roma movie deals with mothers who are largely abandoned

by their significant roles. Movies are getting involved in women empowerment

themes just to speak for the ones who can't speak out loudly what's over with them.

We can realise that from the past onwards women were getting abused and harassed .

On those despoiled moments with pejorative tongue what else they could do? I have

taken women oriented movies just to raise my voice for the quietest .

Chapter 1

Poetic Realism and Socio-politics in Roma

The theories associated with the film lie in multiple realms. One is in the

cinematic realm, and the other one lies in the social spectrum. As briefly discussed

in the Introduction, the one that deals with the film theory is Poetic Realism.

Reminiscent of slow, meditative, surreal and ethereal cinema as if it came out

straight from a Tarkovsky Cinematic Universe. And this captures us and grips into

the movie, not only inviting us to be voyeurs but also active participants in the

characters’ lives.

The socio-political theories of the film are openly left leaning. Mainly

classism, capitalism and race relations. The lead character is an indigenous woman

in Mexico coming as a house help. The way she is being treated subtly and at times

very straightly showing how class divisions happen in elitist status quo households.

And this division of Class and Race is not rare. It is a universal truth. And

Capitalism has taught us all to accept this hierarchy as normal. Especially when it is

a woman. That is when the theory of feminism enters along with Classism and

Capitalism and Racism and none of these are exclusive. They all exist together as an

ugly truth. A hole to be filled in the workings of the society.

In “Roma", the Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron uses a large canvas to tell

the story of lives that some might think small. A personal epic set in Mexico city in

the early 1970s,it centres on a young indigenous woman who works as a maid for a

middle-class white family that’s falling apart. Cauron uses one household on one

street to open up a world, working on a panoramic scale often reserved for war

7

stories, but with the sensibility of a personal diarist . It's an expensive, emotional

portrait of life buffeted by violent forces, and a masterpiece.

Alphonso Curaon’s “Roma opens with a closeup shot of a stone-faced drive

way. We see soapy water cascaded over the rock, as someone off-camera is cleaning

it. In the reflection the water, we can see the sky, although even that reflection

undulates and change as the water moves A plane then moves across the field of view

within the reflection. It sounds so simple but There is so much sequence of images

that is reflected in the film to follow a natural flow of life water,stone,air while also

presenting us with the concept of the micro within the macro, a like plane against the

sky.som much of “Roma" repeat that concept of the personal story against the

backdrop of a larger one. The face in the crowd the human story in the context of a

societal one. Cuaron has made his most personal filing to date, and the blend of

human and the artistic within nearly every seen is breathtaking. It’s a masterful

achievement in film making empathy machine, a way for us to spend time in

place,ina era, and with characters we never would otherwise.The women cleaning

that drive way is Cleo (Yaritza Aparicio), a servant for a wealthy family in Mexico

city in the 70s. Cleo is no mere maid, often feeling like she is the part of the family.

She serves more than an employee- although she is often reminded of the later fact as

well. She may go on trips with them and truly love the children but she also gets

admonished for leaving her light on to late at night as it wastes electricity. Cleo is a

quite young women, eager to do a good job and able to stay out of the way when

controversy arrives within the family especially with the distant, often absent

patriarch

Everything changes for Cleo after an affair with a cousin of her friends

boyfriend results in a pregnancy. Clegg’s employers offer to help their favourite

8

servant with the pregnancy, taking her to the doctor and supporting her with whatever

she needs, but the child's father disappears, and Cleo looks worried about her future

holds.”Roma" spends roughly a year in the life of Cleo as the plans for motherhood,

tries to support a family that is coming apart and simply moves through a loved

changing world.Cuaron, who shot the film in Gorgeous black-and-white himself (and

clearly learned a thing or to from regular collaborated), Adobes a fascinating visual

style for “Roma" in that he rarely uses close-ups, keeping us at a distance from Cloe

and his other characters, and loving the details of the world around them to come to

life without over using the trick which would have resulted in a cluttered film cuaron

often places Cleo in a tablea could be cold chaotic weather it’s a market teeming with

people behind her or even just the home in which she spends so much of her time, full

of noisy children, relatives, and servants cleo's existence is a crowd one and it almost

feels like it gets more so as the film goes along, mirroring her increasing concern at

the impending birth of her child with some of the imagery of the year, “Roma" often

blends the surreal and the relatable info one memorable image. Throughout “Roma",

Curaron uses his mastery of visual language to convey mood and character in ways

his mostly -silent protagonist cannot. There is no score, and yet “Roma" feels aurally

alive, largely because of the veracity of Cuaron’s attention to detail. There’s tendency

of filmmakers who attempt to make something that could be called “poetic" to get

loose with detail. The idea is that poetic cinema can’t be realistic cinema. What's so

stunning about “Roma" is how much Cuaron finds the poetry in the detail ( this is also

true of Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale street could Talk,” one of the other great movies of

2018). The film is remarkably episodic- so much so that it’s lack of driving narrative

may disappoint people when they watch it on Netflix-but it’s designed to immerse

you, to transport you, and those who go with it fully find themselves rewarded.

9

Cuaron's film climaxes in a couple of emotional scenes that will shake to the core

those who care about these characters.

Cuaron’s has said that this film is a tribute to the women in his life and “the

elements that forged me.” With that obviously personal angle driving the production

“Roma often plays out like a memory, but not in a gauzy, dreamlike way we so often

see from bad filmmaking. Every choice has been carefully considered- that wide -

angle approach allows for so much background detail-and yet “Roma'' is never sterile

or overly precious with its choices. It’s that balance of truth and art that is so

breathtaking , making Cuaron’s personal story a piece of work that ultimately

registers as personal to us, too. And you walk out transformed, feeling like you just

experienced something more than merely watching a film. That kind of movie is

incredibly rare- we’re lucky if we get one a year.”Roma” is that special. In India,

women empowerment is needed more than ever. India is amongst the countries which

are not safe for women. There are various reasons for this .Firstly, women in India are

in danger of honour killings. Their family thinks it’s right to take their lives if they

bring shame to the reputation of their legacy. Moreover, the education and freedom

scenario is very regressive here women are not allowed to pursue higher education,

they are married off early. The men are still dominating women in some regions like

it’s the woman’s duty to work for him endlessly. They do not let them go out or have

freedom of any kind. As women were not allowed to make decisions for them,

women empowerment came in like a breath of fresh air. It made them aware of their

rights and how they must make their own place in society rather than depending on a

man. It recognized the fact that things cannot simply work in someone’s favour

10

because of their gender. However, we still have a long way to go when we talk about

the reasons why we need it.

Almost every country, no matter how progressive has a history of ill-treating

women. In other words women from all over the world have been rebellious to reach

the status they have today. While the western countries are still making progress, third

world countries like India still lack behind in women empowerment. In addition,

domestic violence is a major problem in India. The men beat up their wife and abuse

them as they think women are their property. More so, because women are afraid to

speak up similarly, the women who do actually work get paid less than their male

counterparts. It is down right unfair and sexist to pay for gender. Thus, we see how

women empowerment is the need of the hour. We need to empower these women to

speak up for themselves and never be a victim of injustice. There are various ways in

how one can empower women. The individuals and government must both come

together to make it happen. Education for girls must be made compulsory so that

women can become illiterate to make a life for themselves. Women must be given

equal opportunities in every field. Irrespective of gender. Moreover they must also be

given equal pay. We can empower women by abolishing child marriage. Various

programs must be held where they can be taught skills to fend for themselves in case

they face financial crisis.

Most importantly, the shame of divorce and abuse must be thrown out of the

window. Many women stay in abusive relationships because of the fear of society.

Parents must teach their daughters it is okay to come home divorced rather than in a

coffin. Additionally, domestic violence has become a crucial problem in India. The

husbands abuse their wives mentally and sometimes physically considering them as

their own property. It happens commonly because women are scared to speak up. In a

11

similar way, the women who work genuinely get paid fewer than their male equals. It

is entirely unfair and sexist to pay someone more insufficient for the same work just

because of the different gender. Consequently, we see how women’s empowerment is

the demand of the time. We require to empower these women to talk fir themselves

and never be a sufferer of injustice. There are several ways to enable rights to women

in India. The people and government need to come collectively to make it happen.

Schooling for girls must be mandatory so that women can grow literate to build a life

for themselves. Women must be provided equal opportunities in every area,

irrespective of gender. Besides, they must also be awarded equal compensation for

their work. We can also empower women by eliminating child marriages in India,

which is commonly conducted in village areas. Many programs must be conducted

where they can be given the ability to defend themselves in case they face a financial

crisis. Most necessarily, the humiliation of divorce and abuse must be thrown out of

society.

Many women tolerate abusive relationships under the pressure of society.

Parents must educate the daughters that it is wrong to tolerate anyone’s abuse, even if

they are abused by their own family. They should take action whenever it is

necessary. In Cuaron's film the opening credits roll over what looks like a tiled floor

which gradually comes into view as a cement block narrow interi6 driveway

periodically dotted with dig shit which demands that Cleo, the young indigenous maid

from Oaxaca, regularly scrub it down, her Sisyphean task. All we see at first is the

soapy water spilling onto the stone. We don’t see Cleo- we just see the work that

marks her life. But the upper middle class family she serves with its four children,

neglectful father, tense mother, and deceptively doddering grandmother, makes more

room for her than the class differences between them might dictate. Still part of

12

Mexico’s dirty water against students and teachers, farmers and workers, the second

massacre wrenches Cloe from an innocent shopping trip for a crib with grandmother

to the grim hospital scene that nature predicts earlier in the film- earthquake, forest

fire, hailstorm. We know Cleo is doomed. Yet she survives, and after a heroic scene

where the ocean turns on two of her charges, she breaks down, sheltered by the

children she has just saved along with their siblings and their neurotic but newly-

grounded mother. Cleo reveals her own moment of liberation, though that freedom

remains bittersweet. Her stillborn daughter released her from any connection to a

cruel and indifferent man.

Cleo rides in the back seat of the car cradling two of the family’s children

while mother Sofia chauffeurs them all back to Mexico city from the Veracruz beach.

Cuaron’s camera follows the clouds reflected in the car windows spilling out over

each member of the family, resting finally on Cleo and those two youngest children.

Earlier on the trip when Sofia breaks the news that her husband is leaving them, she

promises the children an “adventure.” Sobbing they are not convinced. She has a new

job publishing where she will make more money and she reminds them how much

she loves books. The closing credits roll over another remarkable still- yet moving –

life . It’s the metal stairway to heaven. we get a glimpse of it from the ground at the

start of the film, where we also see the chirping birds locked in cages, just as the

women and children are locked up in the gated house.

Cuaron gently guides us back to the beginning of his film.: the plane reflected

in a puddle on the driveway in the opening credits. A hint of sky and freedom in that

driveway. The place that needs constant cleaning. Cleo is climbing those stairs to do

the laundry. Class and patriarchy intact. But no one is the same as when those

opening credits rolled. Not Cloe. Not Sofia. Not any of us. Feminism began as a

13

social movement in the late eighteenth century to achieve political equality for

women. Over the years it has touched upon so many diverse disciplines and systems

of thought that it has become difficult to confine it within a unified single

approach/theory. Having gone through various phases with demands of equality and

protests against the subordination by men, feminism has touched almost all aspects of

our lives be it social, political, economic, literary or sexual. Analysis of women’s role

and position from these different perspectives gave way to a number of theories of

feminism and rendered it divided and fractured. It gave a setback to its political

activism and resulted in Tim ‘backlash' or the post feminism. Yet, this multiplicity of

approach and division based in a number of factors has given unlimited scope to the

feminist discourse.

Modern feminism began with Mary Wollstonecraft who Inspired by the ideals

of French revolution and liberalism, argued in her book “ A vindication for the rights

of women" for the need to make women rationally educated. Although she did not

advocate their leaving the domestic sphere, she demanded girls' education to open

them to the possibility of economic independence and to give them freedom and

dignity. Similarly J.s.Mill in his book “The subjection of women" tackled the

problem of women’s oppression and blamed the legal subordination of women to

men and suggested the equality of rights to women for human improvement. The

demand for giving women the right to vote, raced from 1830s onwards, was

ultimately met by 19290s in most of western European countries and North America.

In feminism this first wave is best remembered for the suffragette movement though

campaigns by women for many more specific reforms related to matrimonial law,

property ownership, child custody rights, work and educational opportunities and

14

government regulation of morality accompanied the main demand for women’s

suffrage.

Chapter 2

The Heights of Uyrare

Cinema is an emotional medium which incorporates a lot of other mediums to

evoke feelings inside the audience. If cinema changes your opinion on something, it

does so by appealing to the emotional and empathetic side of you rather than the

cognitive, intellectual part of you. And hence it becomes an easy medium to share

your ideas and incorporate theories and themes within them as long as they are

wrapped with emotions. And just beneath this surface level of character driven

conflicts can be where the real crux of the themes lie. Manu Ashokan understands

this, and he understands this very well. Because in this regard Uyare works so well

without succumbing to cliches and making a mess of multiple theories associated with

it. Whether it be PTSD, Feminism, Toxic relationships etc.

Uyare is a 2019 Indian malayalam- language drama film directed by manu

ashokan( in this directorial depute),written by Bobby and sanjay and produced by the

sister- trio shenuga,sheena, and Sherpa. The film stars Parvathy thiruvothu , Asif Ali

and tovino Thomas in lead roles. The story follows the life of pallavi raveendran

(parvathy), an aviation student who survived acid attack that disfigured her face and

jeopardized her career. Filming that began in November 2018 was completed by the

end of January 2019. Uyare was released in India on 26 April 2019. It received

widespread critical acclaim and was a major box office success of the year in

malayalam. It was nominated for the best debut feature film of a director at the 50th

International film festival of India (IFFI), to be held from 20 to 28 November 2019.

The story revolves around the life of pallavi raveendran (parvathy thiruvothu),a girl

whose ambition is to become a pilot. She is in love with Govind Balakrishnan( Asif

Ali), who is highly possessive of her. She gets admission at a pilot training center in

Mumbai. Finally, she starts to dread his authoritarian nature and musters courage to

break free from the abuse by telling him to get lost from her life after he pressures her

to abandon her classes and insults her in front of her friends. However, the next

morning when she wakes up her life changes when she is attacked by Govind, who

throws acid on her face revenge. Pallavi’s face is disfigured and as her eyesight I’d

damaged, she gets her flight license revoked.pallavi takes her case to court but is

dismissed since there is not enough proof that govind is the one who disfigured her.

She goes back home but her friend at the academy asks to accompany her on a flight

for courage. She re-meets Vishal Rajashekharan(tovino Thomas) on the flight and

reveals what happened to her. She has to move to another seat when a mother of a

child complained that pallavi's face scared her child. Vishal tries to assure her that

she can be anything she wants, but is quickly shut down by pallavi, who says, that’s

only possible if you're beautiful.

After the fight Vishal decides to take up the challenge and puts forward the

idea of hiring her as cabin crew on account of her efficiency. However, his father

turns down the idea and insults him. Later, Vishal holds a press release and live-

streams, saying Pallavi has the brains and the attitude to be an air-hostess which

matters more than having a beautiful face. During the press conference, he convinces

his higher- ups to meet with pallavi. Vishal calleds her but she yells at him and hangs

up for publicizing her story. Afterwards,her father convinces her to give him a chance

and she meets with Vishal and begins training as an air-hostess either friend. On her

first fight, she is given a hug ,which comforts her amongst the staires of other

passengers. Vishal starts developing feelings for her and confesses it but Pallavi turns

16

him down saying she treasures his friendship the most and doesn’t want to ruin it by

romanticizing it. On her next flight, Govind, a passenger tries to meet and talk to

her,attempting to get her to take back the case, saying it’ll ruin his future.

This angers pallavi and she throws a glass a glass of water at him. Govind then

leaves, after filling a complaint against her. Vishal confronts pallavi, showing her a

viral video of throwing of water at govind and saying that others complained. When

asked to publicly apologize, she refuses,starting she'll react the same way if it happens

again and quits.Pallavi’s father attacks govind that night and, the next day, the cap6of

pallavi’s flight becomes unconscious and pallavi takes over, even though she is still

unable to see in one eye. Throughout the film, it had cut to a group of people taking

about and emergency flight, the flight that is occurring in this scene. Vishal and

another man argue about her flying and, when asked to get pallavi out of the cockpit,

he contacts pallavi and tells her that the flight depends on her and the trusts her to

navigate the flight. Pallavi’s is able to emergency land the flight and everyone is

relieved. Govind,learning that he'll get five years in prison willingly closes his eyes

while motorcycling and gets in an accident. In the morning of her last flight pallavi

bids farewell to vishal. She thanks him for letting her into a cockpit and flying a

plane once in her life. On her last flight, a boy gives her a rose for saving his father,

who was on the dangerous flight, and pallavi notice that other passengers from that

flight were on this flight. The film ends as the pilot comments her. Deputant director

Manu ashokan, writers Bobby and sanjay and actor parvathy thiruvothu take a

familiar arc and create a deeply movie and empowering story of a woman acid on a

woman’s face. That lying encapsulates a terrible, tragic narrative. You know the

beats- love, one-sided or reciprocated, rejection, revenge followed by the trauma of

living with gruesome disfiguration. Deputed director manu ashokan, writers Bobby

17

and sanjay and actor parvathy take this familiar arc and create a deeply moving and

empowering story of a woman who refuses to let the horror of her circumstances

defeat her.

Uyare means “high". And that’s exactly what pallavi does- both literally and

figuratively. Since she was fourteen, pallavi has dreamed of being a pilot. But her

ambitions plans fall apart after her boyfriend throws acid on her. And yet, she doesn’t

give up her dream of taking flight . There are many things that make this films so

powerful, starting with the writing- Bobby and sanjay create a living , breathing

woman who proves herself to be stronger than any superhero. But she is also

vulnerable and pliable enough to be an active participant in an emotionally abusive

relationship that eventually turns toxic. Pallavi invests years other life in trying to

make govind happy. She pursues her career with single -minded determination but she

also allows herself to be a doormat. These contradictions make her human.

Thankfully, Bobby and sanjay pay attention to the other characters also. So Govind

isn’t a cardboard villain. He’s failing, insecure and so broken that only pallavi can

make him whole. There’s something instantly unnerving about Govind like he's a

volcano waiting to explode. In a terrific scene, Govind’s father comes to pallavi’s

father to beg him to ask her daughter to withdraw the case against his son. Pallavi

walks in and without saying a word, just sits in front of Govind's father staring at him

with her half- burned face. She says nothing and yet she forces him to confront the

horror of what his son has done. He gets so uncomfortable that he has to leave. This

story could have easily tripped in to overdramatic but director Manu Ashokan doesn’t

underline the horror. It’s controlled and therefore more heartbreaking. Manu uses the

disfiguration sparingly and effectively and thankfully the prosthetics are on point.

Early on, Pallavi keeps her face hidden but as she becomes more sure of herself she

18

exposes her burned side- it becomes a natural part of her. This story could have easily

tripped in to over dramatic but Manu doesn’t underline the horror- yes, we do get a

scene in which pallavi removes her bandages for the first time in the hospital and we

have to guess the extent of damage from the expression on her father’s face. But he

doesn’t scream in horror or crumble. He looks stricken but stands strong for his

daughter. It’s controlled and therefore more heartbreaking.

Of course, uyare is powered by parvathy who delivers a remarkable

performance. At no point does she allow you to pity pallavi. But she doesn’t play her

as heroic either. You see the range, bitterness,anguish and the struggle to keep afloat.

And through this gamute of emotions, you see her inner strength and steely resolve.

This film isn’t about inventive story- telling. Uyare is designed to push buttons, uyare

occasionally trips- some of the sequences in the tower control room and on the

runaway seem amateurish and there are football- sized loopholes in logic. Also the

character of vishal, who comes ilike a knight in shining armor, felt a little too- good-

to- be- true. This film isn’t about inventive story- telling. Uyare is designed to push

buttons at the end, Manu wants you to cry cheer as Pallavi soars.

To begin with, the Malayalam language film Uyare is not a film, it’s an

experience. Director Manu Ashokan, writers Bobby-Sanjay and lead actors Parvathy,

Tovino Thomas and Asif Ali weave together and breathe life into this magical story

about breaking all limits and shooting for the skies. Uyare is the story of Pallavi

(played by Parvathy), who aspires to be a pilot, gets involved in a toxic relationship,

survives an acid attack and fights with everything she has to attain justice and get

back the life that had been snatched away from her.Besides a couple of scenes where

too many narratives are abruptly compiled and thus disrupt the pacing of the Uyare is

a perfect film. It’s an inspirational watch for persons of all ages. Personally, I’m going

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to make sure every girl and woman in my family watches this film. Given popular

culture’s reputation for its mistreatment of women, Uyare strays away from every

sexist form of representation there is. Instead, it portrays complex and real people,

complete with flaws, toxicities, healing abilities and strength. Pallavi and Govind’s

(played by Asif Ali) relationship represents the red flag of relationships – the toxic

possessiveness, its symptoms of escalation laid out in a jarring manner. Govind’s

male chauvinist character capitalises on a sense of emotional debt that Pallavi feels

she owes him and attributes his horrifying behaviour to ‘love’. Initially, he does not

physically abuse her, but reprimands her for the way she dresses, when she dances on

stage, is jealous of her career potential as a pilot, resentful that she’s moving away,

slut-shames her and emotionally blackmails her by slitting his wrist when she does

not pick up his calls during class. This is a reminder that abuse is not just physical, it

can be mental and emotional as well, and wreak havoc on one’s life.

Pallavi and Govind’s relationship represents the red flag of relationships – the

toxic possessiveness, its symptoms of escalation laid out in a jarring manner.

Govind’s male chauvinist character capitalises on a sense of emotional debt that

Pallavi feels she owes him and attributes his horrifying behaviour to ‘love’. Initially,

he does not physically abuse her, but reprimands her for the way she dresses, when

she dances on stage, is jealous of her career potential as a pilot, resentful that she’s

moving away, slut-shames her and emotionally blackmails her by slitting his wrist

when she does not pick up his calls during class. This is a reminder that abuse is not

just physical, it can be mental and emotional as well, and wreak havoc on one’s

life.Govind has a penchant for shedding crocodile tears and has internalised the fact

that Pallavi chasing her dreams to be a pilot makes HIM a victim. His patriarchal

sense of entitlement leads him to believe that he owns Pallavi and any exercise of

20

agency on her part is a declaration of defiance against their relationship. With time,

Pallavi grows more and more wary of him. When Govind thoroughly abuses and slut-

shames her for celebrating her completion of pilot training with her friends, she ends

their relationship.The next day, when Pallavi finds him waiting outside her apartment,

she returns the ring he gave her, and he throws acid in her face.

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Chapter 3

A Comparitive study in feminist perspective

The soul of Italian Neorealism, the autobiographical timbre of a Federico

Fellini reverie, and the controlled aesthetic showmanship for which its director’s work

is renowned, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma is a profound human document and astounding

demonstration of high-art filmmaking. Cuarón articulates his most personal memories

in a loving ode to his real-life nanny, and in doing so, he achieves a level of cinematic

purity rarely seen in filmmaking since the height of the European arthouse scene in

the 1950s and 1960s. Watching Roma, you witness a Spanish-language social drama

shot in pristine black-and-white, and you notice the self-conscious camera

movements—how they glide about the setting in Cuarón’s regular use of ornate

extended shots, how they contain symbolism and comment on the larger dynamics of

the most intimate scenes. It’s not a work of realism in the verité sense, though its

subject matter gives a forgotten and often dejected class an elegantly crafted and

authentic showcase. Roma is the sort of film described as life-affirming without irony

or pretense, as it reminds us of the potential for love, frailty, and unbreakable bonds

between people.

Situated in Roma, a bourgeois district in Mexico City, around 1970, the film

draws from Cuarón’s experiences growing up in that neighborhood. He told Variety in

a recent interview that he was oblivious to the political, racial, or social conditions

unfolding around him. The son of a United Nations scientist, Cuarón grew up in a

cosmopolitan city and remained unaware of the past hardships experienced by his

nanny, Liboria “Libo” Rodríguez, who grew up impoverished in a small village in

Oaxaca. Libo was always there in Cuarón’s childhood, taking care of him, and

eventually sharing stories about her former life. Before long, the young artist learned

more about his country and the sociopolitical forces at work. Libo, an indigenous

Mixtec still going at 74, belonged to a lower class in Mexican society than those of

Cuarón’s higher class Spanish descendants, many of whom maintain deep-seated

prejudices against the natives. When contemplating his past later in life, Cuarón

thought back on Libo, her role in his family, and many of the events, both painful and

heart warming, that shaped his childhood—from the tales of Libo’s experience to his

father leaving the family when Cuarón was just ten years old. It’s all woven into

Roma, a film that refuses to spell out its autobiographical significance, even as it

rewards those willing to dissect the material to discover that dimension.

Cooking, cleaning, and tending to four children, Cleo and Adela nonetheless

exist in a separate world from their employers. They speak to each other in Mixtec, a

language the family cannot understand; their quarters are distanced from the rooms of

the family members. And yet, every night when Cleo puts the children to bed, they

don’t say “goodnight.” They say, “I love you.” The children seem to understand what

the adults—including Cleo herself—do not, that Cleo is very much a member of the

family. In the early scenes, we see Cleo and others of her underclass taken for

granted, if not unseen—but then “underclass” is an ironic term, given that many of her

duties are carried out on rooftops adorned with clotheslines, a space almost

exclusively reserved for servants. Inside the home, the adults acknowledge her only

when a need arises. Sofia angrily orders Cleo to clean up dog waste when Antonio

mentions it, and she’s blamed when a child overhears a marital spat through a closed

door. Nevertheless, she endures, rather stoically, for fear of losing her job and having

to return to her poor village. Beyond an appreciation of Libo or an acknowledgment

of the disregarded servant class in most cultures, Roma is a testament to female

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endurance. At one point, Sofia, fed up with her now-estranged husband, approaches

Cleo and says, “No matter what they tell you, women: we are always alone.” It’s a

lesson that Cleo learns after a single date with Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), a

wannabe martial artist who, in a kind of mating ritual, practices his routine in the buff,

using a shower curtain rod as a bo staff. Several weeks after the encounter, her first,

Cleo learns she is pregnant. Sofia’s reaction is a surprising display of sympathy,

perhaps because her own marriage to Antonio is crumbling. The solidarity between

these women that emerges, or is revealed as a result of Antonio’s betrayal, leads to the

film’s most heartening moments. But as Roma proceeds, ambling through small

domestic scenes and social observations, it never loses Cleo’s marginalized

perspective, which is gradually absorbed into the familial whole. Even when Cuarón

sets the unfolding human drama against the Corpus Christi massacre of June 1971,

where Mexican soldiers killed more than 100 student demonstrators, the sequence is

devoid of political context or detailed explanation. Alas, Lubezki’s busy schedule

meant that Cuarón was forced to move ahead on Roma without him and, similar to the

director-cinematographer duties performed by Paul Thomas Anderson on last year’s

Phantom Thread, Cuarón himself went behind the camera. Anderson and Cuarón

demonstrate their visual acuity and control in their respective efforts, although

comparisons between Cuarón’s style and Lubezki will undoubtedly be made.

Detractors often accuse Cuarón of using all-too-palpable visual metaphors,

citing his apparent need to pinpoint the meaning of a scene in a precise, symbolic

moment, figurative parallel, or visual juxtaposition. Such poetic flourishes, enhanced

by the black-and-white photography throughout, have a place in Roma; though, only

those adverse to thoughtful, expressive filmmaking may hold them against the film.

Note the opening shot of water spreading across the garage tiles as Cleo washes away

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the dog feces. In the reflection, an airplane flies overhead, a million miles away—the

presence of the plane appears throughout the film, including the final shot, reminding

the viewer of our protagonist’s isolated world. A journey to a New Year’s party

hosted by Sofia’s hip friends is contrasted when Cleo goes searching for Fermin in a

dusty, ramshackle village. Similarly, Fermin, much like Antonio, will become an

absent father, establishing the connection between Cleo and Sofia’s experiences with

men. This is all to point out that Cuarón’s film is loaded with a thoughtful visual and

thematic treatment, avoiding an art-for-beauty’s-sake approach. Instead, he delivers a

highly readable intertextuality that one predicts will only grow and tighten with

repeated viewings.

Now look at Uyare; An inconvenience…that’s pretty much what a girl like

Pallavi gets reduced to by the man in her life. For Govind (an excellent Asif Ali),

Pallavi’s pilot training course is just an obstacle that comes in the way when he’s all

set to take her along as he gets a job in Riyadh. When she performs on stage wearing

what she wants to, Govind is inconvenienced for not being told in advance. And when

she celebrates her diploma by going out for dinner, her male friends become another

inconvenience. Govind is what you’d call a “Shammi”, an incomplete man so blinded

by patriarchy that he doesn’t have the balls to see that his woman is better than him.

In a chilling scene, again on the air, see how he tries to manipulate her into pardoning

him for his sin. He doesn’t want her forgiveness, he doesn’t want her love. All he

wants is his career. The same exact thing he stole from her.

Pallavi explains to her father that Govind was once a good man, a

companionate soul who supported her when there was nobody. When its time for the

two to separate temporarily, we only see him crying. Which is why he feels all the

25

more real compared to the dozens of misogynistic possessive lovers we’ve seen on

screen before. Because Govind, after life’s many failures, is someone who needs his

woman to be weak, only for him to feel strong again. Which is also why he resorts to

pouring acid on her, assuming that a woman’s spirit is merely skin deep.Notice

Pallavi in the scene where she looks at the mirror after the attack. She breaks down,

she’s torn and she wants to look away but her biggest worry is NOT that she has lost

her good looks…it’s if she can fly again.

Tovino’s character too is problematic. He’s done a great job but I couldn’t see

beyond the character’s “white saviour” archetype. Which you won’t find in Roma,

even though the director is of a privileged position, he doesn't want to make it a

“white saviour” movie. Even in a film about a woman and her empowerment, why

does she also have to take up the responsibility of converting a boy into a man? When

did a film about a woman overcoming symbolic and literal scars also become about a

spoilt rich kid finding a pair? But this is just turbulence in a smooth flight that takes

us safely to its destination. Chances are that you know a woman like Pallavi

Raveendran – full of beans, with a clear vision for her professional career yet a puddle

of misplaced devotion, fear and guilt around the man she loves. Pallavi’s boyfriend

Govind is a conservative control freak. He wants to be not just her husband but also

the boss of her time, her wardrobe and her plans. Women like her are met with

incredulity in the public discourse around intimate partner violence aka domestic

violence, because most people find it hard to believe that someone so apparently

strong could be bulldozed by another human being. Pallavi in Uyare (High) is on the

way to becoming a professional pilot when Govind’s possessiveness brims over. To

punish her for straining at the straitjacket in which he seeks to bind her, he throws

acid on her face.That terrible moment comes as a shock even though the promotions

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have prepared us by letting it be widely known that Uyare is the story of an acid-

attack survivor piecing her life back together. The feeling of shock arises despite there

being not an atom of sensationalism in the scene, because the narrative is designed to

draw the viewer into Pallavi’s dreams and hopes by then. I can speak for myself: I had

begun to care. An acid attack is not a mere gimmick in debutant director Manu

Ashokan’s hands. His sensitivity is evident in the way the assault is not treated like a

twist in a thriller (the sound design in this portion is stupendous). His achievement

lies in the fact that Uyare is not a film about Pallavi’s tragedy, but about her journey

up to that point and thereafter.

Uyare has been written by the acclaimed team of Bobby and Sanjay whose

empathy for women shines through this soul-shattering yet uplifting film. It is a stark

departure from the refrain about all men as paavam victims of inevitably traitorous

women that is repeated in most Malayalam films. It is also a break from the

trivialisation of harassment by much of mainstream Mollywood. It raises no slogans

but its messaging is clear.Uyare’s Vishal needs her as much as she needs him. The

graph of their association overturns the global Disney Princess stereotype of women

finding their salvation via gallant knights in shining armour on white horses, as it was

overturned by Hollywood’s Maleficent and Frozen or their tentative precursor Pretty

Woman in that final scene in which Edward (Richard Gere) references a dream that

Vivian (Julia Roberts) earlier recounted to him and asks, “So what happened after he

(the prince in the dream) climbed up the tower and rescued her?” to which Vivian

replies, “She rescues him right back.”

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Conclusion

The reason why we have reached where we have with these two seemingly

unrelated movies made about different eras and different people, is because of the

universality of the Human Emotions and Vulnerability. In the previous chapters we

saw what made the films look alike, what made the films look different and etcetera.

And to be completely honest, at parts, it's really surprising how similar the themes are

despite the distance between these worlds. the themes may be similar but the way of

tackling is different. We cannot say Uyare is technically as masterful as Roma, but

thematically? They both are on similar levels. Now we are at the last act of our look at

these films and maybe it's time to look at one of the film’s conclusions again;

Roma's last act throws a lot at the audience after two-acts of relatively small

events. Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) has her baby, but it is stillborn, leading to her having

postpartum depression. The baby's father, Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), had

rejected her and threatened to beat her up if she tried to contact him again – he later

stumbles onto her while looting a store with friends during the Corpus Christi student

riots (an event that leads to her ill-fated labor). The family Cleo works for has also

begun coming to terms with their father, Antonio, also abandoning them. The mother,

Sofia (Marina de Tavira), finally explains to the children he wasn't on a business trip

but had moved out and, going by his failure to send any sort of financial aid back to

them, will not be coming back. The last set-piece of Roma is a family holiday they

take so Antonio can take his things out of the family home.

It's on that holiday that the climax of the narrative occurs, in which two of the

children almost drown swimming at the beach, only for Cleo to save them. All the

kids, Cleo and Sofia huddle together after the incident, Cleo breaking down and

admitting she didn't really want her child, and Sofia telling her the family loves her

and they want to keep her around. Roma's final scene then has the family returning

home, getting used to the slight alterations from their now gone father's things, and

regular life resuming. The conflict, as it were, had been survived because of the unity

Cleo, the other maid Adela and the remaining family have in each other. Cleo caring

for the children allows Sofia to work full-time and process losing her husband, and the

family home serves as a strong foundation from which Cleo receives value and routine

that stops her from being too consumed by the traumatic events key plot in Roma is

the child of Fermin and Cleo. Before the young couple get in bed together in a hotel

room, he demonstrates his martial arts skills and explains to her that martial arts saved

his life. He grew up in slums fostered by his aunt, and had become involved in

criminal activity, drinking and doing drugs. The discipline and principles of control

and internal calm helped him make a better life for himself, all of which is revealed to

be a shallow platitude when he abandons Cleo at a movie theater.When she shows up

to a martial arts practice heavily pregnant, he informs her he will beat her and the

child should she try to track down any more. They incidentally end up confronting

each other when he robs the furniture store she's in during a riot. He stares at her for a

moment before running out with his accomplices, Cleo then going into labor. It

unfolds in the background, but Fermin is a representation of the radicalized Mexico

unfolding in the background of Roma.

One of the least-seen major characters, Fernando Grediago's Antonio is only

on-screen in Roma for mere moments overall. The doctor is revealed to be a pedantic

man in his most prolific sequence where he meticulously parks his car in the driveway

of the house. He's heard arguing with Sofie about the work of the maids, citing the

amount of dog manure in the driveway. He's later seen driving away from a

29

conference in Quebec, Canada under duress from Sofie, and later again one of the kids

spots him outside a movie theater with a young woman. It's presumed that his children

will have a minimal relationship with him at best. The late '60s and early '70s were a

complicated time for Mexico politically. Unease was rife as a large portion of the

population, particularly young people of high-school and college-going age, who were

unhappy with the government. This period is framed as Mexico's "Dirty War" because

leaders tried to silence and minimize dissent using troops and militarized police,

activists and prominent members of insurgent groups would be captured, tortured and

executed, and protests would escalate to violent stand-offs. If Alfonso Cuaron's

Roma could be reviewed in one line, it would be this: Give the Oscar out now and

save us all staying up late next year.

Narratively, we mostly follow Cleo, played by school teacher Yaliza Aparicio,

a maid in the household. She does her job, and is essentially a mother to the

household's children, who are autobiographically based on Cuaron's own upbringing.

She meets a guy, loses a guy, and goes through an utterly gut-wrenching childbirth

experience that would bring tears to the eye of the most jaded audience member.The

narrative is almost secondary though. The pace is slow, the action minimal, and the

storyline pretty much needless. Even when house madame Sofia takes her kids away

to the beach to explain that their father has left for good, we're distracted by the

incredible, cinematic hugeness of the experience.Cuaron could have left his script at

home, and he almost did. Most of the actors, like Aparicio, are not professionals, and

were only shown their lines on the day of shooting. Audiences can simply bathe in his

incredible, sensory experience.

That's not to detract from the performances. Cuaron chose to eschew

established actors for his own reasons, but it certainly worked. We're given kitchen

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sink drama by people who have actually seen a kitchen sink in their lives, and when

the product is this good, you can't help wondering what keeps the Hollywood cabal in

work.When quizzed on the challenges of doing such a sensitive subject, he says,

“There were several questions in front of us. How to say certain things? How to bring

it on screen? How can we do justice to this subject? How to make a film like this

without commercialising it? The film needed a sympathetic approach. It’s possible to

go the melodramatic route by creating a very dark, sad atmosphere, and getting the

actors to cry a lot. But we decided from early on that we didn’t want to go there. We

wanted to be as truthful as we could be to this subject.”

Now the conclusion of Uyare where tackling the post-attack look of Parvathy,

who plays the acid attack survivor, was a challenge. “We asked ourselves if the

prosthetic make-up will freak people out. But at the same time, we wanted to show the

reality as it is. I feel whatever repulsion one feels initially will disappear after a few

minutes; you’ll get used to it. After all, they’re people just like us. We had talked to a

bunch of real-life acid attack survivors, and you can see that they have seen so much

of life. We have used some elements from their lives. A portion of the film was shot at

Sheroes Hangout, Lucknow. And when it comes to Parvathy, she gets deeply involved

with her character. She doesn’t need many retakes. The maximum is two or three, but

that too is a rarity.” If they have something against her, then they shouldn’t take the

Uyare is produced by the daughters of Grihalakshmi Productions’ PV Gangadharan —

Sherga, Shegna, and Shenuga — under the banner of S Cube Films. The team has a

couple of days left to wrap the film. The post-production process, which involves

some complex VFX work, will commence shortly. The movie is about the smart

young girl's dream of flying and becoming a pilot, her orthodox boyfriend with

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superior male patriarchal personality, her accident, her resurrection from that like a

Phoenix, all leading to the unexpected climax... is the presentation. Camera work is

superb to take us through the clouds and above. Background score and songs are apt

for the situation and kept with the theme. More than these, the dialogues were woven

well, to keep the essence of the emotions, it meant. More than the dialogues, 'the

silence' at scenes, spoke in volumes.

And in these regards, movies like these, remind us, over and over again, that we are

human and its nothing to be ashamed of to be wearing the most humane thing on your

sleeve, like an honour. and as Emerson once said: “To be yourself in a world that is

constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

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Works Cited

Roma.Dir by Alfonso cuaron. Perf.Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Nancy Garcia

Garcia, Fernando Grediaga,Jennifer Armour 1971 film.

www.cautionspoilers.com/film-reviews/roma/

www.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_(2018_film)

www.m.imdb.com/title/tt6155172/plotsummary

www.rogerebert.com/reviews/roma-2018

Uyare. Dir by Manu Ashokan. Perf.Parvathy Thiruvothu,Asif Ali,Tovino Thomas

2019 film.

www.durgaindia.org/post/uyare-movie-review

www.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyare

www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/uyare-movie-review-despite-minor-

quibbles-film soars-high-on-parvathys-wings/article26956855.ece

www.theweek.in/review/movies/2019/04/26/Uyare-review-A-poignant-tale-of-

courage-and survival.html