INTRODUCTIONMovies have become part of our life. It was during

the industrial revolution of the 1890s, the wave ofcinema reached to the masses. It was a creative,cheaper, simple medium developed by Lumier Brothersthat entertained the world giving brand new experiencefor millions creating atmosphere of reality andsurprises on silver screen. The visual art reached itspeak during the late Victorian age. It was difficult inthe olden days for the directors to portray theoriginal frames of reality and lure interest of theviewers. It has undergone through many experiments andtechnological adventures to make it richer in outlook.People produced films for expressing their opinion,views and ideas to a mass audience. It has become themost vibrant and effective medium to interact withpeople. It seek to educate, inform, persuade, influenceand entertain them. Pictures, whether cinematographicor photographic, always use the media as a vehicle forconstructing reality. The construction of realitywithin the cinema is understood through films’recording of it. Film becomes a wider marker of culturewhen it is traced as “a recorder of reality - and hencea valuable tool” (Miller, 1992: 192) in themanufacturing of reality and also in our apprehensionof reality. “Film and video are cultural artifacts”

(Bryson, 2000: 99) and as such allow for a visualrepresentation quite unlike “the deceptive world ofwords” (Collier, 2002: 59). Representation is thus made‘real’ to an audience through the medium of film.

Film assembles images together to disseminatecompelling narratives to a vast audience at the sametime. Hence audiences become involved in the process ofrepresentation. They become more than mere passivereceptacles of the images that are presented to them.This is achieved through film’s ability to utilizematerial and institutional practices to makerepresentation more ‘real’. The scope andrepresentation of colonies in contemporary Malayalamfilms, depends a great deal on image-makers carryingmessages across to audiences. Unfortunately most filmicrepresentations of people who live in the suburbanareas or so called ghettos are simply intended tocreate some stereotypes of uncivilized populace.

This ghetto/ colony identity is constructed at various levels in Indian society, imposing particular political and social discursive regimes on these peoplearound a series of false dichotomies and forced choices. This allows for an intellectual, cultural, andmaterial construction of upper cast savarna hegemony onmarginalized people’s culture and identity. It allows

and continues to allow these poor people to be structurally marginalized from the history through the planned exclusion of them from the positive narratives.Exclusion extends a colonial ‘gaze’ on subaltern issuesand ultimately their representation in cultural productions, such as film, where they are shown as nothing else but victims, alcoholics, fringe, and slum dwellers. This paper is an attempt to trace the representation of colonies in contemporary Malayalam films through selected movie experiences, using the theory Michael Foucault about the power and knowledge. Foucault was interested in the way power structures depend upon structures of knowledge (arts, science, medicine, demographics) and how, once they acquire knowledge, create subjects to be controlled.

Foucault’s methodology seeks to understand how somesections of the population have been classified as criminals or insane. That is, he is interested in understanding the process of classification that helpedexclude some people from society. Foucault argues that certain authorities who possess power in society produce knowledge about those who lack power. Such system of knowledge is called ‘discourse’. The arts, religion, science and the law are discourses that ‘produce’ particular subject.

Now after Foucault we know that discourses produce

particular subject to control. People who lack the power to determine their lives and futures are said to lack of agency. They are called ‘subalterns’. Every social formation (context such as a class, nation) has its ownsubalterns. The dominant groups in social structures that construct subalterns also use particular modes to ensure that the subaltern remains powerless. One such means of power relation in favour of dominant category is ideology. Ideology is a system of beliefs and ideas that permeates social formations. Ideology justifies oppression and social inequalities by suggesting that the lower class have always been inferior and persuadesthem of the validity of this belief. That is, ideology circulates as a system of representation and image that‘naturalizes’ oppression is natural.- (An introduction to Cultural studies by Pramod Nair) Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony is of particular salience to the exploration of racial representations in the media because of its focus on culture and ideology. Unlike Marxist theories of domination, Gramsci relegates economic determinants to the background and brings to the fore the role of intellectuals in the process. The fact that television and cinema are central to popular culture is crucial because Gramsci says particular attention should be given to 'everyday' routine structures and 'common sense' values in trying to locate mechanisms of

domination (Gitlin, 1994:517). Many of the clearly racist images of past television and cinema that are now fading from western screens can, in hindsight, be easily explained in hegemonic terms - particularly in relation to colonialism and white supremacy. The use ofGramsci's notion of hegemony does not expire here, however; it can be used to identify both elements of the old racist stereotypes and new, but destructive, representations of racial minorities in the current media of a seemingly liberal society. Thus, it is unsurprising that racism, though perhaps more covertly,still pervades our society.

In order to see how hegemonic ideals of white supremacyhide themselves in current media, it is first necessaryto illustrate the racist stereotypes which evolved in the media of a less liberal society. Hall outlines three base images of the 'grammar of race' employed in 'old movies'. The first is the slave figure which could take the form of either the 'dependable, loving… devoted "Mammy" with the rolling eyes, or the faithful field, attached and devoted to "his" master' (Hall, 1995:21). The underlying message of such images is clear: the slave is someone who is willing to serve theirmaster; their devotion allows a white audience to displace any guilt about their history of colonialism and slavery. The consequence of such messages relates

to Gramsci's idea of 'spontaneous consent' (Strinati, 1995:165) or 'consensual control', whereby individuals '"voluntarily" assimilate the world-view or hegemony ofthe dominant group' (Ransome, 1992:150). Thus the practice of slavery has been made acceptable and therefore goes unquestioned; the destructive potential of such images is evident - especially when you consider that the slave figure is prominent in the classic film Gone with the Wind (Hall, 1995:21).

HISTORY OF INDIAN CINEMALumier Brothers demonstrated the art of motion

pictures for the first time in India in 1896 at Bombay.It was the first Indian city that screenedCinematography, six short films by the LumiereBrothers. The moving images were screened at Watsonhotel at Bombay. The motion pictures followed by ‘Arrivalof train’, ‘the sea bath’, ‘a demolition’, ‘workers living the factory’,‘Ladies and soldiers on wheels were flickered on that evening.When it screened the audience tried to run for fear ofthe train may hit. It was not sure happened. But thisirony understood the power of motion picture or themovies. Dada Saheb Phalke or Dhundraj Govind Phalkemade the silent Feature film Raja Harishchandra in 1913.But the era of talkies began in 1931 when the firstfilm ‘AlamAra’ was produced by Adarsh Irani. The Indianfilm industry is the oldest and the largest in the

world with over approximately 1200 movies releasedannually.

HISTORY OF MALAYALAM CINEMAHistory of Malayalam film industry starts with 1928. JCDaniel, a business man who didn't had any priorexperience with cinema introduced films in Kerala. Hisfilm “Vigathakumaran” was the first silent Malayalammovie, it was failed economically. But he had thecourage to produce the first ever Malayalam film with asocial theme. The second film ‘Marthandavarma’ based on anovel of the same name by C V Raman Pillai, wasproduced by Sunder Raj in 1933. But due to a legalconfrontation regarding the rights of the film, theproducer had to withdraw the film from cinema hallsafter a few exhibitions. The first Malayalam cinemawith a sound track was released in 1938. The film ‘Balan’produced by R.Sundaram and directed by Notani was amelodrama with more Tamil influence than Malayalam.Following the commercial success of ‘Balan’, more filmslike ‘Jnanambika’(1940) and ‘Prahlada’(1941) came out tothe theatres. P.J.Cheriyan’s‘Nirmala’ (1948) wasthe first film to explore the possibility ofmusic and songs in cinema. The lyrics of the

film penned by the legendary Malayalam poetG.ShankaraKurup became very popular that song-dancesequences became essential ingredient of Malayalamcinema. Now Malayalam film industry is turning intoanother way. Arrival of new directors, Actors changedthe treatment of contemporary films. Some film criticscalled it as ‘new generation films’ and some otherscritics opposed it. The controversy about thisphenomenon is going on.

MEDIA CULTURE AND CULTURAL STUDIESCommunication is about language, discourse, andrepresentation. It is a two way process in which themessage is sent from a centre through a channel to areceiver. Media propaganda and other cultural formsrepresent women, men, religion, ethnic groups, region,nations etc. Representation can be an image, a word, asound or a concept.

In today’s world media often shape and influence whatone thinks about his surroundings in a largely mediatedsociety, media contents, especially the visual imagesdo a decisive role to create certain stereotypes andpublic opinion built up on those typical images. Thisinvasive effect of media is seen and heard every day,even if one often thinks he does not. We see and hear

media content in the most unusual places and contexts.With its extra ordinary power to communicate andpersuade, the media, especially the visual media likeTV and film invade the mindset of the entire society.Throughout the history, the representation of people,culture and other aspects of human life by the mediahas made crucial impacts on the entire humancivilization. The medium of film is vulnerable to thecriticism as it often tried to create hegemony of eliteclasses while denouncing the down-trodden sections ofthe society. The marginalization process of films isvery dangerous as it encourages bad tendencies toproject certain communities and cultures of thesociety. The representation of blacks and Africa inHollywood films is a clear example for this phenomenon.Historically, images of Africa and Africans inHollywood and other mainstream films have been tightlyinterlinked with racist colonial ideologies. The racialhierarchy employed by these films is informed by thenotion of racist human evolutionism introduced by theEuropean Enlightenment and proliferated throughoutAfrica during colonialism. Hollywood and smallerindustries continually stick on to this racist model ofhumanity and culture by representing Africa inessentialist tropes: tortured black bodies, whiteguilt, black demons, and white intellect; to name afew. Yet, the imperialist framework of representation

that is still effective today did not derive from akind of colonial ignorance.  There is a popularassumption that misrepresentations, or ‘false’ imagesof Africa rest on Western ignorance and those ‘true’images of Africa are based on knowledge. "Even todaythe motion picture has not quite outgrown itsimmaturity. It still uses talented Negro players to fitinto the stereotypes of the loving Mammy and comicservant."-Edith J. R. Isaachs in "Theater Arts, "August,1942.

Most Hollywood war movies on Africa depict Africans asa gang of irrational beings killing each other andAfrica’s salvation can only come from the ‘west’. Bythis logic, therefore, Africa is associated with aculture of violence. In Moravo’s novel, Two Women, thatchronicles the home front in World War II Italy, thereis no rape scene but in Vittorio de Sicca’s filmversion of the novel, there is the merciless rape ofmother, Cesira (Sophia Loren) and her 13-year-old daughterRosetta (Eleonora Brown). Why the rapists are Africans(North Africans) is a cause for concern. This wasdeliberate and unfair attempt to bring Africans intothe scene as rapists. This is clear cultural violence.The media sets the tone for the morals, values, andimages of people’s culture. But quiet unfortunatelymany people believe that the degrading stereotypes of

blacks are based on reality and not fiction. Everythingthey believe about blacks is determined by what theysee on television. After over a century of moviemaking, these horrible stereotypes continue to plagueus today, and until negative images of blacks areextinguished from the media, blacks will be regarded assecond-class citizens.

The same thing happened in the case of Orientalstoo. They constructed the images of East as the cultureless and ignorant, superficies human beings. EdwardSaid has critically analyzed the filmic images createdby the West to distort the culture and values of thepeople of east. He has discussed it in detail ascultural imperialism. Gradually this tendency ofmarginalizing certain sections became a trend for theemerging film makers and its reflections appeared inthe mainstream films of almost every nation. Thesepapers will analysis how the so called ghettos/colonies are represented by the contemporary Malayalammovies.

The Politics of Colonies A colony is usually the poor section of a cityinhabited primarily by people of the same race,religion, or social background, often because ofdiscrimination. It is the part of the city, not

necessarily a slum area, occupied by a minority group.There is also another word called ‘ghettto’, which isinterchangeably used with ‘colony’ in a similarcultural and political environment. The term ghetto wasfirst used for the enforced concentration of Jews intospecific residential areas in European cities from themiddle Ages, but has now spread to include other ethnicgroups in unofficial ghettos, especially blackminorities in the USA and elsewhere. Lifestyles withinthe ghetto differ distinctly from those of the ‘host’population and the prejudices of the host confine thesub-group to particular locations. Although ghettos arecharacterized by social disadvantage, most ghettosdisplay a spread of socio-economic groups and thebetter-off may move to the affluence of the ‘gildedghetto’. The word Colony comes from the Latin wordcolōnia. This in turn derives from the word colōnus,which means colonist but also implies a farmer. Cologneis an example of a settlement preserving thisetymology. Other, less obvious settlements that beganas Roman colonia include cities from Belgrade to York.A tell-tale sign of a settlement once being a RomanColony is a city centre with a grid pattern. Theterminology is taken from architectural analogy, wherea column pillar is beneath the (often stylized) headcapital, which is also a biological analog of the bodyas subservient beneath the controlling head (with

'capital' coming from the Latin caput, meaning 'head').So colonies are not independently self-controlled, butrather are controlled from a separate entity thatserves the capital function.

Roman colonies first appeared when the Romans conqueredneighboring I talic peoples . These were small farmingsettlements that appeared when the Romans had subduedan enemy in war. A colony could take many forms, as atrade outpost or a military base in enemy territory,but its original definition as a settlement created bypeople migrating from a home territory became themodern definition.

In cinemas, colonies are representing as the area ofcriminal, smugglers, sex workers and murderers. Butreally it is the open space of outer mainstream middleclass people. There are always elements ofgeneralization when one talks about the colony. Thetalks and thoughts regarding the colony in visual mediaand dailies are by and large constructed in oppositionto the existing habits and behavior of the middleclass. Those who are outside the middle class valuesystem are subjects who have to be modernized. This isthe general modernizing attitude of the middle classpeople. The best example of the attitude that one canpatronize people and supposedly make them similar/equalis that of the people of the colony.

There are varied things that can be seen asconstituting the problems of the colony. One is thatthe colony is seen as “the underworld” or a particularkind of street. The colony is considered as the waste-bin of urban development. Similarly members of themainstream society see the colony as a place which isdensely populated by “bad” people. The colony isconsidered as a space where all types of pollutants andevils are occupied. Everyone, except a few enlightenedpeople in the colony, think of the colony as a placewhere marginalized sections like sex workers,fugitives, criminals, murderers etc. are supposed toend up.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Media Representation Theory

Representation refers to the construction in any medium(especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. Media Semiotics by David Chandler (2006) defines Media representation as:-

“Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of reality such as people places objects events and cultural identities. The term refers to the process as well as to its products. For instance into the key markers of identity (class, age, gender and ethnicity) representation involves not only how identities are represented within the text but also how they are

constructed in the process of production and reception.”

The term refers to the processes involved as well as toits products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity (the - representation involves not only how identities are represented (or rather constructed) within the textbut also how they are constructed in the processes of production and reception by people whose identities arealso differentially marked in relation to such demographic factors. Consider, for instance, the issue of ‘the gaze’. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women? A key in the study of representation concern is with the way in which representations are made to seem ‘natural’. Systems of representation are the means by which the concerns of ideologies are framed; such systems ‘position’ their subjects. Semiotics and content analysis (quantitative and qualitative) are the main methods of formal analysis of representation. Television and film are the most rewarding media to usewhen teaching representations of class because of the contradictions which involve a mass medium attempting to reach all the parts of its class-differentiated audience simultaneously... Its representations of classcan perhaps best be approached by teaching how class

relations are represented and mediated within differentTV genres and forms (Alvarado et al. 1987: 153).

The easiest way to understand the concept of representation is to remember that watching a TV programme is not the same as watching something happen in real life. All media products re-present the real world to us; they show us one version of reality, not reality itself. So, the theory of representation in Media Studies means thinking about how a particular person or group of people is being presented to the audience. In a film, the director wants the audience tobe on the side of the protagonist and hope that the antagonist will fail. This means that the audience has to identify with the protagonist – they have to have a reason to be ‘on his/her side’.But directors only have a couple of hours to make you identify with the protagonist – so, they have to use a kind of ‘shorthand’. This is known as typing – instead of each character being a complex individual, who wouldtake many hours to understand, we are presented with a ‘typical’ character that we recognize quickly and feel we understand. Usually there are three different kinds of character typing: 1.An archetype is a familiar character that has emergedfrom hundreds of years of fairytales and storytelling.2. A stereotype is a character usually used in

advertising and marketing in order to sell a particularproduct to a certain group of people. They can also be used ‘negatively’ in the Media – such as ‘asylum seekers,’ or ‘hoodies’.3. A generic type is a character familiar through use in a particular genre (type) of movie.The way certain groups of people are represented in themedia can have a huge social impact. For example, wouldpeople’s attitudes to asylum seekers change if they were presented differently in the media? When media producers want you to assume certain things about a character, they play on existing representations of people in the media. This can reinforce existing representations. At other times, media producers can change the way certain groups are presented, and thus change the way we see that particular group. Changing these representations can also create depth in a character.

Race, representation and the politics offilms

All media texts are re-representations of reality, so when creating media we deliberately make decisions to give our view of how the world is around us, if as a general society we are fair in our judgments or if we

are very much judgmental for all the wrong reasons. Although it is controversial that all the media texts we are around give us a blinkered view of society without them it would be very difficult to get a grasp on reality. Class is an issue within the world of representation in the media; it has been suggested by an American report that over 2 years of prime-time TV only 27 hours addressed the concerns of the working class whilst 253 hours focused upon upper class. In theUK it is very much portrayed that when it comes to economic classes we favour the middle and upper class white males. Within our film we stuck to this representation and our lead male character was a white upper-class professor and our antagonist was a black male criminal. However it is suggested to our audience that the black character is not such a lower class because he is educated with specialist knowledge of hiscult and beliefs. Crime is another issue associated with class, suggesting that it is only the lower classes that are involved in it and the majorities are black males.

Stereotypes and Misconceptions in world cinema“Not all stereotyping is bad. Stereotyping arises out

of the need to generalize in order to make sense out ofa very complicated environment. It allows people to easily categorize new things into comfortable spaces already defined by their experiences”. This process wasdescribed in 1922 by Walter Lippmann, who first coined the term "stereotyping." Lipmann wrote, "the attempt tosee all things freshly and in detail, rather than as types and generalities, is exhausting, and ... practically out of the question."

The media uses stereotypes as a shorthand method of defining characters in ways that are easy for people toidentify and categorize. What these stereotypes all have in common is that they reduce to a one-sided, superficial and exaggerated depiction the real variety,depth and complexity of a people. Negative stereotypes are prejudicial judgments that assign negative qualities to other groups. Negative stereotyping arisesout of an ethnocentric view of the world; one’s own group is the center of everything and all other groups are rated in reference to it. “The ways in which the Negro has affected the American psychology are betrayedin our popular culture and in our morality; in our estrangement from him is the depth of our estrangement from us. We cannot ask: what do we really feel about him – such a question merely opens the gates on chaos. Whatwe really feel about him is involved with all that we

feel about everything, about everyone, about ourselves.” James Baldwin, “Many Thousands Gone” Partisan Review (1951)

Repetition tends to normalize stereotypes, because repeating stereotypes validates and perpetuates them. Because stereotypes often contain a "kernel of truth" (they may be characteristic of some or many members of a group) they are widely accepted as the truth. However, specific tendencies that may be widespread among a group should never be applied to every member of a group. That's because the stereotypes generalize individuals within a group, emphasizing sameness and ignoring individual variety.

The repetition of racist stereotypes can be used to justify actions that would normally be unimaginable, aswas the case with Germany during World War Two. Hitler's anti-Semitism could never have precipitated the Holocaust if Germans didn't already have a long history of anti-Semitic beliefs and actions. The repetition of negative racial stereotypes about Jews and other so-called "undesirables" ultimately propelledordinary Germans to systematically kill millions of innocent men, women and children. 

Negative racial stereotyping was used by all sides

during the Second World War to demonize enemies. Raciststereotypes were also used to justify a steady stream of civilian deaths and crimes against humanity, and theUS was certainly no exception. The firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo as well as the atomic bombs that weredropped on Japan caused human slaughter on a massive scale. Ordinary Americans believed these actions were justified because of the negative stereotyping of America's enemies that preceded the war, and the more virulent forms that emerged during the war. 

The media today is more sensitive to issues of culture and gender than it once was, but the creation and perpetuation of common misconceptions about groups of people continues. Oversimplified and inaccurate portrayals have profoundly affected how we perceive oneanother, how we relate to one another and how we value ourselves. (Rascist-stereotypes.com)

Ever since its inception, the cinema has influenced theway moviegoers view life. This was an especially powerful reality in early Hollywood films, which depicted their own interpretation of social mores and moral proclivities to mesmerized, largely naive audiences who accepted what they saw on the screen as truth. (Angela Coleman)

In classical Hollywood cinema, representation of black skin is coded in contrast of white skin to connote white superiority and self-regard as black inferiority.While this is mostly in regards to the image of black skin, this argument can be applied to other racial representations as well. Classical Hollywood’s representations of ‘the other’ races (encompassing all non-white races, I use ‘the other’ not to come across as racist myself, but to explain how Hollywood often represents non-white as an ‘otherness’) is used to reinforce ideas of white superiority; justifying Euro-American colonization and imperialism. To achieve this,‘the other’ is placed in a static position in history, represented as violent savages in opposition to white colonization: they have no future and are given no past, no identity beyond their opposition to the Euro-American plight. ‘The other’ has two choices, to eitherfight against colonization or to be destroyed, or to serve under a white master, helping them fight for Euro-American colonialism, either actively in a war or passively serving a master.

Movies have always been a powerful medium for the propagation of racial stereotypes. Early silent movies such as The Wooing and Wedding of a Coon in 1904, The Slave in 1905, The Sambo Series 1909-1911 and The Nigger in 1915 offered the existing stereotypes through an exciting

new medium. 

The premiere of Birth of a Nation in 1915 marked a change inemphasis from the pretentious and inept Jim Crow stereotypes to that of the Savage Negro. In D.W. Griffith's film, the Ku Klux Klan rescues the South andSouthern women in particular, from savage Blacks who have gained power over Whites with the help of Northerncarpetbaggers. Griffith later admitted that his film was designed to, "create a feeling of abhorrence in white people, especially white women, against colored men." The Birth of Nation released in 1915 was one of the most controversial motion picture based on The Clansman, a book by Rev. Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith's 3 hour and 7 minute movie’s plot revolved around two families, the Stonemans from the North and the Cameronsfrom the South, and what happens to them during the course of and after the Civil War.

African-Americans are portrayed quiet miserably in thisfilm, as docile, childlike domestics or brutal rapists or buffoonish politicians. The only way to "rescue" theSouth from the clutches of these despots, according to Griffith's film, was to have the white heroes form an organization to combat the spoiling of their beloved land. The Ku Klux Klan is then introduced as the answer, as the white-sheeted lads put everything and everyone back into their "rightful" place at the

victorious conclusion of this movie. To add more insultto injury, the black characters were not even played byblack actors, but by white actors in blackface, meaningthat there was no possible way to attempt to humanize them. It was irresponsible, bigoted and disastrous for the image of African-Americans. Watching a print of this movie today will make you visibly wince at the caricatures of people of color. Black skin in cinema became something to be feared, black skin was to connote the savage villain. The imagery in The Birth of a Nation was so strong that it quickly became controversial and while filmmakers were afraid to so outwardly display black skin in violent opposition withwhite, the codes and signs continued to exist as a representation of ‘the other’ in classical Hollywood. The final ride of the KKK was film propaganda, it caused the audience to scream and cheer in delight at the white heroes while booing and hissing at the black militants. These trends continued to run through almostevery film with black characters for a long time. And even later, film-makers took these ideas, these images of blackness, but tone them down in order to not offendaudiences.

All the same, it became a huge success for Griffith andeven received the sanctioning of President Woodrow Wilson, who declared, upon viewing a showing of The Birth

of a Nation in the White House, that it was "like writing history with lightning". A Southerner himself, he, too,romanticized the images of the Old South depicted, as did the majority of white moviegoers who saw it. Despite the controversy, The Birth of a Nation became the highest grossing film of its time and did extensive harm to the way African-Americans were perceived historically and socially. There are many more films inthis category. In Old Kentucky (1927) Gone with the Wind, Hotel Rwanda, Blood diamond are a few to name the list.

OrientalismThe US-Palestinian scholar Edward Said's signature contribution to academic life is his critically acclaimed work Orientalism. It has been influential in about half a dozen established disciplines, especially literary studies (English, comparative literature), history, anthropology, sociology and media studies (especially of the Middle East studies), and comparative religion. However, as big as Orientalism was to academia, Said’s thoughts on literature and art continued to evolve over time, and were encapsulated in Culture and Imperialism (1993), a book which appeared nearly 15 years after Orientalism (1978). Put highly reductively, the development of his thought can be

understood as follows: Said’s early work began with a gesture of refusal and rejection, and ended with a kindof ambivalent acceptance. If Orientalism questioned a pattern of misrepresentation of the non-western world, Culture and Imperialism explored with a less confrontational tone the complex and ongoing relationships between east and west, colonizer and colonized, white and black, and metropolitan and colonial societies. 

In this work, Said analyses about the stereotypes assigned to Oriental cultures and "Orientals" as individuals are pretty specific: Orientals are despoticand clannish. They are despotic when placed in positions of power, and sly and obsequious when in subservient positions. Orientals, so the stereotype goes, are impossible to trust. They are capable of sophisticated abstractions, but not of concrete, practical organization or rigorous, detail-oriented analysis. Their men are sexually incontinent, while their women are locked up behind bars. Orientals are, by definition, strange. The best summary of the Orientalist mindset would probably be: “East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet” (Rudyard Kipling). 

In his book, Said asks: but where is this sly, devious,

despotic, mystical Oriental? Has anyone ever met anyonewho meets this description in all particulars? In fact,this idea of the Oriental is a particular kind of myth produced by European thought, especially in and after the 18th century. In some sense his book Orientalism aims to dismantle this myth, but more than that Said's goal is to identify Orientalism as a discourse. He uses the examples of various films and caricatures that Orientalists scholars depict the culture and tradition of the people of East, especially the Muslim majority countries.

Reel bad ArabsNegative portraits of Arabs are found in numerous popular films, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Back to the Future (1985), and True Lies (1994). While producers, executives and others in entertainment industry deny perpetuating stereotypes, negative attitudes towards Arabs are self-evident in the depictions. Until the media make greater use of positive aspects of Arab culture and peoples within normal everyday contexts negative stereotypes will continue to be the dominant images.

A good example of cartoons depicting Arabs in a negative manner is the Disney animated feature film, Aladdin (1993). In its attempts to make the film

more appealing to the Western world, Disney Americanized the names and appearances of the lead characters. The film‘s light-skinned lead characters, Aladdin and Jasmine, have Anglicized features and Anglo-American accents while most of the other characters are dark-skinned, swarthy and villainous, with Arabic accents and grotesque facial features. 

Disney is by no means the only offender. Arab stereotypes are a staple of Saturday morning TV cartoons that depict Arab women as belly dancers and harem girls, and Arab men as marauding tribesmen, violent terrorists, and oil sheiks.

Scores of comedies have presented Arabs as buffoons. Many popular stars have mocked Arabs: Laurel and Hardy in Beau Hunks (1931); Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in Road to Morocco (1942); the Marx Brothers in A Night in Casablanca (1946); Abbott and Costello in Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950); the Bowery Boys in Bowery to Baghdad (1955); Phil Silvers in Follow that Camel (1967) Marty Feldman in The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977); DustinHoffman and Warren Beatty in Ishtar (1987).

Arabs trying to abduct, rape, and or kill fair skinned Western maidens has been another very popular theme that dates to the earliest days of filmmaking. In Captured by Bedouins (1912) marauding tribesmen kidnap a

Western girl, try to seduce her, and then demand a ransom for her return. Their plans are thwarted when the girl's British officer fiancée sneaks into their camp and rescues her.

Several films with the same theme were popular in the 1980s; desert sheikhs abducting and threatening to rapeWestern maidens; Brook Shields in Sahara (1983), Goldie Hawn in Protocol (1984), Bo Derek in Bolero (1984), and Kim Basinger in Never Say Never Again (1986).

Israeli Film producers Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus bought the American film company Cannon Films in the 1980s and produced a string of 26 virulent anti-Arab films like Hell Squad (1985), Invasion USA (1985), The Delta Force (1986), Delta Force II (1986), and Killing Streets (1991). These films pioneered the stereotype of Arab terroristsin action films and most of the Arabs were played as broad caricatures by Israeli actors in "arab face."

In Executive Decision (1996) terrorists hijack a Boeing 747,en-route to Washington, DC. They beat and kill innocentpeople, including a flight attendant and a US Senator while demanding the release of a terrorist leader who was previously captured by US authorities. But after the leader is released it is revealed that the actual mission is to blow-up Washington DC and contaminates the entire Eastern Seaboard of the USA with a nerve gas

that was hidden aboard the aircraft. When one terroristobjects to the new mission as something that Allah would not approve of, he is promptly killed by the terrorist leader.

In The Siege (1998) New York City is terrorized by a series of bombings carried out by a fifth column of Arab-American blue collar workers and students. They detonate a bomb in a Federal Building, a crowded theater, and a city bus. These actions cause the imposition of martial law and widespread violations of the civil rights of Arab-Americans. The abuses ignite abacklash of protests from the Arab-Americans that otherterrorists seek to exploit by bombing their own people in the midst of a protest. The terrorists' plan to cause and exploit divisions among Americans is foiled, but in many ways the film itself serves the same ends by sowing fear and suspicion along racial lines.  

In Rules of Engagement (2000) producers broke new ground inAmerican cinema by attempting to justify the slaughter of children. The film slowly reveals details that bringviewers to the point where the machine-gunning of a crowd of Arab demonstrators outside of an American embassy seems reasonable because the American commanding officer believed some in the crowd were firing at his soldiers. When the smoke clears, 83 civilians lie dead and 100 have been wounded, including

many women and children, but no weapons are ever found.After an international outcry, the commanding officer is charged with the murder of innocent civilians.  

Television tends to perpetuate four basic myths about Arabs: they are all fabulously wealthy; they are barbaric and uncultured; they are sex maniacs with a penchant for white slavery; and they revel in acts of terrorism. Yet, just a little surface probing reveals that these notions are as false as the assertions that Blacks are lazy, Hispanics are dirty, Jews are greedy and Italians are criminals. ( Jack G Shaheen, The TV Arab)

In early films, American Indians were almost always depicted as half-clothed savages, screaming war cries as they got shot off their horses by the white heroes. It's almost comical now, but that was the only Hollywood image of American Indians until the mid- to late-1970s; and it was exported to the entire world.

Thomas Ince's Heart of an Indian (1912) showed Indians as sensitive people but DW Griffith's The Battle of Elderbrush Gulch (1914) presented the Indians as absolute savages. The Vanishing American (1925) and Broken Arrow (1950) present a "noble savage" stereotype.

The Indian woman of early films was depicted in only two categories. She was either a princess or a squaw.

Either she was a dangerous and seductive threat to the white frontiersman, or she was the faceless, dutiful figure tagging along behind her buck with papoose in tow. Her only utterance was "Ugh." The word "squaw" means wife, but only through a very rough interpretation and in only one of the hundreds of Native American languages. The princesses of celluloid fame generally served the white man, fell in love with him, and died tragically. Early white male stars who played Indian roles in western film pantomimed their Indian-ness in braided wigs and make-up; likewise, established white actresses always played Indian princesses. Some of those seen bathing in the streams and in chic haute couture doeskin dresses were Yvonne de Carlo (The Deerslayer, 1943), Elsa Martinelli (Indian Fighter, 1955), Linda Darnell (Buffalo Bill, 1943), Debra Paget (Broken Arrow, 1950).

In early Hollywood Westerns, most of the backgrounds Indians were real Navajo people. There was a colony of Navajo Indians living traditionally in a camp in Malibuwho were on studio pay. When Indians of any tribe were needed for a western, a bus would pull up and load up for their background work. That is why in all those films, most of the time the language you hear spoken is"Dine," one of the Athapascan dialects of the Navajo and Apache people. The major speaking roles for

American Indians would still go to non-Native actors like Burt Lancaster and Charles Bronson. 

Progress has been gradual, but somewhat steady. Jay Silverheels -- a native of the Six Nations of the GrandRiver reserve near Ontario, Canada -- was perhaps the first legitimate Native American television star. From 1949 to 1957, he entertained TV audiences as Tonto, theLone Ranger's dependable -- albeit stereotypical -- Indian sidekick. The real Silverheels, though, was not limited by the stereotype. He recognized that fellow Native American actors needed to truly be masters of their craft in order to compete in the unforgiving filmindustry, so he founded the American Indian Actors Workshop in Echo Park, Calif., as a place where they could do that. In 1979, Jay Silverheels was the first native American actor to be awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

In 1956, John Ford's film, The Searchers, earned praise for its more balanced depiction of American Indians. But "balanced" had a different meaning back then. In "The Searchers" Indians are portrayed only as savages who kill innocent settlers and kidnap and rape their women. The hero, John Wayne, is someone who hates Indians so much that he thinks that white women, who are raped by them, should be killed. Stagecoach is

another John Ford/John Wayne film where Native Americans are nothing but vile savages who deserve to be shot. These films are considered classic Westerns byfilm critics who ignore the blatant racism in them.

The Navajos in Monument Valley who worked on The Searchers -- as extras, consultants or other staff -- were paid less than their white counterparts. At that time, too, they were not even allowed to leave the reservation without written permission from the government; so the fact that they were happy to have the work must be viewed in that light. But Ford's efforts were progressive for his day and laid the groundwork for some of the more truly balanced movies to come. 

It was in the 1970s that Indians began to be portrayed more authentically and more prominently in film story lines. In Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman the native Americans are actually shown laughing and crying, like real human beings rather than the stereotypical stoic and unemotional Indians normally seen in Hollywood features. The Indians were depicted just like any otherpeople -- some good, some not so good. Chief Dan Georgewas nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, making him the first Native American to receive the honor.

In 1975, Will Sampson delivered an uncanny performance as Chief Bromden, one of the most pivotal characters in One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest. But instead of crediting Sampson's acting skill and talent for his indelible depiction of the character, whom he made absolutely unforgettable while having almost no lines. The Hollywood press diminished his skill and talent to simply "acting Indian." Explaining why Will Sampson wasoverlooked for an Academy Award nomination, one director was even quoted as saying, "Why should an Indian receive an award for playing an Indian?"

That is how, in the eyes of many directors, Sampson's performance became a pattern for the big silent Indian.Sampson was typecast and did not have access to a widerrange of roles that would have demonstrated his talents. But Will Sampson was determined to make change, one way or another. He went on to be one of thefounders of the American Indian Film Institute, producers of the American Indian Film Festival. 

There were other noteworthy films in the 1970s, like A Man Called Horse. But then we had to wait until the early1990s for Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves that had a modern take on American Indian people and how the Lakota people of the plains might have lived. Some claim Costner's story showed the Indians as too

uniformly benevolent and white folks as simply evil. After all, though in real life Indian nations suffered much ill treatment at the hands of the government, not all real white people were bad and not all real Indianswere angelic. But the overall message of the movie was a good one. Graham Greene, with his brilliant performance as Kicking Bird, joined the ranks of Oscar nominees with a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Hollywood also had Iron Eyes Cody. His ancestry became the center of some controversy when it became known that he was actually Italian by birth. But he did not just work as an Indian in Hollywood in the 1950s and '60s; he truly lived his life as an Indian. He can be credited as the most famous Indian in the world during that time. Even though he was not born an Indian, we should not forget that Iron Eyes Cody raised awareness for the American Indian people and also of the importance of environmentalism (Keep America Beautiful Public Service ad campaign) in a way that no one else was able to do at that time.

Whether the noble Indian is shedding a tear for a 1960s' environmental public service commercial or beingsaved by the great white hope Captain John Smith in therecent Disney movie Pocahontas, hints of self-pity and romanticism continue to haunt American Indians in film.While Hollywood no longer portrays American Indians as

painted and uncivilized savages, waving tomahawks and scalping the innocent European settlers, contemporary movies maintain the stoic `Indian' image smothered withsentimentality.

Nowadays, most producers do their best to hire actors that are from American Indian descent, or at least to some degree. But the issue is still a sensitive one. There is much bickering and infighting about who shouldget the available roles in Hollywood A-list films.

There have been mixed reactions to Johnny Depp playing the lead role of Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger movie; some people insist they must know, does hehave Indian blood, and is it enough? The beautiful Q'Orianka Kilcher landed the lead role of Pocahontas inTerrence Malick's The New World, but some in the Native community were not pleased that she was of Peruvian andGerman descent. Rudy Youngblood, aka Gonzales, endured the same intense scrutiny when he got the lead role in Mel Gibson's film Apacalypto. But we don't hear much fuss about Jake Gyllynhall playing the Prince of Persia, Mel Gibson playing a Scot in Brave Heart or Anthony Quinnplaying Zobra the Greek when In fact he was one hundred percent Mexican. 

Russell Means, an American Indian activist who has

played high profile parts in several movies including The Last of the Mohicans,Natural Born Killers, and Wagons East!, stated that "...as Americans we have faced up to many social ills. Anti-Semitism, racism against blacks, oppression of women, and now it's time to face up to the Indian issue."

The American Indian Film Institute (AIFI) is a non-profit media arts center founded in 1979 to foster understanding of the culture, traditions and issues of contemporary Native Americans. In 1992 the Native American Producer's Alliance was created. 

 

OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized effort to gain new knowledge”. Research is an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its advancement. It is the pursuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and experiments. . In fact, it is an art of scientific investigation. In the case of every kind of thesis research is an inevitable part. Basically we mean Research is a word which is used to describe a number of similar and often overlapping activities involving aresearch for information. The advanced Learners Dictionary of current English lays down the meaning of research as “a careful investigation or inquiry, especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge”.

Primary Objectives

The primary objective of my study is to analyses the representation of colonies in Malayalam films with reference to some contemporary Malayalam movies.

Specific Objectives

The specific objective of my study is to understand howthe elitism of Savarna Hindus uses the media of Film to

maintain their hegemony in the real society by depicting the Dalits, Muslims and other minority groupsas savages.

Operational Definitions

• Representation: The act of representing a place or a community or the state of them being represented by any medium.

• Films: A Film, also called a movie or motion picture, series of skill or moving images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques on visual effects.

• Colony: A group of people with the same interests or ethnic origin concentrated in a particular area.

MethodologyThe term methodology indicates the practical way in which the whole research project has been organized. Content analysis method was adopted for the purpose of the study. I selected three contemporary Malayalam films to examine the representation of colonies. The films are ‘Best actor, Chotta Mumbai and Anwar’.

The Scope of the study

There is no serious attempt made by the sociologists oranthropologists to study about the representation of colonies in Malayalam movies, and the impact of the celluloid images of marginalized people on the psyches of the audience from various social classes. So my study may shed light for the cultural scientists to study and analysis the phenomenon in detail. It will help the policy makers of the state to take adequate steps to tackle the discrimination of these so called savage people.

Limitation of the StudyFor the purpose of the study, I have selected only three films in which colony life is directly portrayed.It's the limitation of my research thesis.  There is a great room for further research on various problem questions dealing with the politics of representation and the portrayal of backward people.     

CONTENT ANALYSIS

Best ActorBest Actor is a 2010 Malayalam movie co-written and directed by Martin Prakatt, produced by Noushad under the banner of Big screen. The movie features Mega star Mammootty, Sruthi Krishnan in title roles. The film was the directorial debut of Martin Prakatt, an acclaimed photographer. Several directors in Malayalam film industry made cameo appearance in the film. The cinematography of the film was done by Ajayan Vincent. The film registered gross collection and became box office hit. In the movie, Mammootty plays Mohan, a school teacher who dreams of being an actor someday. What makes Mohan different is that he isn't the kind who sits dreaming home; rather he leaves no stone unturned to make his dream come true. Prompted by a bunch of young film makers, Mohan decides to transform himself for a toughie role and joins a group of local ‘thugs’ (Lal, Nedumudi, Salim Kumar &Vinayakan) under the guise of a Mumbai goon. 

The representation of colony in this movie is a typicalexample that how Malayalam films by film makers

obsessed with Savarna upper cast nostalgia depict the culture and nature of colony people. They are represented as group of gangsters, thugs, terrorists and sub humans like so called underworld dons of various cities. The frames of the film featuring colonies are nothing but the repetition of the stereotypes that Malayalam films used to construct fromthe very early stages of the industry including in muchcelebrated films like Chemmeen, Neelakkuyil, and Angadi etc. These films represented subalterns as third class people who were conveniently marginalized from the mainstream society. The dominant Savarna notions influence the psychology of the film makers into a great extent and every time they come out with the stereotypes in their films. The nationality and secularism is always linked to elite Hindus in these films as well. This forces them to create parallel stereotypes for the lower caste and lower class people.

Best Actor strongly advocates the conventional wisdom created by the influence of elite Savarna Hindu culture. It deliberately associates Indian secularism with the adaptation of Savarna culture. The protagonistof the movie Mohan is a Hindi teacher by profession. Hegot the job in ancestry of his late father who was thenin the position. Mohan is obsessed with his ambition to

become a film artist. And he works hard to fulfill that. He knocks the doors of many directors on a routine basis.

The movie starts with the scene from an ideal village set in Ottappalam and a Nayar Tharavdu there, the residence of Mohan, the protagonist. The music, images and costumes are set to defend the hegemony of this Nayar Tharavad. There are Red Chillies scattered on theground, a coconut bundle, cow etc. are in frames. The people are all very good human beings who help each other and tell good words only. The women come in the frames wearing traditional set sari. And the domestic animal cow often comes in some scenes. The name of the hotel in the village is Daivasahayam. Mohan’s wife is amusic teacher playing Veena, a classical instrument. These all create the culturally adorable village.

The protagonist is introduced in the movie as he solelyfights with a bunch of villains and kills them all single handed. The villains are all the black people who come from lower castes and classes; the scene is enough to show the manipulated psyche of the film maker. He believes and tries to convince his audience that Savarna guy has every right to thrash the avarnas.The frames declare that Dalits and minorities should bewiped out by the brave and eligible Nayar youth. There

is one character Bijukuttan who stands as an aid for Mohan. He has a very good relation with the family of the protagonist as well. He is not educated and ‘civilized’. He doesn’t have much world knowledge. In aparticular dialogue, KPAC Lalitha calls him as a mentally retard. He is introduced to the audience in a scene where he is chased by some street boys and they frighten him with fires on the day of Vishu.

In a crucial sequel of the movie, Mohan meets a team ofyoung filmmakers in a bid to find a chance in their upcoming movie. They ask him about his experience as anactor and inspire him telling the story of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi who disguised himself and lived in Mumbai underworld slums to understand and learn the life styles of the actual gangsters. Spiritedfrom this, Mohan goes to Mattancheri to learn about theactivities of the so called underworld and train himself fit for the roles in film industry.

Fort Kochi and Mattancheri are visualized in a horror set up. In wide angle shots, there is an eagle flying over a church. There is big cross and other symbols in various frames. Mohan walks by the corridor of the colony. The background music is entirely different fromthe sound in the ideal village of Ottappalam. The street of Mattancheeri is occupied by the people especially Muslims and other marginalized sections. The

premises are just like the slums where lots of people are living even without basic facilities. Muslim womenare often captured in the frames. Some are bathing their nude children, some are washing their cloths. Goats are walking besides there.

On the way Mohan meets a pale lady, she behaves him like a prostitute. The perplexity of Mohan is visible in his face. He is moral Hindu and he becomes reluctantto even look her. Then in a scene he visits a group ofthugs. They all are black, avarna people. The leader ofthe gang is Pamboori Salam, another representation of abad Muslim in the ghetto. They were playing cards drinking, cycle chain and other weapons were on the frames. While Mohan reached the spot in a very dark corner of the colony, in background audience hear the sound of calling azan. The azan continued with their conversation. The music and costumes, everything tries to reiterate the stereotypes prevailed in the history of Malayalam films.

Later he becomes the member of a notorious gang led by Delber Aashan (Nedumudi Venu). The gang is introduced in the colony. The background music in the scene is frightening and the frames are all set in wide angle shots. The gang members are introduced one by one. All of them have black masculinity and their body language is perverting as sub humans who have no mercy,

compassion and such good qualities. They come to the colony and threaten people telling about their jail terms and their olden days activities in the colony. Mohan becomes frightened by their performance. The strongest of the thug’s gang is Shaji (Lal). The audience won’t understand his social background from his name and they are supposed to conceive the character according to their psyches. His attire and physical characteristics show that he is a Dalit and the name gives the disguised identity as a Muslim or Christian. Sometimes he uses particular words Muslims use like umma and ummoomma and sometimes of Christians. Denver Ashan is an old man, Christian criminal who always starts talking about the three central jails in Kerala as his tharavads. He wears a jubbah and kaily. Pranchi (Saleemkumar) and a mute (Vinayakan) are other members of the gang. Both of themare lower class guys. There is a scene on the course offilm where Pamboori Salam meets the gang of Shaji with new thugs in a van. Salam introduces his new aids as from Chavakkad, a coastal town in Thrichur district. Despite showing all the darker sides of these so calledthugs in the colony, film stigmatizes them as idiots who have nothing to do when a real life challenge comesin front of them. The only life problem for these guys in the colony is to implement quotations of stabbing and killing to find money to buy liquors. They plan to

add Mohan to their gang just to make more profit and tohave good food and drinks. And the movie ensures its upper cast inclination with a conventional climax wherethe protagonist returns to his safe and sound life withthe nostalgia of ideal village and rich tradition.

Anwar

Anwar is a 2010 Malayalam film written and directed by Amal Neerad , starring Prithviraj in the title role. The film was released on 15 October 2010. A Tamil dubbed version of the film was released on 19 January, 2011 at 150 centers across Tamil Nadu. The film is loosely based on the 2008 American spy thrillerfilm Traitor. Though the film had a phenomenal four-day opening, the momentum was not sustained and the film has ended as a below average grosser at the box office.

Anwar’s theme is the so called Islamic terrorism and religious fanaticism. The main attraction of the film was that it is told through the narration by mega star Mammooty. The narration tries to convince the audience that urban life and the people are really strangers andthere will be a villain or a terrorist, who can at any time become a menace for the safety and privacy of the entire city. The opening sequels capture the mysteries

and drama of the busy city life brilliantly. The film advises the people to be alert of such incidents take place. The film ruthlessly targets Muslim community. Itis undoubtedly a propaganda work, a fear mongering product of Islamophobia. In Indian context of the phenomenon, Muslims are treated as terrorists after theunfortunate happenings taken place in the country afterthe demolition of Babari Masjid in 1992 by the right wing Hindutwa terrorists. And it became wild even in India when the twin towers of New York were crashed by alleged Islamic terrorists. Anwar is filled with terrorist attacks and bomb blasts. First blast takes place in a textiles shop in Coimbatore. After the attack police arrests beard Muslim youth from many colonies. So it is a deliberate attempt to portray thatall the Muslims are terrorists with potential to destroy the nation. The beard people from Muslim colonies became usual suspects and easy preys of the hunt for terrorists. In the film, police arrests Ayisha(Mamtha) wearing hijab with massive police embargo. In the film she was in Purdah and Hijab only in this scene. The frames induce the audience to suspect the Muslim women as terrorists and villains as well. Lal plays a prominent character in the film named Babu Sett, a religious scholar who allegedly triggers the bomb blasts in several places including the one in Coimbatore.

Police fear to arrest Babu Sett, the most wanted terrorist as they foresee communal riots and fierce siege from the people of colony, the followers of Babu Sett. The name of the Sett itself is a clear example ofhow the Muslim religious scholar is stereotyped in the movie. Whenever camera captures him, he will be counting the Thasbeeh or praying. He uses the word deen (religion) often in his conversations with his mates. The film introduces Babu Sett in wide area frames of Arabian Sea, a green boat on the Centre of the sea. Hewas praying under the sun. A Persian music is played in Background. Ashraf (Salim Kumar) is the right hand of Babu Sett who informs the people in the colony aboutthe arrest of Babu Set and organizes them to protest inthe arrest of their spiritual leader, the frame highlights the name of his mobile phone shop “Al Mubaraque”. He calls his friends and asks them to reach the harbor with weapons and tools.

The film is criticized for distorting the public opinion about a religious leader or to reiterate the notion that he was religious fanatic who ordered to kill the infidels. The sequels in the movie, Coimbatoreblast, the arrests, the sketch of Babu Set and etc. areintended to attack Abdul Nasar Maudani, a community leader who was arrested for Coimbator blast in1994. Hewas acquitted in the case as an innocent who has

nothing to do with the blast after 10 years of imprisonment without trial. The Name of the film Anwar was enough to depict the audience to think about Anwarsheri, the locality and centre of Maudany.

Ashraf wears a cap that Muslims use and his slang is very bad. The people in the colony also wear caps. In aframe prosecutor asks Ashraf to keep manners in the court. But he doesn’t obey that and shouts at court using bad words. He uses drugs like pan masala. He is the man who takes Anwar to colony. The stereotypes about the colony people are excessively used in this movie. Even small children walking in the street wear cap and long shirt or jubbah. On the way to the colony entrance group of thugs clash each other. Ashraf comments that it is the group of Shaji, they are threatening people in the absence of Babu Set. The funny side of the story is that many Malayalam films have villain characters named Shaji. Best actor and Anwar also give a space for that goon. Even the name isa stereotype. Colonies in Mattancheri and fort Kochi are occupied with majority of Muslims. They are portrayed in a mysterious manner. Anwar comes to the colony as a man of virtue and blessing for the people in the colony. He rescues them from the violence of Shaji’s gang. Babusett’s mother is portrayed as

mentally ill old women.

In the scene, where Babu Set is released from the jail,an Arabian music is played on the background. After reaching the colony, Set gives Anwar a gun for his preparation for the holy war. Anwar receives it with much enthusiasm. Then there is song sequels of Babu Set’s unlawful activities in the colony song, he is planning several terrorist attacks from here. The symbols of Islam like thasbeeh, kufiyya are coming in various frames. And quiet deliberately director doesn’tinclude any more shots of Babu Set’s prayer. All the conspiracies are taking place from the colony. It is portrayed like a hoodlum of Hollywood movies. All the terrorists who are supposed to carry out the blasting missions are wearing Kufiyya, which means they are Muslims who got trained from notorious so called terrorist groups. Mattancheri is portrayed as a place where savage Muslims live indulging in various kinds ofcriminal activities.

Chotta Mumbai

Chotta Mumbai is a 2007 Malayalam comedy film directed by Anwar Rasheed , written by Benny P. Nayarambalam, andproduced by Maniyanpilla Raju . The film stars Mohanlal

and Bhavana in title roles . The film starts with the scene in a street in Fort Kochi where Vasco da Gama (Mohanlal), the son of a wrestler named Michael (Saikumar), lives. Vasco and his gang of five — Chandrappan (Siddique), Susheelan (Bijukuttan), Sainu (Manikuttan), Basheer (Jagathy Sreekumar) and cousin Tomichchan (Indrajith) are small-time goondas, involvedin petty offences. While the movie progresses, these characters turn out to be more endearing than bad. Vasco goes by the nickname Thala (head) since he is thegang leader. Though Michael rebukes his son time and again for his lifestyle choices, he loves him and has big dreams for him. The plot progresses when a marriagebroker contracts a wedding between Vasco and auto-rickshaw driver Latha (Bhavana), the only daughter of Pambu Chakochan (Rajan P. Dev) who is a heavy drinker and a longtime friend of Michael.

Film starts with an Aerial shot of the colony in fortKochi. In the scene, Vasco and his gang are seen on topof the building. Vasco brings the audience to FortKochi through his narration about the colony; he says“this is our Kochi. This is the city in which we grewup. My father says the salty wind of the weststrengthened us”. The people of the place love andadore the westerners, the colonials. They love Vascoda

gama. The very beginning of the film arise suspicionabout the historic conscience of the film maker. Thefilm targets Christians and the minority groups in thecolony. As one gets closer to Fort Kochi, it's likegetting into a different world altogether. Oldbuildings, narrow congested lanes and even thelifestyle there has a different tempo. "Chotta Mumbaiis a locality near Fort Kochi, where such areas withstrange names do exist. A small group of youngsters,dressed in loud outfits, while away their time doingvirtually nothing, and spending their minisculeearnings on inanities. The story line is pretty thin,which is about a gang of petty criminals headed byVasco nicknamed Chotta Mumbai. Their antics make most ofthe comic action in the film.

According to the average spectators review ChottaMumbai gives Mohanlal (Vasco) an out and out comic-action role where he does not have to be the all-sacrificing big brother or younger brother for thatmatter. He excels as expected and is ably supported byhis gang consisting of Siddique, Jagathy Sreekumar,Manikuttan, Indrajit and Bijukuttan. The pairing ofMohanlal and Bhavana is also deftly handled, with noovert display of romance or expression of love. Thepresence of Sai Kumar and Rajan P Dev as fathers of thehero and heroine respectively is endearing. The former

is a pehelwan and the latter is nicknamed Pambu (snake)as he crawls on all fours in a drunken state. Sai Kumartrains youth of colony to wrestle. Those who approachhim to learn are all black skinned, the stereotype ofsuch villain characters. Bijukkuttan is seen always asa tail with Thala (Vasco). The director tries toportray the place as a small version of the notoriousslums of Indian city Mumbai. In a scene Satheeshan(Vinayakan) character with the darkest skin murders aHindi speaking guy, after that the gang kills a cop(Vijayaraghavan) too. The main villain character of thefilm Nadeshan (Kalabhavan Mani) is a very cruel thugwith black skin. In a sequel Vasco and team take on avillain’s gang of black and fat people. They are knownas Saudi which hints to their origin as Muslims. Thecharacter Basheer (Jagathi Sreekumar) is also astereotype. He is a comic goon in Fort Kochi. The filmrepeats the stereotype that the people of colony liveonly to drink toddy and fight each other to find moneyto drink. The protagonist takes the document of thehouse from his father after making him to drowsiness bygiving toddy. And the drinking guys all do wear crosseson their necks.

In a dialogue Nadeshan (Kalbhavan Mani) introduceshimself as the incarnation of Satan. This characterloses his breath ablaze in a fire accident occurred in

the day of Cochin carnival. The character building ofLatha, the female protagonist also reflects thechemistry of savarna influence in the screen play ofthe film. The naming of her Latha, a commonly usedHindu name is such a move by the film makers.Contrarily to the conventional females in Malayalamfilms, she is a bold young girl who drives autorickshaw for a living. There is a scene of Thala goingto see Latha with the marriage proposal. In this scenewomen are seen washing the dirty dress and they talkeach other like the so called uncivilized folks. Thefilm moves on with some interesting incidents and hasbeen treated in a humorous way, says Benny P.Nayarambalam, who has written the screenplay anddialogues. Although people in Kochi do speak in a localdialect, it has not been emphasised in `Chotta Mumbai.Chotta Mumbai' is being produced by ManiyanpillaiRaju,Ajayachandran Nair and Reghuchandran Nair under thebanner of Sreebhadra films. The lyrics by VayalarSaratChandra Varma and SanthoshVarma have been set to musicby debutant Rahul Raj. Stills are by Sunil Guruvayoor.Almost everybody of the major crew come from an upperclass background. They have simply created a so calledsavage colony with this film.

CONCLUSIONAnalyzing the content of the above mentioned films, I could draw certain general observations about the viewpoint of the Malayalam film makers about the culture, landscape and the people of colony. The much repeated stereotypes construct the main part of each colony stories. Colony in general in visual media and dailies are always constructed in opposition to the existing habits and behavior of the middle class. Thosewho are outside the middle class value system are subjects who have to be modernize. It is the general modernizing attitude of the middle class Malayalee. Thebest example of the attitude than one can patronize people and supposedly make them similar/ equal, is thatof the people of the colony.

There are varied things that can be seen as constituting the problems of the colony. One is that colony is seen as “the underworld”. And also it

considered as the waste bin of urban development. Mainstream society see the colony as a place which is densely populated by bad people, a space which has all types of pollutants and evils which comes out of urban development. Everyone expect a few enlightened people in the colony as a place where marginalized sections like sex workers, fugitive, criminals, murders etc. aresupposed to end up.

While talking about the way how these stereotypes are made one has to take in account how the spectators see these. Even when as an institution cinema has the powerto construct stereotypes the spectators’ do have similar power. They have the power to question this. Itis not a one-sided from top to bottom. It is a give andtake process. The spectators too create discourses thatresist this stereotype. In popular culture we don’t have a one dimensional power relation. There is always a resistance towards dominant ideas by the spectator. That is the reason why these stereotypes about Dalits and Muslims being identified and resisted.

Like the visuals the sound too has importance. By understanding the ways in which violence is representedthrough back ground score, songs and sounds used we canunderstand this. We have many stereotypes in music. When romance or emotional scenes come, `classical ‘music or music that is understood as `romantic ‘are

used. When goons appear western beats are used, especially jazz drums. Violence is represented through loud noise. These come from the idea that certain sounds represent certain effects.

We have some common beliefs about violence in the society. It is considered as something that has to be forgotten from history. Even about Babari Masjid issue people would say it is time to forget it. Violence is considered as something which has to be kept outside the society. In cinema society is where `good people ‘live. Hero and heroine would be from higher social strata. In Malayalam movies the hero or heroine would be Nair or from middleclass. Cinema shows that something bad intervenes into the place where they leada good life. Mostly it would be a Dalit or Muslim. Goons and violence is shown as a threat coming from outside into a good place. The socially excluded are considered as who do violence. We have to understand this within the history of this practice in cinema.

In the colonies there often appears a Muslim figure at an irrelevant point. There will be violent Muslims or Dalits quiet often. May be an image developed through the ideas about Malabar mutiny. This violent Muslim enters our common sense unconsciously. These are the images we recognize easily, fat, Dark skinned, Bulging teeth, these are the people with typical features. The

stereotypes Kochi becomes the site of such gangster movies in Malayalam. Subsequently there is a specific sort of language and certain codes (like quotation) that comes into being. Actually, this is something which Malayalam cinema fashions out of Kochi. Gangster, quotation etc. becomes the other of mainstream society. Onone hand when Ottapalam becomes the ‘village’ of Malayalam cinema using an upper-cattiest Hindu languageand architectural images, on the other Kochi becomes the ‘city’ of Malayalam cinema with a predominant Muslim population- this is definitely not accidental. Probably, it becomes the underworld of the imagination of the mainstream society. Its language, villains, everything makes Kochi the underworld of Malayalam cinema. Thus is repeated in one film after another.

If we examine the history of Kochi-Muslim representation in the history of Malayalam cinema, fromthe 1950s to the 70s, there is a certain amount of authenticity in the depiction of Kochi; it has a working class nature to it. After this in terms of change in place and change of character, the Muslim character becomes the smuggler and the suitable location for that was Kochi. It was a space comprising of city landscapes and the port. Mostly smugglers were Muslims. Also the Muslim community was one with whom foreign links could be easily accused. In Anvar, we can

see a procession of boats right from the beginning, including Babu Seth’s green boats, from different angle. This is the Mattanchery they are projecting throughout the movie. In other words, the Babu Seth in Anvar is a representation of Abdul Nasser Maudani.

This representation has a particular politics. This phenomenon has been studied and theorized by social scientists like Edward Said, which he calls Orientalism. That is, the depiction of the East by the West in a particular way. This representation intends to assert the power relations in which the West dominates. This is Orientalism. Similarly, the representations here tend to be violent, carrying out the internal domination of the majority on any sort of minority groups; be it religious minority or sexual minority.

Mattanchery’s landscapes, streets, lodge and its antiquity reminds us of the space occupied by gangstersin early Hindi cinema. It is probably the old buildings, which look as though they are ready to fall,and the people living in those buildings, its dense population which seemed ideal geography for the depiction of Mafia, that some directors and writers converted the geography of Mattanchery and Kochi into aland of Mafia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY• Edward W. Zaid, 2001, Orientalism, New Delhi, Penguin

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