https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i3.123
Drowning the Domestic: Film Ullozhukku as a Journey of Self-discovery and Identity
DR. MANJU P. B.
Associate Professor
Department of English
University College Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Abstract: Women in Kerala society and Malayalam cinema have come a long way in asserting agency over their personal lives and familial roles. Uyare, 22 Female Kottayam, Joe and Joe, Jayajayahe, and The Great Indian Kitchen are some of the films that have attracted the attention of the audience. The characters who have the courage to break the gender stereotypes are wholeheartedly embraced by audiences, contributing to the box office success of these films. In the film Ullozhukku (2024), the women characters successfully break the cocoon of tradition to discover their true selves. Writer-director Christo Tomy faithfully depicts a family whose attempt to bury a loved one is thwarted by floodwaters, forcing them to confront long-buried secrets and lies that threaten their unity. My paper is an attempt to trace the journey of self discovery and identity of Leelamma and Anju as the narrative follows the women protagonists navigating personal and societal challenges that ultimately lead to profound revelation about themselves and their position in a patriarchal world. The flood in the background is a narrative agent that dismantles the Kerala Christian household as a structure of female containment. Only after the domestic drowns can Anju and Leelamma start building new identities – not as a wife or a widow, but as liberated women.
Keywords: Self-discovery, Identity, Patriarchy, Agency, Domestic Space, Malayalam Cinema
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