Contesting the mainstream transwoman figurations: The question of caste and precarity in Udalaazham

ABSTRACT

Udalaazham (Body Deep), the 2018 Malayalam film directed by Unnikrishnan Avala, intrigues into the precarious dimensions of gender liminality in unprecedented ways by being the first film to discuss the life of a gender-liminal belonging to a tribal (Paniya) community in Kerala. The paper engages in a close reading and analysis of the film-text Udalaazham by placing it in juxtaposition to figurations of transgender subjectivities in contemporary Malayalam films, with an aim to contest the acclaimed progressive disposition of these mainstream representations. It employs the framework of intersectionality to focus on the protagonist Gulikan’s lived experiences enmeshed within the structures of tribal caste, ethnicity and gender characterized by multiple interlocking dimensions of precarity. His body, identity and desires are open to threat, violence, mutilations and perpetual questioning due to lack of socio-cultural capital and support network. The relevance of this film is in opening up the discussions on caste and liminal gender identity and thereby urging the dire need to re-write the formula of identity politics in the region and its popular culture. Reading Udalaazham in this context provides a more liberating yet disturbing space to discuss the regressive operations of identity categories and their limitations in conceptualizing regional queer identities in India.

KEYWORDS:

• Udalaazham
• precarity
• subjectivity
• tribal caste identity
• regional queer
• intersectionality

Acknowledgement

We are extremely thankful to the guest editors of the special issue, editors of South Asian Popular Culture and the production team for their support throughout the process. We gratefully acknowledge the anonymous peer reviewers for their constructive feedback on the earlier draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. MuraleedharanTharayil’s account explicates the history of discourses on LGBTQ in Kerala contemplating on the critical junctures (social movements, political debates, organizations, pride parades, media, administrative/bureaucratic and legislative policies, cultural interventions like films, visual media, Response of the Government etc.) in the emergence of these marginalized subjectivities in Kerala.

2. Hijra is a cultural Identity of TGs in India.

3. This dialect is a mixture of Tamil, Tulu and Malayalam spoken by members of Paniya tribal community in Kerala.

4. Gulikan is addressed as he/him in the paper in congruence with the pronouns used to address the character in the film.

5. This deliberate use of the term ‘gender-liminal’ to address Gulikan who is otherwise addressed as TG in public discussions and film reviews is elucidated in the later parts of the paper. While being aware of the charges of romanticization against the usage of the term ‘liminal’, this paper utilizes its scope in deconstructing bounded identity categories and labels.

6. Specifically, Ardhanaari (Half-Woman), Oodum Raja Aadum Rani (Sprinting King Dancing Queen, Aalorukkam (The Makeup), Njan Marykutty (I’m Marykutty)

7. TG is generally the term used in Kerala ‘as a dignified term to identify with’ (Kuriakose 2).

8. It is a Hindu religious festival held in Kottankulangara temple in Kerala in which men cross dress as women, hold traditional lamps and walk in procession in order to offer prayers to the goddess.

9. It is a popular annual festival held in Koovagam temple in Tamil Nadu attended by TG people across India to ‘commemorate a story from Mahabharata’ (Pattabiraman).

10. Read Sahapedia article titled ‘Thousand Weddings and a Funeral: Koovagam Festival and Cult of Aravan’ for more details about the festival.

11. They have enlisted the contemporary films (Ardhanaari, Oodum Raja Aadum Rani, Aalorukkam, Njan Marykutty) under the section ‘The Visible Queer Body’.

12. a type of black make-up used in South Asia that is put around the edge of the eyes (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries).

13. a colored mark or jewel worn in the middle of the forehead, usually by Hindu women (Oxford Learners Dictionary).

14. Literally meaning someone who climbs tree, but it colloquially signifies a woman who does not adhere to the norms.

15. K C Bindu interrogates the construction of modern category of ‘tribes’ in India in administrative terms during the colonial and post-colonial timelines through her study of census as a discourse. She makes a significant point about ‘the indistinguishability between the lower forms of Hinduism and the tribal religions’ in spite of the Introduction of aboriginal religion as a separate category in 1881 census.

16. This secularized casteism is characterized by alienation from ritualized caste practices and incarnations of caste power and hierarchy in new forms (Nigam).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sruthi B Guptha

Sruthi B Guptha is a doctoral researcher at the Department of English and Humanities, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India. Her PhD research focuses on contemporary regional popular culture in India. Her major areas of research interest include Gender Studies, Queer Studies and Regional Visual Studies. Email id: [email protected] or [email protected]

Sandhya V

Sandhya V is an Assistant Professor of English at the Department of English and Humanities, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India. Her research works primarily look into the intricacies of gender in the works of Indian-English writers. Her major areas of research interest include Indian Literatures in English Translation, Malayalam Cinema and Life Narratives. Email id: [email protected] or [email protected]