May 8
By Sambhu Nath Banerjee
Both Urvashi and Savitri are like weary and thirsty travellers, trudging through the dreary desert sand, occasionally coming across a mirage, which finally eludes them and leaves them longing for a sweet, peaceful home.
May 30
Saranya Ponnvannan and Dhanush in Velaiyilla Pattathari (2014), dir. Velraj” data-medium-file=”https://cafedissensus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image006.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://cafedissensus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image006.png?w=1024″/>
Contents: Exploring Motherly Instincts: Representation of Mothers in Indian Cinema (Issue 62)
By Srija Sanyal
It has therefore been the idea of this issue of Café Dissensus to explore the maternal world in the highly digitized, globalized and gender-neutral environment wherein, like several other definitions, that of motherhood is also undergoing a shift, or even a metamorphosis. The proposed issue thus intends to be an enriching assimilation of studies on select Indian films, both on the celluloid and digital screens.
By Aparajita De
In this short piece, I will focus on the role of the mother and the exploration of the trope of motherhood in Ghosh’s 2003 film, Shubho Mahurot (First Shot). Inspired by the Miss Marple series of mysteries by Agatha Christie and adapted from her The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, this film has been easily classified in the female ‘detective/whodunit genre’.
By Aparna Rajesh and Shantharaju S
Streaming platforms include in their archives what the mainstream cinema industry couldn’t and didn’t and the modern representation of women is also one such element. Decoupled (2021) and Masaba Masaba (2020) are two Netflix (India) web series nominally discussed in this essay.
By Athira Unni
Motherhood, by its conspicuous absence and redeeming role in the climax, becomes a functional trope to tie together the loose ends. Nevertheless, the movie is one of the very few artistic attempts at imagining a society without women set in India.
By Debjani Halder
In the 1940s, those Indian film directors who portrayed women as ‘ideal mother’ or Deshmatrika actually contributed to upholding the hierarchy of patriarchal control within the family. This, in turn, made negative contributions to the lives of women, thus reducing them to a mere mythical symbol of order.
By Raj Sony Jalarajan and Adith K. Suresh
In Malayalam cinema – the film industry of the southern-Indian state, Kerala – it can be observed that motherhood is inextricably integrated with the narratives where the body of the mother is used as a template to reiterate the significance of family values based on maternalism.
By Sambhu Nath Banerjee
Sarbajaya, Apu’s mother, is presented as the most authentic Bengali mother, a character having many shades of affection, hope, despair and mental strength, wonderfully played by Karuna Bandopadhyay. Ray has infused elements of fighting spirit, sharp alertness and endurance in the character of Sarbajaya, who is otherwise an ordinary rustic woman.
By Soumitree Gupta
In this essay, I focus on Australian-Indian filmmaker Safina Uberoi’s personal documentary, My Mother India (2001), which critiques as well as reclaims the celebrated trope of Mother India from gendered and ethnonationalist discourses.
By Suneel Mehmi
Beta says the triumph of the Indian law and its wisdom, of Indian cinema, is that love triumphs over hate and its brainwashing, that the power of the mother orchestrates our very being and identity. If Indian law and the Indian state is legitimate, this legitimacy is based on a radical revolution from misogynistic Western frameworks of identity and belonging.
By Tracy Jose
Two films from recent times – Shakuntala Devi (2020) and Tribhanga: Tedhi Medhi Crazy (2021) – stand out in their treatment of the subject of motherhood, especially since the key characters in both the films are single mothers. Both films strike a similar chord in their attempt to show their central characters as being career-motivated, ambitious, and also desirous of not wanting to repeat the same patterns that they were subjected to during their childhood because of their mothers.
May 30
Still from Margarita With A Straw (Watermark Online, 2015)” data-medium-file=”https://cafedissensus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image003-3.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://cafedissensus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image003-3.jpg?w=736″/>
By Gayatri Aich and Joy Chakraborty
Margarita With A Straw begins with an opening scene where Laila’s mother makes a smoothie for her daughter, and drives her off to the college. The relationship that Laila shares with her mother deals with shifts as Laila begins to try and understand the intersections of her identity as a bisexual differently-abled woman.
By R Rohit
Tamil mothers (Amma) in the films are idolised and projected to have a false sense of superiority, while being marginalised under the protection of a male figure ultimately. The Amma is seen as the backbone of the family, the one who is beloved for her sacrifice, the one who takes the mantle of raising children, ultimately becoming a part of the cycle. In hindsight, nothing of their contributions has been acknowledged, on screen or in life.
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