PROBLEMATIZING CASTE AND GENDER DISCOURSE THROUGH VISUAL METAPHORS IN INDIAN FILMS

ABSTRACT Indian cinema, both Bollywood and regional films have a tremendous impact on the minds of the audience and invariably the society at large. Films respond to various sociocultural issues prevailing in a society. Apart from being just entertainers, most films have a social message. For effective delivery of the message, films do not rely only on dialogues. In fact, most of the things are conveyed through visuals and signifiers such as sound, pictures, colours, images, symbols, clothes, body language and so on, all pertaining to non-verbal communication. Recent film makers use these cinematic techniques for appropriation. In this context, this article explores the visual signifiers in two regional films: the Tamil film Karnan (2021) and the Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen (2021). This research looks at how the visual metaphors and signifiers in both the films foreground the discourses on caste and gender. The study makes us realize the significance of such cinematography in departing the true spirit/essence of the films.