Is Malayalam cinema shrinking the careers of female actors?

One look at the filmography of our current female actors reveals an alarming stagnation, with many doing repetitive roles that have limited screen time.
Rajisha Vijayan, Nimisha Sajayan, and Darshana Rajendran
Rajisha Vijayan, Nimisha Sajayan, and Darshana Rajendran
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If you examine Malayalam cinema’s top-grossing films at the box office this year, what’s significant is the striking absence of well-developed female characters, with Premalu perhaps being a notable exception. Of course, this raises questions about creative priorities – should filmmakers incorporate female characters to check boxes or to appease politically correct audiences, or is it a genuine narrative choice? At first glance, some seem to be an organic storytelling decision. 

Aavesham, for example, was about a gangster mentoring college students. Manjummel Boys was a survivor thriller featuring a bunch of unruly men on a vacation, while The Goat Life was about a man stranded in the desert. However, closer examination reveals lazy writing in the few films that did have female characters.

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil’s conflict revolves around a woman, yet she is sidelined for the toxic male protagonists’ bonding. Varshangalkku Shesham’s love interest is caricatured, feeling unnecessary. ARMs’s women are all second fiddle to the male lead, and Kishkinda Kaandam’s female lead is underdeveloped, serving only to advance the plot.

Such a trend of typecasting women in films not only limits female characters to tired tropes but also reduces narrative depth and diversity, apart from reinforcing outdated gender roles and biases. Recent representations particularly undermine authentic portrayals of women’s experiences, and as for their careers, it reduces visibility, contributing to persistent pay gaps.

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