Malayalam cinema is pushing the boundaries of Indian cinema: Meenakshi Shede

“Regional film industries like Malayalam and Bengali cinema industries are pushing the boundaries of Indian Cinema very daringly”, said journalist film writer and critic Meenakshi Shede.

“Mainstream films like Meghna Gulzar’s ‘Raazi’ are tremendous contributions to feminism in Indian cinema. The film is embedding the issues of feminism to a much larger context and opens up a lot more dialogue through the ideology of patriotism which addresses a lot of socio-religio and political issues. Films like these explore the history of women’s contribution in war situation”, Shede said who was talking about the ‘Feminist Turn in Indian Cinema’ on the Open Forum session held at the 23^rd IFFK.

While acknowledging the women filmmakers in Malayalam industry, Shede added, “Anjali Menon’s films are absolutely marvelous. What she brings to Indian cinema is very sophisticated”.

Malayalam cinema has been kind to women in history. Films of Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shyam Benegal look at women very sympathetically. Many of the films revolve around women and their issues”, said Uma Da Cunha, festival programmer.

“Women issues cannot be confined to women issues alone. It also connects to different issues of the open society”, said Meena T Pillai, film academic and writer, who also moderated the session.