Victim-assailant or the prey-predator relationship persists throughout the history of man and is in turn reflected in

various forms of literature and arts. There is an array of films that discusses this perennial theme overtly or covertly.

Malayalam film industry has set its benchmark of new wave movements and themes. Analyzing the journey of

„victim‟ from Padmarajan (Namukku Paarkkan Munthirithoppual), the pioneer of first new-wave, till Aashiq Abu

(22 Female Kottayam) and Amal Neerad (Varathan) who hold the baton of second new-wave it is understood that it

is also a journey of a feeble woman who falls short to protest to the one who backlashes at the assailant and

it is represented with ascending intensity over time. Not only the female characters but also a gender relation, that is

the representation of man-woman relationships, also changed a lot. From the aggressive an authoritative man and

feeble dependent woman, the time has changed to women who shows the two extremities of a protector and

full-grown directors like Aravindan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Bharathan and Padmarajan. By 2000, the Malayalam

movie industry stepped into another genre of familial themes and plots with added flavours of songs and dances

targeting family audience. The movies of Sathyan Anthikkadu, Sreenivasan and Priyadarshan are notable examples.

The political satires of Sreenivasan like Sandesham stood solitary. Another set of multi-facet directors like Aashiq

Abu, Anwar Rasheed, Amal Neerad and Sameer Thahil became harbingers for another rebirth of or the second

“New Wave” movement through their Salt ‘N’ Pepper, Ustad Hotel, Chappa Kurishu and so on. At this stage, the

industry started producing films with commendable technical quality, a novelty in story-telling and exploring

socially relevant issues. The new movement put an end to the era of superstars and fan-made films. They reworked

acquaintance or strange rape - univocally. This research is intended to analyze the evolution undergone by the

victim-assailant relationship and their roles in particular by taking three films from different periods of Malayalam

film –Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal of Padmarajan, Aashiq Abu‟s 22 Female Kottayam and Varathan by

Amal Neerad. This paper will be critically examining the female lead roles in these movies, the reactions they faced

and give after they faced sexual molestation and also the changes in their relationship with the male counterpart.

Namukku Parkkan Munnthirithoppukal- (trans. The Vineyards for Us to Dwell in) by Padmarajan is a 1986

movie that revolves around a Syrian-Christian background. The plot evolved amid of a romantic relationship

between Solomon, a planter who owns a vineyard in the outskirts of Mysore and visits his mother once in a while,

and his neighbour Sophia, who is born to her mother out of wedlock. Sophia is being convulsed immensely from her

hitting black and blue. To the end, we see Solomon takes Sophia onto his shoulders and stats new and happy

beginning.

Hitherto in Malayalam cinema, no “victim” was daring to face the community after she has been raped.

She, as a rule, is left to get drench in shame and self-reproach. The only solution yet depicted was either she

committed suicide or a massive suicide of the entire family. Or even the assailant might be killing the prey.

Whatever the way is, the victim was never given a chance to lead a normal, especially happy, life thereafter. In

exceptional cases, if she survives the before-mentioned way of putting an end to life, she is treated as the fallen one

and her only way to live becomes prostitution. The character Usha in I. V, Sasi‟s Neelagiri is one such example.

Usha was molested by a local goon at the night of her marriage and then onwards she was doomed to be a whore in

her locality. In that sense, Padmarajan made a detonation upon the traditional thoughts and norms through his

Padmarajan glorifies his Solomon by giving life to Sophia. The character of Sophia remains the same from or only a

bit deviated from the molested ones until that time. Paul Pailokkaran in the movie is the embodiment of all violent

and negative characteristics of masculinity – powerful, aggressive, lustful, competitive and authoritative. At the

same time, Solomon is placed upon the other panel of the diptych with all the soft traits of masculinity mixed-up

with certain feminine traits- love, compassion, sympathy, gentleness and succouring. Here the only thing that makes

a difference in the character of Sophia is her attempt to make herself believe that nothing has happened to her. But

Padmarajan hesitates to make his heroine bold and to set her against the patriarchal norms. And she is made helpless

and yearning for her saviour for help.

22 Female Kottayam, an Aashiq Abu film, released in 2012 is a „second new-wave‟ film in its appearance

and treatment. Tessa is a nursing student, who is planning to pursue a career in Canada, falls in love with Cyril an

But before she could do anything Cyril deceived her by setting a mousetrap for her in a drug case. While in Prison

she befriends Zubaida. Being aware of Cyril to be a known pimp and it was he who set upped Tessa for Hegde,

Zubaida moulds Tessa to be strong with a criminal boldness, and through her criminal connections outside Tessa

Cyril unlocks his past that led him to choose the role of a pimp and accepts Tessa‟s challenge to confront her to set

the scores when he gets recovered. Before going to Canada she enunciates to Cyril that she loses someone who

cheated her but what he lost is someone who loved him truly. Also, she reminds him that by some corner she is still

there in his heart.

Aashiq Abu, one among the pioneers of second new-wave in Mollywood, springs up with the same theme

of victim-assailant relationship. But what made a bang is his extraordinary fortitude to provide his heroine with the

power to castrate the man who cheated her. The director launched the story with the traditional feeble-minded

heroine coming from a remote village in Kottayam and surrenders everything she had including her chastity to a

man she loved. Until she met Zubaida at her prison-cell there is nothing much we expect from Tessa. But after she

realized the deception she is placed on a different realm of vengeance upon the entire norms of patriarchy for that, to

pride.

Varathan (trans. The Outsider) by Amal Neerad is a very recent movie released in 2018 that shook the

audience with its extremely grave theme and bold representation. The movie recounts the inhospitable experiences

faced by the couples Priya and Aby who come from Dubai to Priya‟s ancestral farmhouse in a remote village. Priya

is mentally upset with the ogling of the villagers and constantly being under surveillance. Though she constantly

warns Aby about the surroundings and her insecurities, he dismisses all those recklessly. While taking a bath she

feels someone looking through the large-hole ventilator. Though Aby covers it with cardboard, in no time Priya find

it in the torn state. Also, she was furious about finding a mobile camera placed on there. She understood it was the

play of Joshy, the main villain, her neighbour and schoolmate. But all Aby did was just to make a formal enquiry,

not even a warning. One day Aby has to go for a meeting and Priya was left alone. Feeling it is not safe to be at the

when Priya serenely cleans her father‟s gun and Aby hanging the board saying “Trespassers will be shot”.

Varathan veers from the path not in its theme, but the attitude provided by the characters. Priya overpowers

the major part of the story. Aby has taken charge only in the end, in the late hour. Till then, we can see how Priya

manages each situation with appreciable courage and sheer perseverance. Also, it is she who senses the adverse

situations and possesses a piece of in-depth knowledge about the characters of her neighbours to what extent they

could act and so on when Aby stays still without taking all these into accounts. There are several instances

throughout the movie stating these traits. At the beginning itself, when Aby returns from the office desperately since

he has lost the job, and he came to know that Priya has got a miscarriage due to the poor growth of the foetus. Here

Priya handled the situation well. It was she who consoled Aby and suggested to take a break. Again when Priya

identified her inner garments are being stolen, she adamantly and gravely warns Aby about the insecurity she feels.

tried to pacify Priya, but in vain.

Mulvey‟s male gaze is a feminist theory that depicting women as a sexual object who are represented in visual arts

and literature. It states that women are represented as mere tools or sexual gratification and are always being

represented under male surveillance, from the vision of the cameraman to the spectator. In Padmarajan‟s Namukkku

Parkkan Munthirithoppukal, Sophia is continuously being watched by her step-father Paul. He is introduced in the

movie when Sophia and Elizabeth were playing shuttle with Solomon and his cousin, and on seeing this Paul shouts

instinct toward Sophia are shown in another frame. When Sophia was hammering a nail at the wall Paul came near

her as if holding the chair upon she was and stares at her navel. Later though he tried to take advantage of the

presence of his wife saved Sophia from the attempt. But at last, he succeeded in his attempt to molesting her.

and Aby landed in the village she is being watched. Each shot stimulates and uneasiness and grave atmosphere

inside every spectator – a feeling of watching and being watched. It‟s Joshy, Johnny and Nithin who are spectating

Priya but are not shown physically on screen at the beginning. Instead, the director‟s brilliance transforms the

camera as their eyes and the audience experiences a thought that it is they who watch and being watched. We feel a

shudder of this camera gaze that implicitly denoting the peeping Toms when she notices someone is watching them

the night of their wedding anniversary celebration. Later she feels the same instinct while taking a bath. She

becomes more vigilant and found the closed ventilator to be torn. Here Nithin shows strong fetishistic behaviour

than the other villains who are extremely arrogant and show grave sexual instincts. He steals Priya‟s undergarments

and tries to find sexual gratification from it. On another day while Priya was baking a cake, he pores over Priya as if

he is making sexual intercourse which is connoted through the movements of his eyelids and irregular breathing. In

solace. He burns Sophia‟s interview letter and never informs her about it. He knew that a job is her only way to

escape. When she inquires about it he mutes her through his haughty voice. Cyril of Aashiq Abu‟s 22FK nullifies his

female companion by insulting her “a mere woman”. At the same time, he needs her body. When he was castrated at

the end, he feels all he lost is his masculinity. At the same time, Amal Neerad deals with this pride in another term.

Though the villains – Joshy, Johny and Nithin – appear strong and brutally representing sexual instincts, they all

possess a deep-rooted fear and insecurity. Joshy and Priya were classmates. And he shares an incident happened

are the two paraphilic activities traced in this movie. When Joshy finds sexual gratification through sharing these

types of incidents mixed with his imagination, Nithin found it through her clothes. Both show varying psychological

levels of sexual need. Though a minor character that is weaker than Joshy, Nithin expresses more grave and sombre

their psyche) and arrogant. But the latter is punished for his deed. The same can be seen in Aashiq Abu‟s too. There

Tessa made her vengeance in two ways. Hegde, the one who raped her was killed by a snake bite. But she made it

clear that, for Cyril, death is only an escape. The act of penectomy was more brutal than death for one who sees the

villains. Instead, Priya was made more furious and bold than earlier. It is not sympathy that one will feel toward her,

but become a part of her emotions as if we are in that place. What made her down is her loss of trust and the sense of

security in Aby‟s hand and agitated towards his cold and helpless attitude. At the same, a rage of fire is put on in the

spectator toward the villains. It is the sum of all these emotions made the final fight where Aby take in charge of the

action and the vice got punished more thrilling and appealing. When Priya was molested and the later moments, the

say, when Padmarajan gives an idea of hope of a new life holding the acquiesce thoughts of the time, Aashiq Abu

portrays the present time and situation. But Amal Neerad sys being a victim is not the end of anything and he

vengeance-is-stylish-but-problematic_a_23539916/

Neerad, A. (Director). (2018). Varathan [Video file]. India: A&A Release.

Padmarajan, P. (Director). (1986). Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal [Video file]. India: Ragam Movies.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG7yDRnVc3c

PK, N. (2012, April 18). A critique of Aashiq Abu Movie 22 female Kottayam. Retrieved from

http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/151021-A-critique-of-Aashiq-Abu-Movie-22-female-Kottayam.aspx