Subverting hegemonic perceptions: decoding the liberated tribal woman in the Malayalam movie Ayyappanum Koshyum

The image of the tribal woman in movies is inextricably linked to patriarchal biases and pleasure aesthetics. What counts in representation here is the depiction of the alienated subject as an eroticized object with show-girl connotations. Even as progressive film makers valorize the sexuality of tribal women, movies like Ayyappanum Koshiyum offer a totally different and subversive perspective. Tribal woman as portrayed in the movie is displayed not as a spectacle but as a woman who defines her own power equations. This paper critically analyses the visual nuances that subvert the hegemonic subaltern female discourse using the example of the Malayalam movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum and attempts to decode the politics of representation that continuously engages in redefining identities through various art forms especially films.