Feminist scholarship and new Malayalam cinema: critical reception of women in new wave, middlebrow and new-generation Malayalam cinema

This review paper examines the feminist scholarship surrounding the new waves in Malayalam cinema. The 1970s–1980s and the post-2010s are the periods considered here because films released in these years are frequently referred to as ‘new’ or ‘New Wave’ or ‘New-Generation’ cinema. The objective of the article is to evaluate the gendered responses to a critically appreciated ongoing phase of Malayalam cinema, often called the new ‘New-gen Malayalam cinema’, which is a continuation of the aesthetic and narrative experimentations put forward by the Malayalam cinema of the 1970s. As scholarship, the paper would take into account scholarly books, articles, film reviews, and new media blogs. With a particular focus on two timelines, the review paper aims to establish a history of gendered scholarship on representations in Malayalam cinema as a backdrop for further research that would argue for/against the gendered turn in Malayalam cinema.