LISNA C
Dr. Shilpa Das
lisna_c@nid.edu
Drawing from the Mappila Ramayana, a satirical folk retelling from Kerala’s Malabar region, this animated short critiques gendered silencing and cultural homogenization. Set in the surreal land of Onam Kera Moola, the story portrays a world where men suffer from an affliction that makes women’s voices physically unbearable. The narrative follows Imbichhi, a widow who notices a factual error in a performance of the Mappila Ramayana, specifically regarding the portrayal of Shurpanakha. When she attempts to correct the mistake, her voice disrupts the event, causing the men to collapse in agony. While absurdity drives the plot, the film probes deeper into the systemic erasure of female agency and the suppression of minority storytelling traditions. By centring a marginalised folk version of a major epic, the film resists the flattening of religious and cultural diversity, championing the plurality inherent in South Asian memory and the power of a woman’s reclaimed voice.