DRESS AND ECOFEMINISM IN KURBAH’S ONATAAH: OF THE EARTH (2016)

Abstract

Dress or clothing normally represents or reflects the belief system, tradition, and identity of a society. India being a multicultural nation is befitting example especially when it comes to its northeastern states. It is a true emblem of multiculturalism and diversity perfectly reflected through its dresses. The northeastern states depict an integrated picture of rich bio and socio-cultural diversity. And this is true about Meghalaya. The tribes of Meghalaya, namely Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo follow the matrilineal societal structure and maintain a close relationship with nature. Pradip Kurbah’s Khasi film Onaatah: Of the Earth (2016) illustrates how social views around women are formed in the different spaces of the ‘feminine’ and the ‘masculine’ and its repercussions. The film revolves around the life of a rape survivor and her journey towards healing from the consequences of the grotesque act upon her body and depicting society’s reaction to such an incident. This paper draws on ecofeminist ideology to understand the director’s use of dress as a narrative tool in the film to show the association between the protagonist, Onaatah, and nature, and also trace upon the impact of nature in giving Onaatah a new perspective and healing in the process. The ecofeminist perspective is instrumental to the analysis of the film in relation to the society being matrilineal in its practice of kinship but patriarchal in authority and thus in its treatment of the marginalised – women and nature.