Abstract
ABSTRACT This article explores the told-to autobiographical account of Suraiya Banu, an ‘extra-actress’ who served as a body double for leading actresses in South India’s soft porn industry. Set against the backdrop of both the industry’s rise and the emergence of life writing in Kerala, it examines how Banu engages with her past and present. She justifies her unusual storytelling as a lesson for readers, as narrating one’s life is atypical for ordinary individuals. This blend of anomaly and ordinariness is pivotal to understanding the methodological aspects of life writing. While truth and fact often blur in autobiographies, Banu’s life story gains significance from its combination of the strange and the ordinary. Despite claiming to represent many others, her experiences remain uniquely anomalous. Embracing anonymity as a body double, Banu’s identity becomes intertwined with her fate, resulting in a palimpsestic body overwritten with various faces and identities. This article illuminates how Banu’s narrative challenges conventional notions of autobiography while highlighting the complexities of identity, anonymity, and storytelling in marginalised contexts.
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