The Caste of Casting: Thilakan and ‘Backward’ Articulations in Malayalam Cinema

Abstract

The invisibility of the modern backward caste presence is fundamental in validating Nair dominance in Malayalam cinema. This article analyses how cast–caste contingency operates as a mode of erasure to ensure the invisibility of ‘backwardness’ in Malayalam cinema. The mechanisms of erasure are described with reference to the multiple forms of proscription imposed on the Ezhava actor Thilakan following his enunciation of caste-based discrimination in the workspace. The insistence on verisimilitude while casting a lower caste body is substituted by a desire to camouflage in the case of a backward caste actor. The backward caste body is assigned savarna or Dalit roles in an attempt to render backward caste presence in Malayalam cinema inconsequential and invisible. OBC visibility in (Malayalam) cinema is marked by multiple forms of encounters with the mechanism of invisibility in place, eventuating interruptions in the constituted structure of the cinematic (public) in various ways. Thilakan’s engagement with the vocabulary of caste occasions a disturbance in the projected image of a progressive film industry, the manifestations of which are analysed in this article.