The politics of fat positivity and fat acceptance: Exploring select post-millennial, South Indian “fat films”

Abstract

ABSTRACT While the representation of the fat body in post-millennial mainstream South Indian films has often been problematic due to the inherent biases against non-normative bodies, a promising trend has been visible in recent post-millennial South Indian movies centered on fat protagonists. Known as “fat films” within fat activism for their stance on fat positivity and fat acceptance, these movies claim to promote liberatory discourses regarding fat bodies. However, we argue that the liberatory potential of these movies often becomes limited due to the structurally similar, formulaic plots that construct fatness as a liminal, alterable state of being. For our analysis, we have chosen three mainstream South Indian “fat films” released in three different Indian languages in which the narratives navigate through the complex life experiences of the fat protagonists: Da Thadiya (Hey Fatso) (2012), a Malayalam movie directed by Ashiq Abu; Inji Iduppazhagi (Size Zero) (2015), a Tamil movie directed by Prakash Kovelamudi; and Laddu Babu (2014) a Telugu movie directed by Ravi Babu. It is found that the subversive potential of these films is undermined by a host of issues, both specific and general, such as a) their construction of fatness as an abject form of embodiment where it becomes a constant source of laughter b) their reductive and redundant portrayals of fat subjectivities and inability to contribute alternative narratives which aren’t centered on the fat protagonists’ “eternal” conflict with their bodies and c) their inability to interrogate the larger body politics behind the aestheticization of certain bodies as normative.