Encountering the World: A Study of the Interface between Society and Protagonists in the Films of Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Abstract

This article is an attempt to explore the subject of the outsider-protagonist in Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s early films, Swayamvaram (One’s Own Choice), Kodiyettam (The Ascent) and Elippathayam (The Rat-Trap). It also tries to examine the relationship between individual and society in his films fashioned by the circumstances and contexts in which his characters find themselves in. The films bear testimony to the fact that the engagement of the individual with society has been a perennial concern of the auteur. The juxtaposition of the modern and the feudal, the progressive and the reactionary, the paper asserts, has been an abiding feature of Adoor’s films.