Published Paper Details:

ABSTRACT In postcolonial studies the term subaltern identifies and describes the man, the women or the member of a specific social group, who is socially politically and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure. The idea of subaltern studies originated in England towards the end of 1970. And Ranajit Guha, a renowned historian, with his contributions perfected this school of thought. As a result of which, today we see a very different and developed version of subaltern studies in India. The paper titled, Revisiting the Subaltern Ethos of V.A Shrikumar's Odiyan, attempts to explore the textual subconscious of the movie Odiyan. A subaltern reading of the movie brings to light a man's attempt to reclaim his legitimate space in a caste ridden society when he realises that his true identity is not the one of slavishness. In this movie our protagonist Manikyan is ostracised by the villagers of Thenkurissi due to the stigma associated with his clan and with its legendary practice of Odividhya. The movie explores at length the diverse possibilities of the use of black-white dichotomy. The protagonist of the movie, Odiyan Manikyan, who is believed to be the incarnation of evil by the villagers, feared by all but who is also good at heart, has a light skin tone when compared to the antagonist Ravunni Nair. Ravunni Nair the representative of the upper class, better known to the world as Karimban Nair is ridiculed by the society for his dark skin tone. And the colour of his skin is believed to be representing the malice he bears inside. This means, it is possible to argue that the movie emphasises the idea that, white is good and black is bad further undermining Derrida's rejection of binary opposition. In a way the movie seems to be claiming that, the subaltern in his light skin is able to fight the evil of casteism prevailing in the society which is represented by the evil practices of a dark skinned man. This can be seen as a subversion of the casteist notion of skin tones.