Othello Recontextualized as Kaliyattam : A Critique of Shakespeare Reloaded

Abstract

Shakespeare plays have always exerted great influence on subsequent writers of all generations and nations. This paper is an attempt to analyse the political ramifications involved when Othello was transplanted from its roots to an entirely different setting in the state of Kerala as the movie Kaliyattam. This study tries to unravel the motives that govern the production of a cinematic version of a Shakespeare play and the meanings that are transmitted by the new production. The director, Jayaraj has uprooted the play Othello from its source culture and placed it in a completely alien cultural environment which is unfamiliar with racial politics. The stereotypical notions about an African, a soldier and an unfaithful wife is resorted to by Shakespeare in the construction of the tragedy of Othello. One can find a political unsuitability when the same is applied to the Kerala context in the late twentieth century. The patriarchal ideology in the original text gets proliferated in the modern adaptation too. The gender stereotyping is endorsed in the adaptation as well. The play Othello has rich subversive potential. Attempt will be made to investigate whether the movie was able to explore it.