Wearing Gold: A Study on Select Malayalam Movies

Abstract

Movies play a major role in the construction of cultures and customs. Rajasenan is a major figure of Malayalam cinema of the late twentieth century, especially when it comes to family entertainers. Family is a major social institution where changes can be initiated and that initiative can be something that would make greater impacts. This paper tries to analyze major Rajasenan movies of the late twentieth century and early twenty first century to study the creation of subtle narratives that would impact the use of gold in marriage and household and thus a construction of a set norm of how much gold a person can (should) ideally wear.