Representing the Postcolonial Subaltern: A Comparative Reading of Three Subaltern Narratives by O.V. Vijayan, Arundhati Roy and Mahashweta Devi

Abstract

The politics of representation is often as complex as its subject. The motivations, intent and the agendas that guide such endeavors often overlap in conflicting ways. These conflicts inevitably lead to a crisis of representation. Acclaimed film director Mrinal Sen captures such crises of representation in a film about the making of film. Akaler Sandhaney (In Search of Famine) is a self-reflexive critique of the pitfalls of “parallel cinema,” as differentiated from commercial or purely entertainment cinema. The film tells the story of a radical filmmaker from Kolkata who goes to a nearby village to make a film about a catastrophic famine in that area. The narrative weaves together the real and fictional to tell the story of the filmmaking, as the focus converges on the director and becomes a narrative of the documentary itself. The film attempts to deconstruct the apparent radicalism of the director as he comes into ignorant conflict with the villagers (Sen and Bandhopadhyay). His desire to speak “for” the villagers, his assumptions about the history of the place and the cinematic techniques that he employs to present what is really his perspective are all ruthlessly exposed as his project falls apart.