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Paper short abstract

In this paper I examine two South Indian cinematic explorations of folk narratives that instrumentalize the boundary-crossing abilities of their respective protagonists to interrogate contemporary political questions of land sovereignty of tribal and rural communities.

Paper long abstract

In this paper I examine two South Indian cinematic explorations of folk narratives that instrumentalize the boundary-crossing abilities of their respective protagonists to interrogate contemporary political questions of land sovereignty of tribal and rural communities. The Tamil film Karnan (2021, Dir. Mari Selvaraj) narrates the heroic journey of its titular protagonist whose community is turned into a kaatu (uncivilized place) through the denial of civil infrastructure by the state and the consequent dehumanization of its inhabitants. Speaking to caste inequality, the struggle of the community is enlivened by Kaatu Pechi, the deified dead sister of Karnan, who emerges as witness whenever the spirit of rebellion arouses in the community. Kantara (2022; Dir. Rishab Shetty) is a Kannada film centered on the conflict between the princely state, a tribal community, and the postcolonial secular government over forest land and spiritual agents. Drawing from the folk traditions of bhoota kola, the protagonist Shiva is interpellated into a supernatural being, Panjurli, and later, the violent Guliga, to fight for the community when the ancestral treaty is broken by the king’s descendants. The state emerges as a seemingly neutral party, its violent mechanisms variably deployed against the community and the king. In both films, I argue that the boundaries between the material and spiritual, civilization and wilderness, state and subject, and male and female are disturbed, and the spiritually possessed actors challenge established norms through their crossings.