Ennu ninte moideen usa movie#
Moideen’s death in the later part of the movie was also an act for the well being of others and it is outside the structural obstacles. This is a story of a woman told through patriarchal gazes. Yet the tallest figure of this movie is Moideen.
Ennu ninte moideen usa free#
He lived as a free man with a fulfilling life, only bound by the shackles of love. Moideen was politically active, participating in strikes and rallies and even organising theatre performances paraphrasing his own love story. 21st century India hasn’t changed much after all eh? Victim blaming, no social freedom for women, no education and no agency.Ī minute of silence for the progress please. He was a free man and lived an adventurous life despite being banished from his house because he loved Kachana. On one hand, as Kanchanamala rotted away in a room, Moideen’s trajectory doesn’t seem all that gruesome. She gave up her education, her youth, her love for 10 years all for the well-being of her family. But that did not happen, so we as a society gave into gender repressive romanticism-the idea of a sacrificial woman all over again, how innovative! Let’s dare to imagine, Kanchanamala being married to Moideen! What next? She would be a homemaker and live her life in Moideen’s household and nobody would have cared. What is next on line in the perpetual give up list, eh? A domesticated woman is a good woman and an untamed woman a threat. Total dedication and offering by a woman in the name of love is the spiritual pound of flesh. She could be a doctor, a painter, a musician but the veil of a sacrificial mother will surpass all. These two characters fall in love with each other and want to marry but are unable to do so because of the intervention of religion and family.Ī mother becomes the only thing that a woman is. The level of sacrifice defines a woman’s worth and goodness.Įnnu ninte moideen which roughly translates to “Yours Truly Moideen” is the love story of Kanchanamala and Moideen. Even when talking about mothers, we often come across articles that talk about how much mothers give up and do just for their kids just to reach this stage of being called “a good mother”.
We as a community and society have always idealized and romanticized the idea of sacrifice and domestication of women. And if she is a working woman, the work is a bonus to everything else that still entails her just because she is a woman. Kanchamala is to cook, to clean, to keep things in order and to make life a little easier for everyone else.
A woman would never dare to fall in love with a muslim man, right? She has no agency and mind of her own, obviously! This can be seen in the flamboyant idea of Love Jihad as well. A woman who is married is to devote her life to the betterment of the family, thereby giving into patriarchal mania of submissiveness. We have always seen women being associated with family and the role of women in the family highly sacrificial in nature. But unfortunately this isn’t the reason why the movie was celebrated. And as a fellow woman, I respect and applaud that. Kanchanamala is a strong woman who stood up against patriarchy and fought against the world for her love. In Ennu Ninte Moideen, families oppose the marriage on religious grounds which results in Kanchanamala’s education being stopped and she is locked in a room sine die, due to which their love story turns into a 10-year-long wait without seeing each other and only communicating through letters.Įnnu ninte Moideen is a highly celebrated movie in Kerala and for the wrong reasons much like Love jihad on Twitter. This phenomenon of intolerance can be explained by a love story from the 1950s. Love jihad looks at women through a patriarchal lens, women are for the control and consumption of patriarchs and men, the embodiment of toxic masculinity. Behind these attractive facades lies detrimental reinforcement of gender norms.
“Love Jihad” and “Ennu nine Moideen”, what do they have in common?īoth are dealing with the romantic sacrifices of the platonic love, which goes beyond the worldly edifices of power, whether patriarchal or religious. ‘Love Jihad’ is a stronger version of the same orthodoxy backed by criminalisation of love, destruction of liberty and a complete demolition of personal choices. These two characters fall in love with each other and want to marry but are unable to do so because of the intervention of religion and family. Ennu Ninte Moideen which roughly translates to “Yours Truly Moideen” is the love story of Kanchanamala and Moideen. It is a real life Shakespearean tragedy wrapped in patriarchy with crumbs of feminist dialogues for claps.