REALISM AND NATURALISM IN MULLUM MALARUM TAMIL MOVIE DIRECTED BY J. MAHENDRAN

Tamil cinema had exaggerated performances, dramatic scenes, and stereotype storytelling
formulas during the 1970s. This trend was broken by a new wave of realistic cinema director by
J.Mahendran. His Mullum Malarum was released in 1978. It created a significant shift towards
naturalistic way of storytelling and realistic way of narration. This research work examines the
shifts from mainstream cinematic methods. The movie ‘Mullum Malarum had unique
characterisation, visual aesthetics, narrative format and background music. The qualitative coding
sheet was used to understand the trend changes and unique characters arcs in the movie. This
approach was based on realistic film theory. According to the realistic film theory, everyday life,
and emotional authenticity and effective storytelling were very important to create a realism in
movies. Mullum Malarum was shoot in a natural setup for capturing visuals with minimal sets and
properties. The main character named Kali, had many flaws and ego centric characterization. Even
though, it had many flaws, it was scripted in a beautiful way. The emotional revealing scenes used
very minimal music and strong dialogues. The research findings clearly showed the shift towards
realism and naturalism in Tamil cinema. Furthermore, to appeal the mass audience exaggeration
was used in story telling with so many sets and artificial properties. Mullum Malarum emerged in
and broke the trends and it also challenged the conventions. The main character named Kali was
flawed, egoistic, very emotional, and extremely human. The film’s realism and naturalism created
a shifting point in Tamil cinema.