Maya, Tradition and Modernity in Shaji Karun's 'Vanaprastham'

Abstract

The 1999 Indian/French film, 'Vaanaprastham' ('The Last Dancer'), reflects the changing world of a South Indian community by depicting life episodes of a Kathakali dancer. Still engaged with traditional social mores and mythologies, the community struggles to absorb influences of modernity - altered expectations of the individual and of gender and caste relations. The story is mediated through the foundational philosophy of maya: that appearances are illusory.