Hidden alienation, sexual repression and the search for Self in Aparna Sen’s Parama: A Brief Analysis

Abstract

In our paper we have tried to explore how Aparna Sen through the portrayal of the eponymous
heroine Parama has tried to engage with questions of how patriarchy operates through hidden
alienation, oppression and sexual repression in the Indian society and tries to control its women
through the Politics of Shame and Backlash. It is through the genre of counter cinema that Sen
attempts to redress these wrongs meted out to women and also provide an alternate solution to all
women. When Parama released in 1984 it created a revolution of sorts and is still studied as a
supreme effort in expressing women’s aesthetics as far as cinema in India is concerned.