Understanding costume Design in Malayalam Cinema: A Study on Costume Director S.B Satheesan’s Movies ‘Kathapurushan’ (1995) and ‘Apothecary' (2014); 'Summer in Bethlehem’ (1998), and ‘Mili’ (2015)

Abstract

Costume design has been an integral part of Malayalam cinema. Be it period films like 'Oru Vadakan Veeragatha‘ (1989) or ‗Padayottam‘ (1982) or contemporary films like ‗Aadu 2‘ (2017)or ‗Take off‘ (2017), the costume designer has played a pivotal role in the success of the film. Although it is a necessary part of scenic design, costume design in Malayalam cinema has been less examined or compared to its other counterparts like set and lighting design. In this paperselect films by S.B Satheesan, a costume designer who has been in the Malayalam film industry for more than 25 years, has been chosen for the research. The films selected for this study will be ‗Kathapurushan‘ (1995) and ‗Apothecary' (2014) in the art film category and 'Summer in Bethlehem‘ (1998), and ‗Mili‘ (2015) in the contemporary category. The paper aims to understand how costume design has evolved as a separate niche from art direction, the various factors that influence the selection of these costumes and the influence of script in the selection of these costumes.