Rohan Biju Babjan

Intergenerational Reciprocity and Elder Care - Analyzing Select Malayalam Films Through Health Humanities

Rohan Biju Babjan

Vellore Institute of Technology

rohan.bijubabjan@gmail.com

Sushant Kishore

Delhi University

Aging processes reflect societal values and tensions that vary widely across cultural contexts. In many Western societies, elder care often relies on market or state mechanisms, emphasizing individual independence. By contrast, Asian cultures traditionally prioritize family as the central site of caregiving, guided by the principle of intergenerational reciprocity—a moral obligation where adult children care for aging parents in return for the care they received. However, globalization and migration have significantly disrupted these norms, particularly in India, where the transition from joint to nuclear families has altered caregiving practices and cultural values. The erosion of traditional family structures has led to the marginalization of older adults, who now find themselves excluded from crucial decision-making processes within the household. This shift is attributed to socio-economic changes that have transformed familial roles and diminished the respect traditionally afforded to elders, resulting in their voices being overlooked. Malayalam cinema has long engaged with the anxieties surrounding this cultural shift, offering a rich medium for exploring the changing dynamics of elder care. This paper examines two films, Thinkalazcha Nalla Divasam (1985) and Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 (2019), as markers of this transformation. These films not only highlight the erosion of traditional caregiving models but also reveal the social and emotional consequences of these changes across generations. The period between the two films encapsulates the transition from collective caregiving ideals to an increasingly fragmented approach shaped by modernity. By analyzing these narratives through the interdisciplinary lens of health humanities, this study bridges cultural and cinematic representations with global discussions on elder care. It underscores the value of examining non-Western caregiving systems to deepen our understanding of aging, interdependence, and care ethics in diverse cultural contexts. This analysis contributes to a broader discourse on how cultural shifts reshape human relationships and health practices, making a case for the relevance of cultural specificity in health humanities research.

BIOGRAPHY

Rohan is a postgraduate in English literature and is currently pursuing his doctoral research at the Dept. of English, School of Social Science and Languages at Vellore Institute of Technology. His research interests lie at the intersection of health humanities and cultural gerontology and he is presently studying cinematic narratives associated with aging.

Dr. Sushant Kishore has studied Literature and Critical Cultural Theory at Delhi University, Delhi and Panjab University, Chandigarh. He earned his PhD from BITS Pilani for his thesis on the performative politics of Ethnocultural Nationalism in India. Driven by a keen interest in understanding the interplay between lived experiences and discourses of Hindu nationalism, his research scrutinizes the ritualistic aspects of this ideology. His research explores how Hindu nationalism contributes to the construction of homogenous narratives surrounding ethnic identity within the national consciousness. Dr. Kishore's academic pursuits are deeply rooted in the realms of performance, memory, affect, and their collective influence on shaping narratives and identities.