Monstrous Girls and Celestial Lovers: Fantasy, Fear, and Female Adolescence in the Malayalam Films Ennu Swantham Janakikutty and Njan Gandharvan

The Malayalam films Ennu Swantham Janakikutty and Njan Gandharvan reimagine figures from Kerala folklore, namely the Yakṣi and the Gandharva, within coming-of-age narratives. Both films position the characters of the Yakṣi and the Gandharva as fantastical figures who usher the young female protagonist into maturity. Rather than offering a pan-Hindu survey, this study focuses specifically on Kerala’s unique reimaginings of these celestial beings, where these figures carry distinct cultural meanings. This interpretive analysis is situated at the intersection of film studies, religious studies, as well as gender and sexuality studies, drawing particularly on feminist theory and critical approaches to vernacular expressions of Hindu traditions. The article examines how these fantastical figures, shaped by the region’s diverse religious histories, serve as cultural touchstones onto which the female protagonists’ experiences, desires, and transitions into maturity are mapped and mediated.