Research Proposal

SUBMITTED BY,
B.HARISH (21-PVC-014)

On
August 2022

Department of Visual Communication

Loyola College (Autonomous)
Chennai – 600034

1
SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF DALITS IDENTITY IN SARPATTA PARAMBARAI MOVIE

I. INTRODUCTION

The film is one of the mediums which reflect the directors’ ideology. A film director through
her/his film conveys the opinion and ideology to the target audience. In comparison to other
media, film has gained popularity throughout history and has evolved over time. The researcher
has used descriptive content analysis to analyze the selected films. Pa. Ranjith’s selection of
theme, plot, characterization and language differentiates him from other Tamil directors.

Sarpatta Parambarai, is director Pa Ranjith’s fifth feature film in Tamil, released on 22nd July
2021. The film captivates the audience through its presentation of not only boxing, a sport of
high energy and drama, but also the complex relationship of a community with its past and
present, sustained through its engagement with boxing. This research mainly focuses on finding
out how director Pa. Ranjith deconstructs reality through his films based on semiotics. The
movie is in the mid-to-late Seventies, a time of great political upheaval in Tamil Nadu and the
country. The context is a set of boxing clans (or parambarais) competing among themselves
for glory in the sport. The setting is in North Madras, specifically the harbor area and its
hinterland of a few square kilometers. Residents of the area are mostly from the laboring
classes, an uncommon mix of diverse castes and religions living together. Sarpatta Parambarai
pushes the envelope in this genre while being an outstanding cinematic achievement in its own
right. Through this film, sarpatta parambarai analyzes many layers of Dalit subjectivity, from
the socio-political through semiotics the signs and symbols used to convey meaning and to
shape our perceptions of boxing.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Semiotics is the study of “signs” and of anything that stands for or represents something
else. The term semiotics is derived from the Greek words semeio (interpreter of sign). The
main proponents of this theory were Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), a Swiss linguist who
studied the meaning of signs within a particular group or society, and Charles Sanders Peirce

2
(1839–1914), an American philosopher and logician who studied how signs shape our
individual understanding of physical reality. They pay close attention to how signs are used to
impart meaning to their intended recipients and look for ways to ensure that their meaning
comes across effectively.

There is a lot of studies has been taken place about the Dalit’s representation in “Pa.Ranjith’s
- Attakathi, Madras, and kabali. But there isn’t research based on the semiotics of “Sarpatta
parambarai” movie. There are many researchers related to the director Pa.Ranjith’s – madras (
2014), kabali (2016), kaala ( 2018), and attakathi (2012), exposing the social structure
throughout his films. In his previous four films, Pa.Ranjith used social structure through
Screening, characterization languages, and even colors. And there is research related to Dalit
narratives and religion, how untouchability emerged in Tamil Nadu. The “Sarpatta parambarai”
film’s pulsing energy in every frame derives from this deep investment in the sport by boxers,
coaches, sponsors, clan members, and most of all, the teaming crowd of spectators. that the
Dalits who learnt boxing from the British helped spread the sport among the diverse
communities of North Madras, including fishermen, Anglo-Indians, and caste Hindus. In the
movie, “Sarpatta parambarai” the target is to identify the various problems faced by Dalit’s in
society through the codes used as, signifiers & signified, and how it used to convey meaning
and to shape our perceptions of life and reality.

THE SIGNIFIER AND THE SIGNIFIED

All signs have a signifier and signified. The signifier is the material form of the sign. This is
the element that we can see, hear, taste, touch or smell. For example, think of a red flag that is
used to indicate danger. The red flag itself can be described as a signifier.

Signified is the mental concept associated with a sign. In other words, it is the concept,
meaning or the thing associated with the signified. example, the flowers ( text)- signifier,
flowers ( images) – signified.

3
CODES

In semiotics, a code is a set of shared understandings among users about the relationship
between signifiers and signifieds. A cultural group or community can be thought of as a
group of people who share a common system of codes.

III. OBJECTIVE
• To identify and interpret the codes used for Dalit identity as a signifier in sarpatta
parambarai.
• To analyse the meaning used in sarpatta parambarai using codes to signified.

IV. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The theoretical framework is a representation of how certain variables are related to each
other (model) and an explanation of why we use this theory. In Sarpatta Parambarai movie
the research is about semiotic analysis. The analyse is to be done through the “Ferdinand de
Saussure” theory using signifiers & signified through the codes.

4
The focus of Saussure’s theory is the principle that emphasized that signs only
acquire meaning and value when they are interpreted in relation to each other. He believed
that the relationship between the signifier and the signified was arbitrary. interpreting signs
requires familiarity with the sets of conventions or codes currently in use to communicate
meaning.

In semiotic analysis, the smallest units of meaning are signs. For example, the way someone
dresses is a collection of signs that informs others about the person; clothing encodes the
smallest of signs, e.g. a popped collar means preppy. A black band t-shirt and oversized pants
signal a music fan, but together they can create a collection of signs, a code. You could say
meaning has two “levels”. On its most basic level, there is the sign: the denotation, which is
the literal meaning. But when a sign occurs in a group, or in a particular context, it becomes
a code, and it can suggest or connote extra meaning. The color red simply denotes a color, but
in a certain context, it can connote emotion, like anger, or love.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

5
A conceptual framework is a representation of the relationship you expect to see between
your variables, or the characteristics or properties that you want to study. Conceptual
frameworks can be written or visual and are generally developed based on a literature
review of existing studies about our topic.

In sarpatta parambarai movie use of codes in the film will be analysed by each frame to
identify the signifier and signified will be done. The enigma is a type of code used in films
creates a question in which the film makes potential viewers wonder what will happen. Often
used in its trailers it draws viewers in to see the movie. Symbolic codes only work when a
society uses them widely. By themselves they might fail to convey meaning but because they
have been used in popular culture many times, they turn into something meaningful.cultural
codes are used in the film to show the culture through the dress codes used during the period
of the film and mise en scenes. Artistically codes are used to show the lighting, actor, color
scheme, composition, and music throughout the film.

6
 V. REFERENCES

article/opinion/columns/sarpatta-parambarai-cinematic-exploration-Dalit-issue-pa-ranjith-
7442276
publication/322267733_FabricRendered_Identity_A_Study_of_Dalit_Representation_in_Pa_
Ranjith's_Attakathi_Madras_and_Kabali
publication/351102595_CLASS_AND_TAMIL_CINEMA_A_SEMIOTIC_ANALYSIS_ON
_THE_REPRESENTATION_OF_WORKING_CLASS
http://repo.lib.jfn.ac.lk/ujrr/handle/123456789/4851

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322267733_Fabric-
Rendered_Identity_A_Study_of_Dalit_Representation_in_Pa_Ranjith's_Attakathi_Madras_a
nd_Kabali

http://journals.sjp.ac.lk/index.php/vjhss/article/view/5970