RESONANCES OF LOVE BENEATH THE TIDES - A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE FILMS ‘THE SHAPE OF WATER’ AND ‘NIDRA’.

In today’s world Cinema has evolved as the supreme medium to communicate human emotions. In the present chaotic world human existence has indeed become a labyrinthine- issue of discussion. This paper tries to bring to the limelight the miserable lives of the vulnerable section under the barbarous clutches of the authoritarianism by comparing two notable films rooted in different cultures- “The Shape of water” and “Nidra’. Even though being shot in different cultural backgrounds, the central issues of alienation, isolation, futility of human existence, fluidity of identity and the demeaning effects of power politics on the under-privileged people projected in these movies share an indisputable similarity. The global issue of victimization of the powerless and the jeopardizing effects of materialism on the lives of the downtrodden, are the major concerns showcased in the films. Also the conflicting ideas between the colonizer and the colonized is unraveled in the development of the plots. The hegemonic power heralded by the superior class always have a disastrous tendency to marginalize and suppress the innocent lives of the impoverished. This calamitous issue of human survival in a highly conflicting and materialistic world is the celebrated theme of these films.