When the Real Ceases to Exist: Reading the Realm of the Hyperreal in Unni R.’s “Ozhivudivasathe Kali”

In the postmodern condition a sign does not indicate an underlying reality but other signs and thus the whole system becomes ‘simulation’. Jean Baudrillard the French sociologist, cultural critic and postmodern theorist, in his 1981 work Simulacra and Simulations discusses about what is usually known as ‘the loss of the real’. In the contemporary world the distinction between reality and illusion, surface and depth are completely lost. The media mediated world of reality that we perceive today is all a hyperreality. We confront illusions all around us and without which we feel unable to live. What we take in for granted is something that is created for the purpose of to be perceived. All these made up realities become texts as well. In an age of mass production, mass consumption and mass communication the terms ‘hyperreality’ and ‘simulation’ signify the virtual or unreal nature of the present day culture. Baudrillard’s philosophy centers on these concepts. It is a basic part of human existence to simulate, to imagine scenarios and possible outcomes.