Cover Article in IFFK 2015 Festival Book
about Malayalam Cinema Today
A.Chandrasekhar
Mainstream versus Art-House, that
is the ongoing milieu amongst movies all over, especially in India. And similar
is the scenario in Malayalam too, but with a difference, where, the Art -House
movies try their level best to update technically conforming to the present day
advancements, while the Mainstream imbibes the structural and thematic nuances
of the counterpart. While the Post- Celluloid era offers much freedom to film
makers from constraints of duration as well as retakes, the Digital productions
try to touch big scores. Unfortunately, only a few hit the target and that is
the paradox in contemporary Malayalam Cinema.
Productions were in the increase
considerably over the past few years, as it managed to get revenue from
Satellite as well as the overseas rights. Anyway the hype thus created by the
so called ‘table- profit projects’ has come to a natural end after the TV
Channels' refusal to fund movies that did not prove successful in movie halls. This
year too had a hangover of such productions without mettle, and that accounts
to the total number of movies made last year. As usual, hardly a handful of
them did manage to bring back the investment and a very few hit a bang in the
box office. By December it may hit a figure of
130 films released this year, out of which around 15 might have grossed
the investment.
Film makers with commitment and
dedication still continued their pursuit with good films, which upheld the past
legacy in quality, that Malayalam Cinema always boasted about. Such movies won
much attention and critical acclaim internationally. The USP of such sincere
movie productions is its uniqueness in subject. They do dare to attempt explosive
and socially relevant subjects, from ecology to relationships, social hypocracy
to alchoholism. While adhering to the modern idioms of cinematic narration and
adapting intrinsic, multi-layered and multi-dimensional narrative techniques,
movies belonging to the Parallel stream never compromise a bit in its content.
That is why, an audience tend to applaud Jayaraj's Ottaal (The Trap), Sidharth
Siva's Iyn (The Eye) as well as Dr. Biju's Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal (Birds
with Large Wings) whole-heartedy. These movies addresses chronic social
dilemmas including child labour, Endosulphan and terrorism. Many of the new
breed film makers doesn’t bother to go to the grass root in pin pointing and exposing
the political conspiracies behind the evils. To them movie is a genuine medium of
expression.
The postive shift in Malayalam Cinema
is that, the so-called Mainstream commercial movies too have started to react
seriously and positively to social issues in depth, while adhering to its
formulae framework, and this needs to be duly acknowledged. And that makes
movies like Nirnayakam directed by V K Prakash, Ennu Ninte Moideen by R S Vimal
or Kattum Mazhayum (by Harikumar significantly relevant. The movies never leave
the politics in its theme unaddressed and this bridges it with its thematic
difference from the Socially committed films in its content aspect. And the
paradigm shift is of course the defiance of Stardom. No film did good because
of its star cast or the support of Mega/ Super stars. Viewers were so ardent in
handpicking only the best out of the lot, and they didn’t care who were cast in
it. And hence, it provided bigger and expanded space for new breed of heroes
and heroines.
Youngsters inspired from their
exposures to Film festivals and film schools as well as the internet are coming
more into the industry, which gives it conceptual freshness in the thematic
level and also in creative leap in its aesthetic appeal. Definitely debutant
director-duo Santhosh Babu Senan-Sathish Babu Senan are among them. As against
the political viewpoints of contemporaries like Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (An Off
Day game), Salim Ahmmed( Pathemari) or Dr.Biju, the Senans are inclined more to
the personal film making. And that makes their debut Chayam Pooshiya Veedu (The
Painted House) romantically clever. But the disheartening fact to be noted here
is that, the very same movie triggers another round of deliberations over the
prevailing censorship of movies in India.
One aspect that demands critical
introspection is the increase in duration of movies in general. Most of the
movies made these days except a very few seem to be really bothered about its
duration at all. This makes the Editor lazy and results in unwarranted lag that
mars the emotional viewing experience of the audience. This indeed results in
glitches in the communication cycle which at times alienate the audience from
the sentimental understanding of the movie. While in the past, the Mainstream
cinema tended to spoon- feed its mass audience, thus demanding so little from
them as its partner in communication process; modern day commercial movies too
repeat the same to some extent, but this time through its obsessive detailing. One
shouldn’t go unaware of the fact that such finite detailing in scenes revealing
the plot is due to the absence of celluloid silver raw stock in the digital
technology, where film makers are that much free to shoot and re-shoot to any
extent as it matters to the cost of an extra hard disk or storage space!
Triggering from the ‘New Generation’ genre, mainstream has almost made it its
characteristic of loose editing. This of course grades it down to the level of
an extended TV production. Such extensive detailing definitely questions the
sensibility of the audience, as it leaves no room for them to think or imagine.
Needless to note that still the
most adored subject of the Malayalam Mainstream film is love and lust. There
has been a loyal market for love stories in the state over the years. The
paradox is that, as against the past, this year saw two extra ordinary hits featuring
Love juxtaposed with Desire. While Alphonse Puthran's Premam (Love) strongly
reciprocated the typical new- generation sensibility of care-free relationships
and a rather lustful love, Vimal's Ennu Ninte Moideen, inspired from a real
life incident, upheld the platonic dimension of the emotion. Both periodic
movies, made by the young brigade, had some indirect references to the socio
economic and political Diaspora of the state over the past several years. What
makes Moideen daring is its sincere portrayal of prevailing religious and
cultural differences that is still valid. On the other hand Premam is more daring
in that, it attempts to de mythify platonic love. It rises up to the level of a
social spoof, by re-defining male-female relationships freeing itself from all
social taboos. The surprising fact, that needs to be seriously recorded is that
both the movies did extremely well in the theatres and also incited a niche of
socio-cultural studies based on these movie phenomenon. Premam also put some
remains in the history of Malayalam Cinema, as an unfortunate victim to cyber
theft where the entire film was widely shared by the cyber media through
chatwares like whatsapp, while the movie was successfully running.
The most noteworthy positive change
in Malayalam Cinema last year, is the hike in acceptance of the Parallel Art-House
films. Films struggling to get exhibitors or theatres, succeeded in finding
slots in the goverment sponsored/ government owned theatre networks. In fact,
the way by which they were received by the mass turned to be eye openers to the
mainstream exhibitors as well as boosted up the confidence level of independent
film makers to reach their movies to the public. This phenomenal acceptance is
sure to harvest more good and worthy movies in the years to come.
The slight disappointment is the
creative silence by Master film makers. Internationally acclaimed maestros
Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shaji N Karun were not creatively active during the
period. At the same time it is so cherishing to watch established film makers
like Lal Jose, refreshing themselves creatively by updating their approaches
confining to the form and content of the modern day film making style.
It is of no doubt that the bunch of
movies showcased in this edition of IFFK definitely represents and reflects the
diverse cross section of contemporary Malayalam Cinema. And it of course tends
to be positive. Much is to be expected from these film makers in future and
this gives us a promising glance of the aesthetic heights that films from this
region has been continuously upholding.
