When is the only time that
Malayalam cinemagoers are not
online or in front of the other
square box, the television?
When they are not at the
cinema theatres. A rarity a couple of years ago,
Malayalam cinema has returned
as a main draw for audiences in
Kerala and is likely to become a
regular affair for Malayalees
once their decisions at the hustings have been decided for
'good', now that the state
assembly election results have
been declared. The elections may or may not
have a Latin American twist,
but their cinematic ensemble is
drawing inspirations from the
southern part of the Americas.
Read on for the ensuing changes. Cidade de Deus in Portuguese,
De civitate dei in Latin and City
of God in English was one of the
Latin American films that broke
into the favelas of Rio de
Janeiro to extract the story of commoners, two boys growing
up in a violent neighbourhood,
choosing different careers in
life, a photographer and a drug
dealer, in a very unique form. It had parallel narratives that
intertwined with each other till
its denouement. City of God
turned out to be a cult film and
inspired many versions of the
same genre in various languages. One of them,
surprisingly as late as 2011, is
in Malayalam, with even the
name to boot. Not only is the trend bringing
smiles on critics' faces and
subtly changing the sensibilities
of 'mallu' cinephiles, it is also
changing the fortunes of a
beleaguered 'Mollywood', which was turning audiences away
from theatre two years ago. Two films released this year
follow the format patronized by
Mexican director Alejandro
Gonzalez Iñárritu of Amores
Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and,
most recently, Biutiful, with immense heuristic craft and
passionate intensity. Both Traffic, by Rajesh Pillai
(released in January), and City
of God, by Lijo Jose Pellissery
(released a few weeks ago),
deal with multiple narratives
that go back and forth interjecting into each other as
the storyline unfolds with each
episodic scenario. In both the
films, the narrative adds to the
tension and intrigue of either
the preceding scene or the one that is to follow. Both films, made by newcomers,
have created a new trend in
Malayalam cinema, which seems
to be finding many takers. Even
as the jury is out there on the
fate of City of God, Traffic is turning out to be one of the
hits of the year. "I thought very hard about
directing the script at some
point of time, as I was quite
impressed with the script," says
Prithviraj, one of the heroes of
the film and son of former Malayalam superstar late
Sukumaran.
Prithviraj's brother Indrajith, too, is onto essaying roles with a difference and donning different hats. "If I do a Tamil movie, I want to do something substantial and worthwhile. I got the villain roles for Kantasamy and Pokkiri, but I just didn't feel like doing them. I am waiting for the right kind of roles. Also, I am happy with the roles I am doing in Malayalam, and I don't think I need to go anywhere else," he said speaking to a news channel. Since his debut as a child artiste in 1986, Indrajith has completed 38 films, all his roles staying clear of stereotypes. His brother Prithviraj, the current heartthrob, who began his career in 2002, has completed 60 films, once again mostly drawing away from the normal fare. Director Ranjith feels that movies like Traffic, which interweave several stories into one as is seen in some Mexican and Brazilian movies, is essential for the growth of Malayalam films. "Unless there is new thought, narrative and style, Malayalam films will not grow. Films should have the right actors, even if they are superstars, for the roles and not the other way round,'' says Ranjith. The filmmaker's Palerimanikkyam Oru Pathira Kolapathakathinte Katha had Mammootty donning three roles, one of which was as a villain. "One of my forthcoming films Leela will have Shankar Ramakrishnan, the scriptwriter for the Santhosh Sivan movie, Urumi, as the lead," adds Ranjith. Overlapping narratives is not the only trend that is stalking Malayalam movies. A string of multi-starrers, too, has hit the screens in Kerala and there are films being made with rock bands providing the soundtrack and being released with no publicity. While Kochi band, MotherJane, did a score for the film, Anwar, Thiruvananthapuram-based band Avial is scoring the tunes for the yet to be released Salt 'n' Pepper. Says Tony, lead singer of Avial: "In the movie's end, the band is shown as a band. This movie is different from the normal commercial ventures. It's a good trend that bands are getting an opportunity to find a space in the popular imagination, which are so overridden with film music." The drift towards multi-starrers is not new and began with Twenty20 ('08), which starred all the possible names that the Malayalam industry could conjure and was the only superhit till '10. However, the idea caught on last year and there has been a spate of releases with the success of Pokkiri Raja, starring Prithviraj and Mammootty, Happy Husbands, starring Jayaram, Jayasurya, and Indrajith, and In Ghost House Inn, a sequel of Mukesh-, Siddque- and Ashokan-starrer In Harihar Nagar. The most successful ones of the 30-odd films released in the first quarter of 2011 have been multi-starrers, including Joshi's Christian Brothers, Santhosh Sivan's historical thriller Urumi, Rafi-Macartin's blockbuster China Town and Shafi's Makeup Man. "I am not really scared of acting with youngsters, particularly because I get to learn a lot from them. In Pokkiri Raja, I got to learn a lot of dance steps from Prithviraj and it showed well in the final result on screen," says Mammootty. In 2011, two Mammootty films, August 15 and Doubles, have not exactly stirred the box office. Mohanlal, who had a disastrous 2010, has opted for multi-starrer films as well. While Christian Brothers had a huge starcast, ranging from superstars like Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Dileep to Tamil hero Sarath Kumar, Urumi, directed by Santosh Sivan, too brought in a lot of stars, including Vidya Balan. Subair, who produced Christian Brothers, says multi-starrer films can help a lot in pre- release marketing of the film. "We can't judge the response of the public. It is not in our hands. What we can do is plug the film before the release,'' he points out. "Once the film is released, it will have an initial pull if there is a superstar. If it has new actors and a good script, then it can become a sleeper hit like the films Traffic and Passenger, which came out last year." Chinatown, which brings together superstars Mohanlal, Dileep and Jayaram, is the other film which has established this trend. Script is the key, says Macartin, whose multi- starrer film Chinatown is running to full houses. "Once we have the right script, such films can attract a larger audience. Though the cost will be higher, such films can offer a minimum guarantee,'' he says. But Macartin admits that getting the dates of stars is a tough task. "In the case of Chinatown, we had the thread of the story, which we discussed with the stars. They were in favour of it and we went ahead with script," he says. Whether the trend will continue is debatable, but what is clear is that producers and directors are willing to try out something different. "Superstars may also like it because if the film flops, they won't have to take the blame alone," observes Sabu Cherian, president of The Kerala Film Producers' Association. That might be a welcome change for fans who see their superstars only at award nights or when they break into a song when in doubt. That was often the norm as far as parallel narratives were concerned. For their happy viewing now, however, there has been a change in their foundational fictions. The narrative intertwines sans a needless song in the middle of the 'traffic'. (With inputs from PK Krishnakumar)
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