Three weekends and three Malayalam movies – different genres, different directorial approaches and a largely non-overlapping cast. But all of them underlying that this is indeed becoming a glorious age for Malayalam cinema! New stories, novel thoughts, fresh perspectives – this is a wonderful time to be a viewer. I decided to write this post, because as I’d mentioned earlier while on the subject, movies are a representation of an era, and years later, I’d like to read this and remember what a great time we had!
On the first weekend, we saw ABCD, (trailer) starring Dulquer Salmaan, who with each outing impresses further, seems destined to be an actor and a star, and might not have to wait for years like his father (Mammootty) to attain either. Our decision to see it in the theatre was also heavily influenced by the presence of Jacob Gregory, whom we were fans of thanks to Akkara Kazchakal. The movie was not meant for intellectual stimulation and delivered its promise of entertainment quite easily. What it also did was look at contemporary issues in a non-preachy way. Despite a few niggles – the editing could have been better, Gregory’s accent could’ve been worked on and he could have been better utilised in the first half – Martin Prakkat has ensured that his success continues after his debut film Best Actor. Extra points for not trying to force fit a love story that could have spoiled the superb essaying of a script-backed character by Aparna Gopinath, the very anti-thesis of a traditional Malayalam movie heroine.
The second weekend saw us in PVR for 5 Sundarikal – an anthology with stories of 5 different women in various life stages. 5 directors, with one of them making a debut. My favourite was Aashiq Abu’s Gowri, (despite not being a fan of Kavya Madhavan) thanks to the really sensitive story of a couple whose life goes through a drastic change after a seemingly casual remark by a visiting friend. Kullante Bharya was an equally strong contender, and quite unchacteristic of Amal Neerad, I might add. I place it second only because the story is an adaptation. Dulquer takes on the narrator role with ease and does a splendid job of making sure the nuances are caught just right. Shyju Khalid’s Sethulakshmi, based on a story by M Mukundan, is poignant and very disturbing! Fantastic treatment of the story in terms of catching expressions, and portraying scenarios. Anwar Rasheed’s Aami does not fail only because of the superb portrayal of the protagonist by Fahadh Fasil, who captures the flitting gray shade nuances of his character with ease, and the riddle based flow of the story. Sameer Thahir’s Eesha, starring Isha Sharvani and Nivin Pauly reminded me of a short story (not sure if it’s Archer) and was probably the only one which only worked marginally for me. But in all, it was an excellent compilation.
The best was saved for the last – Murali Gopy teaming up with Arun Kumar Aravind after Ee Adutha Kaalathu – Left Right Left. The title of this post is inspired by its tagline – revolution is homemade. Fantastic casting, with Hareesh Peradi, (what was he doing in Red Chillies?!) Murali Gopy and Indrajith making each character easily believable. So strong is the script that you feel the angst and pain that each of them have within – and that even goes for the ruthless character played by Hareesh Peradi. The political overtones are more than obvious, but yet manage not to take over the film. There is an immense amount of realism in the movie, and that is not because one could easily associate it with real life personalities, but because even the secondary characters have a clear DNA – why they are the way they are, what drives them, what is their rationale for doing the things they do. It is really difficult to choose between the three protagonists and that’s because of the strong script as well as the brilliant portrayals. Like I mentioned in a tweet, it was awesome to see the sons of gifted actors – Murali Gopi, Indrajith Sukumaran, Sudhir Karamana, and Vijayaraghavan in a single movie! If that isn’t new generation Malayalam movies, what is? 🙂 A powerful, hard hitting movie, and kudos to the director for delivering the script just right! For now, watch the back story of the characters in the movie’s potent anthem
until next time, malayalam cinema #ftw