12th June 2019
Musings.......
Trends and times change and so does people. The prevalent mood of the public and society as a whole can be gauged in a significant way by the movies of the times. Malayalis have always been progressive in terms of the movies that people watch or we feel so when we get compared to movies that come out of neighbouring states. By far Kerala has resisted hero worship to a large extent and the so called “ Masala” content has been minimal in comparison. Kerala film industry can boast of producing many greats, doyens of their field giving us wonderful movies. Be it in front of the camera, or behind it Malayalis can be proud of producing many a legends.
Having lived most part of my early teenage in North India it was but natural that I should have been attracted towards the glittery world of Bollywood cinema however fortunately or unfortunately that was not the case. Though I enjoy Hindi movies here and there, most of the time I have been disappointed by the Page 3 content and sloppy scripts.
Once I entered into my Medical college days, I was welcomed by Gigabytes of movie content through Hard Discs so thankfully lend by my colleagues and friends. Hence, I got introduced to Gigabytes of Hollywood movies and most of my leisure time got spent in front of the laptop. From Martin Scorsese to the likes of Stephen Spielberg and Quintin Tarantino, from Spanish to Korean, from Oscar winners to Roofies, they had them all and I feasted on it like an Elephant in a sugarcane field. Ratings on Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb didn’t matter to me, what mattered was I was watching one more in my quest to complete the never ending list of movies that the hard discs had.
What this did to me was without my knowing I was exposed to cultures, customs and traditions hitherto unknown to me. My knowledge in Geography too for a boost with me getting to know multiple locales and beautiful cuisines.
Meanwhile I shouldn’t forget is the doses of Malayalam cinema that I got exposed to which is understandable considering the amount of movies that get released every week, or due to lack of other recreational activities for a medical student that I was, whatever be the case.
Malayalam produces some wonderful cinema as I mentioned earlier. Being a regular of Malayalam movies I could decipher a trend in filmmaking which over the years has shown transformational change. Gone are the days of Black and White cinema which we Malayalis associate with the Prem Nazir’s and Sathyan era. Then came the colourful late 80s and the 90s of Mohanlal and Mammooty. Those were the days of fantasy musicals and slapstick comedy.
What makes me write this article is two brilliant movies that I saw with my better half over the week. Uyare and Virus.
Both smalltime movies with no big banner to boast of is still running houseful in this part of the country. The era of Realistic moviemaking is here folks. Natural acting and real life instances and circumstances dominate and us moviegoers are elated.
Can u imagine a super hit blockbuster in the 90s without a single song or dance sequence. Well that is what the filmmaker’s have achieved through the movie Virus. Uyare ought to be mentioned too with its background score still haunting me.
We are seeing a transformational change in Malayalam cinema and I am excited to be part of the experience. Such moviegoing experience where the movie makes you sit up and take notice is something to look forward to.
This article is not intended to be a review or critique of the movies that I saw, rather this is just thoughts that come to my mind sitting right now outside the movie theatre in the waiting area for my next movie.
Talking of change for the good and realistic cinema experience, I sincerely hope I got the trend right this time and get to see more such movies in the not so far away future.
Food for Thought.......
RC
rohitchennithala.home.blog
rohitchennithala.blogspot.com
Trends and times change and so does people. The prevalent mood of the public and society as a whole can be gauged in a significant way by the movies of the times. Malayalis have always been progressive in terms of the movies that people watch or we feel so when we get compared to movies that come out of neighbouring states. By far Kerala has resisted hero worship to a large extent and the so called “ Masala” content has been minimal in comparison. Kerala film industry can boast of producing many greats, doyens of their field giving us wonderful movies. Be it in front of the camera, or behind it Malayalis can be proud of producing many a legends.
Having lived most part of my early teenage in North India it was but natural that I should have been attracted towards the glittery world of Bollywood cinema however fortunately or unfortunately that was not the case. Though I enjoy Hindi movies here and there, most of the time I have been disappointed by the Page 3 content and sloppy scripts.
Once I entered into my Medical college days, I was welcomed by Gigabytes of movie content through Hard Discs so thankfully lend by my colleagues and friends. Hence, I got introduced to Gigabytes of Hollywood movies and most of my leisure time got spent in front of the laptop. From Martin Scorsese to the likes of Stephen Spielberg and Quintin Tarantino, from Spanish to Korean, from Oscar winners to Roofies, they had them all and I feasted on it like an Elephant in a sugarcane field. Ratings on Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb didn’t matter to me, what mattered was I was watching one more in my quest to complete the never ending list of movies that the hard discs had.
What this did to me was without my knowing I was exposed to cultures, customs and traditions hitherto unknown to me. My knowledge in Geography too for a boost with me getting to know multiple locales and beautiful cuisines.
Meanwhile I shouldn’t forget is the doses of Malayalam cinema that I got exposed to which is understandable considering the amount of movies that get released every week, or due to lack of other recreational activities for a medical student that I was, whatever be the case.
Malayalam produces some wonderful cinema as I mentioned earlier. Being a regular of Malayalam movies I could decipher a trend in filmmaking which over the years has shown transformational change. Gone are the days of Black and White cinema which we Malayalis associate with the Prem Nazir’s and Sathyan era. Then came the colourful late 80s and the 90s of Mohanlal and Mammooty. Those were the days of fantasy musicals and slapstick comedy.
What makes me write this article is two brilliant movies that I saw with my better half over the week. Uyare and Virus.
Both smalltime movies with no big banner to boast of is still running houseful in this part of the country. The era of Realistic moviemaking is here folks. Natural acting and real life instances and circumstances dominate and us moviegoers are elated.
Can u imagine a super hit blockbuster in the 90s without a single song or dance sequence. Well that is what the filmmaker’s have achieved through the movie Virus. Uyare ought to be mentioned too with its background score still haunting me.
We are seeing a transformational change in Malayalam cinema and I am excited to be part of the experience. Such moviegoing experience where the movie makes you sit up and take notice is something to look forward to.
This article is not intended to be a review or critique of the movies that I saw, rather this is just thoughts that come to my mind sitting right now outside the movie theatre in the waiting area for my next movie.
Talking of change for the good and realistic cinema experience, I sincerely hope I got the trend right this time and get to see more such movies in the not so far away future.
Food for Thought.......
RC
rohitchennithala.home.blog
rohitchennithala.blogspot.com
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