Malayalam cinema gropes in the dark

[admin]

NEW DELHI: The cold shoulder the Malayalam film industry received at the National Awards could not have come at a better time.

If nothing else, it should act as a wake-up call for filmmakers of Kerala, who, off late, were serving films that outdo the popular TV series Didi's Comedy Show: Non-Stop Nonsense . And if not comedy, it was revenge on the screen. It seemed the Malayalam film industry was on a drive to outsmart Bollywood and Mollywood at one go. In hindsight it was just a suicide mission.

The signs were ominous, when the state jury decided against giving any award for the best film. But some filmmakers refused to see the obvious. They argued that if there could be an award for best director, how could there be no best film?

For the industry, it's time now for some stock-taking.

Veteran actor Thilakan attributes the decline in the film industry to commercialisation. He holds both the audience and the filmmakers responsible for the downslide.

"During the last ten years, the industry has become market-driven. The filmmakers want to reap as much from a movie as they can. It's the same with the audience too. When an alcoholic gets maximum kick out of cheap arrack, why should he go for cognac? Good movies don't see the light of the day," he says.

Noted actor Nedumudi Venu gives another dimension.

"Movies are not as communicative as they used to be earlier. The type of movies we have now only helps in keeping the viewers away from theatres," he says.

He also points out that the middle class, for whom cinema was a major mode of entertainment, is keeping off theatres now.

"The middle class is also not taking interest in movies as the middle-of-the-path films are not coming nowadays. Industry is the main culprit for this," he says.

Thilakan adds: "Majority of film goers in Kerala are aged between six and 18. Naturally, filmmakers dish out products that please children and adolescents."

How then can the industry be revived?

According to Thilakan, trying to apply a solution would be a wrong step. "Controls cannot help situation," he says. He feels the pits the Malayalam cinema finds itself in is a worldwide phenomenon. With time the industry will recover, he opines.

Nedumudi, however, is for a concerted action by the filmmakers and theatre owners.

"Theatres in Kerala, for example, are huge structures without basic amenities. For the middle class to return, theatres will have to change with the times and provide better amenities. Filmmakers, on their part, should make better movies to wean back the lost audience," he says.

That a director like K G George is out of job, with no movies for a long period of time, tells how grim the road ahead looks for the Kerala film industry.

To know if the Malayalam filmmakers heeded the warning bells, we'll have to wait for another year, when another set of juries come together to take stock of the year's offerings and give away prizes. Till then we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed.