Fellini’s Ghost, Save Me!
I’m a movie fiend. When I watch a movie, I very thirstily & feverishly deconstruct its building blocks - Casting, Screen Play, Background Score, Dialog Delivery, Costumes et al. I’m passionately in love with movies. When I was a kid, I yearned to make movies. I used to stand before a mirror & emote, observing what angles worked & what didn’t. I would sit behind the clump of Frangipani trees in the yard & clinically dissect passers-by. Their body language, diction, their clothes. In retrospect, I must have unnerved & freaked people out with my pitiless ogling.
I never entered Show Business. Instead, I became a Software Engineer. I’m not exactly heart-broken, because I’m a philanderer: Film Making is only 1 of my many loves. In turn, I’ve desperately wanted to be an Architect. Cryptographer. Musician. Physicist. Writer. Chef. Astronaut. And curiously enough, Fighter Pilot. In my first year in the Engineering school, I fell inexorably in love with Computers - it had me from “Hello World”.
Those who can’t make movies, watch them. I sate myself by reading about the craft & by devouring truckloads of movies. A good movie is a story on an acid trip - Vivid images hitherto unseen carve themselves on the brains of the viewers, like a hallucination. A bad movie is like a wet dog - it stinks, its messy, it can be shaken off easily & it never makes a lasting impression. I’m very particular about the kind of movies I watch - After all, you devote 2 to 3 hours of your time to watch a movie. Its an immersive medium, where you have to stay interested. I only watch movies that I think are good, whose Rotten Tomatoes rating is high or whose story-line I think will hit the high notes. The rest are simply not worth my time.
I used to watch TCM (Turner Classic Movies) & AMC (American Movie Classics) regularly when we lived in the US. In India though, good movie channels that carry Subtitles are rare. We rent videos from Cinema Paradiso, a store that has an eclectic collection. I hit the mother-lode this weekend - I laid my hands on a Sinhala movie - Pavuru Valalu, with English subtitles.
Now, About Pavuru Valalu
Loosely translated, “The Walls Within” - is set in the 1960s Galle in Sri Lanka. It has a simple story-line - Lovers separated during WW-II meet after a gap of 25 years. The lady is married, has 2 daughters & her husband has abandoned her. When the movie unwinds, the director’s sympathy for the lead pair’s predicament comes thru with lyrical perfection. Without being judgmental, the movie poignantly captures the society recoiling in horror at this state of affairs.
The protagonists Victor & Violet are essayed admirably al dente by Tony Ranasinghe & Nita Fernando. None of the actors spout reams of dialog - their silences, little gestures & eyes convey much more than mere words could. Luckily for us, the Casting Director gave Miss Sri Lankas & Mister Colombos a pass. Instead, actors have been chosen primarily for their prowess & their suitability for the role. The young women in the movie have wide hips or big butts. Young men don’t flash six-pack Abs. Instead of fixating on their physique, the actors have focused on effectively conveying their turmoil thru nuanced expressions & dialog delivery. It is sheer poetry in celluloid.
The movie will haunt me - because it is so raw, so natural. The entire movie is shot in a typical middle class dwelling, with peeling plaster & green algae in the outer walls. Actors wear rumpled clothes when they are at home - not designer threads. And the women are not painted like street-walkers waiting for their Johns. Not a single actor resorts to histrionic pyro-techniques - for they know that over-acting & bad-acting are synonyms.
Pavuru Valalu is a great movie - an outstanding achievement by director Prasanna Vithanage & his team.
My SOS to Fellini
I asked for Fellini’s ghost, but Ingmar Bergman’s or Akira Kurosawa’s ghosts would do equally fine.
For after watching the movie, a paroxysm of rage hit me. A small country, Sri Lanka, with a population of 20 Million people is able to make a neat movie on a shoe-string budget. It makes a handful of mainstream, yet critically acclaimed movies that receive rave reviews from all corners of the world. We are a nation of 1.2 Billion yokels & counting. Yet, the number of decent movies we make every year won’t run into double digits.
When was the last time you saw an Indian movie, where the lead pair is 50 & 45 years old? We are fixated with youth. I don’t understand why. At least 50% of the people in India are 30+. Oh for movies where the theme isn’t romance, revenge, family feuds or a mix-up between 2 people who look alike. Didn’t Shakespeare do that in The Comedy of Errors Circa 1589 already?
Our movies revolve around love, love & more love. Unfortunately, love-making in Indian movies involves booty shaking, heaving bosoms & shirtless men panting like dogs at their women. When Violet’s daughter Lily sees her beau Ranjith - her face glows softly. We can imagine her adrenaline rush easily - Incidentally, we are not idiots & we appreciate subtlety. A fact lost on most Indian film makers. They just can’t resist a song & dance sequence to show-case “tender” love at this juncture. They would have Lily & Ranjith cavorting in Switzerland or New Zealand, writhing like snakes in heat.
When will we stop making movies with people dancing around the trees? For that matter, when will we make movies without songs? Must every single movie made in India be an escapist fantasy? Is reality so cumbersome, that we want to edit it out of our art? I’m not saying we don’t make good movies ever. We make too few good movies amid a zillion very bad ones.
We don’t have to make ponderous, pretentious movies where we try to show the world how bright we are. I once watched a movie by Israeli director Amos Gitai. Nuh-uh. Not my cup of tea. I was dazed, confused & totally disinterested after 30 minutes. The movie opens with a guy walking from 1 end of the street to another - and they show this for 10 yawn-worthy minutes. Maybe I’m just a dummy that doesn’t understand Gitai’s art, but sproing! - the next scene has 2 nude people making violent love on a canvas full of wet paint.You call it art, I call it boooooring 
Bollywood AKA National Shame. Bollywood, my ass. Where there is more money than talent. Where an over-emoting Shah Rukh Khan thinks he can step into the large shoes of the talented Amitabh Bachchan. Where the much feted Aishwarya Rai - the most visible face of Indian cinema - is one of its worst actors ever. To my utter misery, she gets plum assignments that were once done with elan by the scintillating Meena Kumari & the effervescent Savitri Ganesan. I lose my appetite every time that happens.
And the film-makers in India send 1 clunker after another for the Academy Awards & wait with bated breath for an Oscar. Good grief. For all their shameless plagiarism of Hollywood, their knowledge of World Cinema is very poor.
In the meantime, I wait for the release of the Malayalam epic Pazhassi Raja later this year, from Director Hariharan. With screenplay by M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Music by Ilayaraja and with veteran actors Mammooty, Sarath Kumar, Manoj K Jayan & Thilakan, it can only be good.
Super post Priya. You have written the 500th post on this blog. Congrats. BTW, bollywood does produce some good ones from time to time. I recently watched Khosla Ka Ghosla on my transatlantic flight. It is by a debutant director with no name actors playing lead roles - Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and Navin Nischal in supporting roles are the only 3 actors one can recognize. It is a must-see movie.
Overall, i agree with you, i wish Fellini’s ghost can enter most of our director’s bodies and hopefully then we will see better quality movies.
Sukumar - Thanks for your comment.
My, the 500th post! I didn’t realize that the milestone was so close. I’m really glad that mine was the 500th
I agree that we do make some good movies from time to time. “Cheeni Kum” in Hindi & “Mozhi” in Tamil come to mind. Neither of them were flawless, but they were pretty decent movies. I need to see “Being Cyrus” & “Khosla Ka Ghosla”. They are on my list.
Absolutley true Priya….
But we do see occasional brilliance in some movies….Blessy is one such director ….have u seen his Kazhcha and Thanmatra…I would also recomend a Telugu movie by the name Godavari it was really good,it had a very simple storyline…
Karthik - Thanks for your comment.
There was a time when most Malayalam movies were good. Now, they’ve devolved & gone the way of Tamil & Telugu movies. Thanks for the recommendation - I’ll certainly check these out.
Incidentally, Puttanna Kanagal was a great Kannada director. His movie Shara Panjara made some deep grooves in my mind. Unfortunately, there isn’t a “market” for Kannada movies in Chennai
I have to buy them when I go to Bengaluru.
yup its a sad fact that Malayalam has gone the Tamil way..But i would recommend Girish Kasarvalli’s movies in Kanada….Offlate some good movies have come in Tamil too Iyarkai,Katrathu Tamil,Paruthi Veeran etc.
Karthik - Thanks for your recommendations. While I’ve heard a lot about Girish Kasaravalli, I haven’t been able to lay my hands on any of his movies so far.
I would also add “Veyil” to your list. Pasupathi is an actor worth watching.
No questions on Paruthi Veeran - I was amazed by Karthi Sivakumar’s caliber. OMG, its been a while since I saw such raw talent oozing in an actor’s debut movie.
Iyarkai - I heard mixed reviews about this movie - that the treatment, location & camera angles are good, but talented actors like Seema Biswas were wasted. Since Iyarkai is based on Dostoevsky’s story (which I hated), I’m curious to see how it compares with the French version.
Katradhu Tamil - I’m struggling to come to terms with this movie’s script & some of the scenes that created controversy. But, folks told me that the script is too good. A friend gifted me this DVD recently - planning to watch it when Sukumar comes back.
Oui mademoiselle! You are right! More money than talent? More money than common sense I d say!
When I am watching movies like these, only one thought engulfs me “Did they even watch the movie before releasing it?” or “What possibly could the director/editor/producer be thinking?” The crew should be punished by law and made to watch movies like these atleast 10 times!
One thing I can never understand is people who enjoy movies like “Kuruvi” and “Partner”. I wish I could.
Never makes a lasting impression? Think again! You don’t get nightmares like what if you were locked up in a dungeon and forced to watch such movies? :p The mere thought gives me the heebie- jeebies!
Girish Kasarvalli;s movies have a surreal feel…I was amazed to see Soundarya in Dweepa….I could not believe that she could act so well….I had seen her in some mindless movies in Telugu and Tamil wearing ridiculous costumes….
wrt to Iyarkai I would say the camera angles ,locations,sets treatment makes it ignore dampners if any in story….I liked movie when i saw it ..but when I saw sawariya i luved u iyarkai…Saawirya was horrible……
I would also recomend Anandabhadram in malayalam…its like a painting on Canvas…
Priya.. your opinion about “Hey Ram” ?
Jass - Thanks for your comment.
The director/producer/editor were not thinking. They threw away their cerebral cortex. That’s the only explanation for movies like Kuruvi. I mean, even the songs were irritating.
And you are right about the night-mares
I watched the Vijay starrer Thiruppachi for 20 minutes. It was an “unforgettable” experience 
My brother claims I woke up 3 nights in a row & screamed. But, I think he’s exaggerating.
Karthik - Soundarya was a good actor with potential. She didn’t choose her roles carefully in Tamil & Telugu. I remember her 1st Tamil movie - “Ponnu Mani”. She received rave reviews for her performance.
Many of the movies we’ve been discussing - are good, but not world class. I’m excluding Kasaravalli’s movies, since I haven’t seen them. Kanagal of course was good, but his movies are a bit dated now.
Mahendran, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Govind Nihalani - these are some (not all) film-makers that made movies that we can proudly show the world. And some movies of Bharati Raja.
Senthil - Thanks for your comment.
“Hey Ram” was a pretty decent movie. But, it was way too long & had too many song sequences. The casting & the story-line (a somewhat bold theme, which is always welcome) were pretty good. Good bit of acting from the lead actors. But again, not what I’ll call a world class movie. How many more movies of Gandhi, Independence & Partition will we take? We should break new ground.
If you get a chance, please see “Rabbit Proof Fence”, an Australian movie. Its simply wonderful. For a historical movie to be world class, it helps if it is factual, recorded history. Unpalatable facts shouldn’t be air-brushed by the film-maker.
“The Bandit Queen” was a fantastic movie. I liked its honesty. Seema Biswas was phenomenal. OMG, her dialog delivery. The movie has a nude scene - but it evokes deep sorrow & sympathy for Biswas & increased the movie’s credibility.
“Kannadi Pookkal” was another movie I liked - it wasn’t very slick. But, if someone had paid more attention to the length of the movie, editing & avoided some schmaltz - it would have been even better. Nice bit of acting & they had handled a sensitive (& different) subject decently.
“There was a time when most Malayalam movies were good..”
This is not entirely correct. The fact is that the Malayalam film industry has always come up with a clutch of good movies year after year. But one should not gloss over the fact that the majority of the films made in Malayalam are terrible and pander to baser, commercial intetests.
Havind said that, I do agree with Karthik: Thanmatra and Kazcha are good movies. A few other movies, which won critical accalim and commercial success”, that readily come to mind are:-
1. Perumazhakkalam
2. Kireedom
3. Classmates
4. Mazha
5. Kanmadom
Btw, most of these are available at Tic-Tac in Chennai, close to Cinema Pardiso!
Happy Viewing!
Rada - Thanks for your comment & Thanks for the recommendations.
10 or 15 years back, there were very few masala movies in Malayalam. Now, many movies have elaborate dance sequences - for e.g. So, I do believe that the standard of Malayalam movies has fallen & mediocrity has set in.
If you look at the number of good, world class movies as a % of total movies made - Malayalam & Bengali movies would appear far classier, at least till about 10 years back. Hence my comment.
These days, there’s a resurgence of good film-making in the Hindi industry. Some pretty decent fare keeps cropping up there.
I need to check out Tic-Tac. Cinema Paradiso has a puny collection of Indian movies. In fact I think it has more Farsi movies than Malayalam movies
Priya…
World Class movies from India died in 1992 when the Sun “Ray ” of Indian Cinema died…I still feel Kamal Haasan has the potential to do it….lets wait and see.
Karthik - I think Kamal is too full of himself & resorts to too much plagiarism to make a difference. Dasavatharam for e.g - the core of the story is from the Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett starrer “Babel”. Where Babel tread softly - having 4 different people & their lives impact each other - Kamal has 10. It was an ego trip for Kamal, I think.
In an interview before the movie’s release, he wouldn’t let Director K.S.Ravi Kumar get a word in edge-wise. A person who doesn’t let others do their bit can’t create master-pieces like Satyajit Ray.
Which is sad.He is arguably the most talented actor in India today. We probably need fresher people to make a difference.
brilliant post Priya. i couldnt agree more with you. Indian cinema as the days go by is going to the dogs. I will not be a hypocrite. I watch hindi and Tamil movies a lot for the entertainment quotient (u can laugh at the idiosyncracies) but i have to agree that they are completely skewed, far from reality and totally not stimulating. i mean the only way u can appreciate these movies are if u un-screw your brain and keep it outside the theatre and watch the movie. The fact that the directors of movies like Thirumala and Thirupachi keep making similar movies goes to show that they probably think the average IQ of the audience watching their movies borders around 40. :-\ i cant believe they are still allowed to make movies even after repeatedly insulting our intelligence like this!!
another thing about hindi and tamil movies is that they are entirely too loud. they never understand the fact that silence can be used so effectively. i dunno if u have seen the movie schindlers list. its one of my all time favorites. There is a particular scene in which schindler tells izhtak stern that henceforth sunday will be a holiday (holiday on sunday for the jews was something un heard of under hitler’s regime) and the look on stern’s face is mind blowing. i mean not a word is said but the scene chokes u. on the other hand if it were tamil stern would have gone “Ayyaaaaa neenga rhombha nallavaru, unglakku kovil kattaren” therby spoiling the entire beauty of the moment!!
Revs - Thanks for your comment.
While I don’t watch too many new Indian movies, I do enjoy a select few purely for their entertainment value. “Lage Raho Munnabai” was hilarious & clean. I get a giggling fit even now when I watch “Don” - the Amitabh starrer. Puhleez, not the SRK horror. And in Tamil, the Kamal starrer “Michael Madhana Kama Rajan” is too funny. I also love Visu’s “Samsaram Adhu Minsaram”. Slickly made - not great, but solid entertainment.
I used to watch movies from the North Eastern states. I was amazed at how original & sincere they were. “Manik Raithunk” especially - I’ll never forget it. I also love old Indian movies - where a good story was a must. And there were really talented & lovable actors then. Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Aarthi & the Nag brothers are among my favorites.
Schindler’s List is probably Spielberg’s best work till date. I really liked it. Much better than “Munich”, where Spielberg didn’t know how to end the movie. And you are right - Film makers from most other countries seem to be classier & have a better handle over the visual medium.
Egyptian movies are as bad as Indian movies. Mebbe 1 more reason (there are several already) why I feel so at home in Egypt
Thanks priya.. Kamal was too realistic in making movies.. i read, he even recorded dialog on the spot to make it realistic.. that’s the reason it failed..
Yes.. he has too much of plagiarism.. “Thenali” was one such based on “What about bob” .. (i came to know this from my friend )
I dont watch movies often.. i watch only movies that has inspired lot of people.. like Gentleman, Indian, Mudhalvan, etc.. all films based on some concrete themes..
There are soft stories also, like cheran’s “Autograph” .. it pulled out the otherside of everyone’s personal, and it was a such a big hit.. a decent movie without glamour and obscenity that a typical indian film would have.. It has also a positive influence, courtesy the song “Ovvoru Pookalumay”, which was so enthralling that it became a morning prayer song in many schools..
I like cheran’s other movie “Vettri Kodi Kattu”, although it was too sentimental.. there are lot of positive aspect in that..
some of the movies of S. V. Sekar, Vishu would be very touching.. typically expressing the situation of middle class families at that time..
In some way, the realistic movies are appreciated by the A class viewers.. but they are only small percentage.. that’s one of the reason why indian directors are reluctant to working on such movies..
Btw, i remember reading the interview with Amitabh on Hollywood and Bollywood movies..
Some excerpts:
CNN: What are the main differences between a Hollywood and a Bollywood actor?
Bachchan: Conceptually we are both the same. We are all human beings, we are actors, we are put in different situations and conditions and we act. Perhaps the content of the Indian cinema is a lot more varied and diverse as compared to the ones the Hollywood actors get associated with. They more or less have a very single track presence, so to say.
Indian actors, because of the format of our stories, need to be good actors, and be able to perform emotional sequences, do a bit of comedy, dance and singing, action, because all of this forms just one film. In many ways I’d say there are greater demands on Indian actors than there are on Hollywood.
Senthil - Yes, Kamal takes effort. But, he isn’t trying to make world class movies. That’s the sad part. “Kurudhi Punal” might have been good, but it was not a patch on “Droh Kaal”, the original.
Cheran’s “Pandavar Bhoomi” was also good - not great, but good. I loved the 1st part of “Autograph”. It was from Cheran’s heart. The 2nd part was from his head, so not that great. The 3rd part - I totally hated, because it looked inserted. Though as you say, the song is good.
I particularly like movies based on true events or at least, facts. Like “Blood Diamond” starring Leonardo Di Caprio & Djimon Hounsou. Or even well-made movies on religion. Like “The Ten Commandments”.
Wish we’ll make a decent movie about some of our kings & queens. Without cheap jewelery, tons of make-up, trick shots & shiny costumes. We should do some research on how clothes might have looked at that time, what kind of houses would people have lived in, what kind of food would they have eaten etc. Its all about the research. Santosh Sivan ruined “Ashoka” - I was furious when I saw it. A great emperor - and this shit job is the best we can do?
The films that i hate most was that of “Simbu” .. there cannot be anything as cheap and silly as his movies..
The hero worship has been one of the curse of south indian films.. everyother actor seems to imitate rajni kanth, and the recent “bagavathy” of Vijay film was a best example imitating Basha…
Few actors have the pull of the audience.. Rajni’s “Muthu” was one classic, rightly mixed with all flavours of emotion.. it even pulled fans from Japan..
Most of the old movies (black& white, eastman color) are very interesting to see.. particularly the historic movies..
Senthil - Clunkers like “Kuruvi” were not made 30 or 40 years back. How did the B & C audience watch movies then? I simply want us to make better movies & a handful of world-class movies. Then, I wouldn’t mind dumb movies so much - whoever wants to watch them can go ahead.
Why can’t there be more movies like “Roja”, “Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha” or “Masoom”? I’m sure people would watch them. Let the “A” audience watch movies like “Aandhi”.
Thanks for sending the link. Yeah, Amitabh has to spout some BS about there being a greater demand on Indian actors. Despite his talent, he still works in this cesspool called the Hindi Film Field. He can’t afford to piss people off, can he? Or maybe he counts only talented artists like Tabu & Aamir Khan as actors. Most others are clowns anyway.
Senthil - Much as I hate Simbu’s movies, I can’t help thinking that he has a great love for movies. Something tells me that, if given guidance (provided he takes the guidance!), he’ll be a decent actor.
Yes, I love old movies too
They are so unpretentious, charming & quaint - regardless of the country of origin. “Roman Holiday” for e.g. Sigh…They don’t make movies like that anymore.
Good one Priya. I have stopped seeing tamil movies for sometime now.. not only that the stories are the same as they were long time back, but they have even started reusing the songs..
But I saw this movie Anjadhe a couple months back. Wow. good movie - Raw, no fuss and real.
Also Kaadhal..another one of those low budget raw movies that really moves you - and also hopefully gets morons thinking about the right things in life instead of falling in love with the next girl that you see when they walk out of the theatre.
No man’s land - I am sure even remote villager will enjoy every bit of it if released.
City Of God - OMG what an editing
Aamir - honest movie making
Sagarasangamam. Sankarabharanam, Saptapadi, Swathimuthyam, Swarnakamalam, SiriSiriMuvva… Endless Vishwanath classics. Not just for class audience. Just watch Swayamkrushi - Chiranjeevi/ Vijayashanti acted wonderfully.
RGV’s Sirkar Raj, Siva, kshana Kshanam - I liked Abhishek’s action. Though in commercial format..it is cool (BTW I liked RGV’s blog..that guy is one arrogant SOB…but in an interesting way)
Dil Se - Who cares if it is commercial format - splendid fare IMO. Manisha acted awesome.
Athadu - Mahesh Babu’s commerical pukka entertainer..
Anand, Godavari and Happy Days - Honest film making…100% original screenplay. Pride of current Tollywood films.
Dil Chahta Hain - So what..it is commercial..but plays with emotions well. (umm it has an interesting angle - 20 something years old Akshay Khanna in love with 50 year old Dimple. Quite platonic)
Black - A good movie..a bit crude. Interesting though. (After our marriage this is the first movie I watched with my wife. She still did not pardon me for that !!!)
Mayabazaar - I dont know how to categorize this yet.
Vamsi - Thanks for your comment.
As I mentioned in my post, I’m not saying no good movies are being made. But, that very few are made.
And it is very important for us to make a distinction between good entertainment (most commercial movies are idiotic ramblings, hence not good entertainment), good movies, world class movies & sublime movies. We have many in the 1st category, some in the 2nd, a handful in the 3rd category & hardly any in the last. And a zillion that are simply ass-wipe material.
Movies do not fall neatly into these categories.
It is not sufficient for us to be satisfied with mass entertainers or decent (as in, better than a mass entertainer) movies.
Amitabh’s “Don” is a good entertainer. “Hey Ram” is a good movie. “Bandit Queen” a world class movie. “Pather Panchali” is a sublime movie - it takes the art form to an ethereal level. This kind is for the “O” audience - beyond “A”.
Let’s take a crack at your list. I haven’t seen all the movies you’ve listed - so I’ll cover what I’ve seen. Or tried to see.
Vishwanath’s movies are too sentimental - tear-jerkers. I have to place them slightly below good movies, but definitely way above good entertainment. Shankarabharanam is an exception, where the sentimentalism is a bit less - perhaps because of awesome casting. Maybe because its about music, but this is a favorite movie of mine.
Black - I saw a few scenes & found it weird. The movie tries too hard & screams at the viewer - “Feel bad for this girl!! Bad!! BAD!!”. Very crudely made.
Dil Se - This was a decent movie. Interesting that you liked Manisha’s portrayal. Till Preity Zinta entered the movie, the proceedings lacked charm. She was very good in this - fresh. The ending was silly though & looked artificial.
Dil Chahta Hain - Better than Dil Se. But still not world class. Dimple was very natural in this. And Saif! This is the 1st movie where I noticed his performance.
The old Maya Bazaar is a classic fun movie. Many such movies were made in the yester-years.
For our movie industry to be taken seriously - it has to evolve to the next level. Even small countries make better movies than us.
I have nothing against commercial movies, as long as the story-line is different, direction is slick & there are no absurd song & dance routines. Songs should be infused naturally - in a somewhat believable setting. Otherwise, they are just mindless entertainment. That’s not for me.
Incidentally, I really like Mahesh Babu - he’s a cool dude. I hated it when Vijay acted in the remake of Pokkiri - he just doen’t have the je ne sais quoi that Mahesh Babu has. I didn’t watch Tamil Pokkiri. Just compare the “Dol Dol” song in Telugu & Tamil. Asin sucks in the song. While Ileana rulez.
Wow..Priya, I just watched “Roman Holiday” last week and was totally in love with the movie. These days am mostly watching all the old movies of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. They are truly good. Atleast I don’t get the feeling am wasting 3 precious hours.
Hehe…I watched Tirupachi too. Bro and I enjoyed it because we couldn’t stop commenting about the movie. That way lot of movies released these days provide entertainment because we get to comment so much
I love “K.Viswanath’s” movies in Telugu..Swathi Muthyam, Sankarabharanam, Salangai Oli etc.,
I loved “Bend it like Beckham”. It was so much fun to watch it with a group of girls.
Recently watched those famous Amitabh starrers, Sharabi, Namak Haram and Trishul. All were good.
Then Rajesh Khanna’s movies: “Aradhana”, “Anand”, “Bawarchi”
Other movies which are my favorites include “Golmaal”, “Chupke Chupke”, “Khoobsurat”, “Choti Si Baat”
In tamil, I watched a couple of movies last week which I totally loved: “Server Sundaram”(Nagesh is plain brilliant), Paava Manippu, then “Gundamma Katha” of Telugu, “Missamma” in Telugu
I love some old mythological movies too: “Kandan Karunai”, “Thiruvilayadal”, “Maya bazar”(Telugu).
Oops my list has become too long. Wish new movies could atleast live upto the standards of old ones if not for being “world class”
Sundara - Thanks for your comment.
Yes! I hate remixes too. Absolutely, horrendously, venomously hate them. Good to know that I have company. Why touch the ethereally beautiful “Madai Thirandhu” set in Raga Nata Bhairavi?
Anjathe & Kaadhal are decent movies that were also successful in the box office. Please see Veyil when you get a chance. And Pirivom Sandhippom. The latter is very slow, lacks drama & the ending seems rushed. But oh boy - its authentic, believable & has a story. And Sneha - this is probably her best performance thus far. Under-stated (& hence classy), almost Mrinal Sen material. Almost.
Saraswathi - Thanks for your comment.
Yes, “Roman Holiday” is delightful. If you liked that, try “Charade” - another movie with Audrey Hepburn. Please do not watch the horrible remake shot in 2004 (I think) starring Thandie Newton.
Please see my response to Vamsi above! Vishwanath’s movies are a bit too sentimental for my taste. They are all very decent movies though. There is this scene in “Salangai Oli” (”Sagara Sangamam”) where Kamal covers Jayapradha’s Sindhur in the pouring rain! She’s a widow, but has Sindhur on - because Kamal doesn’t know she’s widowed & can’t bear it if he knows. OMG - I totally gagged in this scene.
All the old Indian movies in your list - at least the ones I’ve seen & I’ve seen most of them - are solid, good entertainers. Yes - I wish they made movies like that now.
Bend it like Beckham is a good movie. Totally cool.
Interesting reviews.
Your take on Anbe Sivam?
Balaji - Definitely one of the best Tamil movies I’ve seen in recent times.
The bus ride is an allegory of Madhavan’s spiritual journey. You can also see shades of Gitopadesa - a man that sees good & bad with equanimity (Kamal) explaining to a confused man (Madhavan) the nuances of life. The dog that follows Kamal around - is his Dharma. In Mahabharata, Dharma Devata follows Yudishtra around in his last days as a dog. There are many more such touches that I observed.
Most characters have shades of gray, pretty realistic.
What irritated me - and prevented Anbe Sivam from becoming a World Class movie are ridiculous touches like these:
1. What is the probability of Madhavan marrying Kamal’s ex-girl friend?
2. Everyone, except Nasser, is good & bad. Nasser is bad, bad, bad.
3. Madhavan over-acts in the wedding scene, telling Kamal that he’s like a brother to him. Too Obvious!!! He should have kept it subtle.
4. The entire “Nagarika Komali” bit was needless. So also the song & dance bits between Kamal & Kiran.
The best part of the movie is the theme song. Phenomenal lyrics.
About Siraichalai ??
Senthil - Haven’t seen that. Is it good? Of course with great actors like Mohan Lal & Tabu, its probably very good. Do let me know what you think.
What makes me glad is, all the movie recommendations I got from people
Siraichalai or Kaalpani is must watch Priya…Its hard to believe that Priydarshan who has given such a movie now contributes crap in form of silly comedies….it has
Powerful performances Mohanlal,prabhu,Tabu ,Amrish Puri…i can go on…
Excellant Cinematogrpaphy..great art work..amazing locales…brilliant music……subtle romance etc….
Karthik - Thanks
Yep, Hindi has made another Sridevi out of him. An extremely talented actor, all she did in Hindi was dance around in fancy costumes.
Thanks for your response Priya. Interesting thing is I never understood Vishwanath movies as they are all around classical (semi-classical) movies until I became 20. After that I started enjoying the format. He is peculiar in the sense, by keeping music/dance as the backdrop, he touched variety of subjects - continuity of art (sagarasangamam/ sankarabharanam), untouchability (Saptapadi), Swathimuthyam( I felt glad when I watched this movie after watching Forrest Gump many years later).
Also, Nagesh Kukunoor movies offer a good variety. His movies Rockford, Hyderabad Blues, Dor(remake of Perumazhakkalam) etc are interesting watch.
And thanks all others for endless recommendations.. I have to watch so many Tamil/ Hindi/ Malayalam movies.
Priya for your point, our market is improving for variety movies. Multiplex culture is one cause. Due to IT revolution, many of our young professionals are exposed to variety like never before. Our directors and producers are changing these days. It is all about recovery of investment and profit at the end. I know bunch of movies that are made just for awards. May be they are great. But they suck big time to watch.
Amitabh’s comment about comparing with Hollywood is one way good. He just asks us not to compare with any industry. Our bollywood is different, it evolved from musicals. Instead of mutating into technique/ variety, our budgets (and socialist structure) limited us to be tread commercial format. I dont blame anyone. But keep myself open for change.
By the way I liked Virumandi. If you can bear Kamal, it is a very wonderful storytelling. Also Drohi (Drohikaal remake) and Pushpak.
Vamsi - Yes, Vishwanath really loves music & dance. BTW, Kamal was fantastic in “Sagara Sangamam”. I didn’t like Swathi Muthyam though. For some reason, it freaked me out. Perhaps the erotic duet between Radhika & the mentally challenged Kamal.
Kukunoor tries to do something different. That’s good.
Movies made solely for awards are tiresome & boring. Good & World Class movies are seldom boring. They simply draw you in. “Memento” or “Indiana Jones” for e.g!
As a matter of fact, the ROI for big budget movies is not high. Many of them lose money even if they run packed houses. “Sarkaar Raj” is a good example. So, I don’t think people are really raking in the moolah by making big commercial movies.
Let’s look at the statistics. Most movies fail these days. There were only 3 certifiable hits in Tamil in the 1st 6 months of 2008. 4 in Hindi, I think. If film-makers really understand what people want & deliver that - more movies would be succeeding, right? The statistics say otherwise.
“Pirivom Sandippom” was a sleeper hit. So was “Bheja Fry” - though that’s a remake (or a copy?) of another movie. So, movies which avoid the masala format succeed too - these days, more of them seem to succeed than the typical romance-revenge-item number-stunt movies.
Film makers shunning variety has a lot to do with incompetence & little to do with our socialist structure. Too many dumb-asses with neither imagination nor the brains to make money are in the movie industry now. That’s the problem, I think.
Pushpak was very good. I liked “Droh Kaal” better than Kamal’s remake. Though Drohi (called “Kurudhi Punal” in Tamil) was good. Subhalekha Sudhakar was too good as a creepy guy in it! And “Virumandi” - somehow I didn’t like it at all. It never drew me in - I never felt involved, if that’s a good word to use.
“Maha Nadhi” is a very depressing movie, but it was very sincere. Cochin Hanifa simply stole the show. Kamal was wonderful in it, simply wonderful.
Siraichalai - i liked it for the beutiful (yet little bit slow) screenplay, and for the historic content in it.
.. it was essentially the story of the freedom fighter lodged in andaman cells.. it just exposes, so much of torture, insult and suffering, that our freedom fighters had undergone.. will certainly bring tears in to our eyes..
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Some other movies:
Ethir Neechal - a brillian act by Nagesh..
the thief - i could not comment it out much.. but it was nice movie that i watched long back..
Many of the soft and beautiful movies are lost in the noise of fiction and action movies.. (particularly in english..)
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Btw, your opinion about chinese movies?? I like Jackie Chan’s movies, for his humorous fights.. the recent one (again long back) i saw is “The Myth” .. it was not up to the mark like his other movies..
Virumandi is something that doesnt click in me.. there was some sense of vaguenes.. the film ran mostly because of the controversary..
Senthil - Thanks. Now, I really want to watch Kala Pani.
Nagesh is amazing. Ethir Neechal was an entertaining movie - not great, but worth watching.
I somehow haven’t found many Chinese movies that I liked. I liked “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dagger” a bit - but that was mainly because of the magnificent Chow-Yun-Fat. I loved Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour series. They are a great combination. The only comparable combination is Harold & Kumar. Man, they are deadly.
Yep, Virumandi really didn’t appeal to me either. It seemed to me that Kamal didn’t put his heart in to it - so I couldn’t put mine either. It seemed so - forced & artificial to me. But most people liked it - especially the Kamal fans.
From RGV Blog “We keep hearing that 90 % of films are flops and nobody even attempts to understand what it really means. How can any industry run if it is losing money 90 % of the time? In reality this is how it happens. Let’s say a producer spends 10 Crores in making a movie which goes in payments to various artistes, technicians, suppliers etc. Then let’s say somebody buys it for 12 Crores. The buyer further retails it to various others lets say for a sum total of 13 Crores and the film finally collects 15 crore. Now this would be a case of the film making money for everyone involved. Lets say now the producer spent 16 Crore but it was bought only for 12 crore because the sale price never depends on the cost price. It depends on the producers’ compulsion to sell to safeguard himself and the buyer’s perception and vision of its street value with the consumer. In the above case for the producer it is a flop but for the buyer it is a hit. This is as per the financial part of it. Coming to the creative part Darr is a super hit for Shahrukh and a super flop for Sunny Deol as far as their star branding is concerned.
In the year Satya released, a Salman Khan starrer “Bandhan” directed by Murli Mohan rao which released around the same time collected much more than Satya. But is it because they liked it better than Satya or is it because many more went to see Bandhan because of Salman’s pull? So the fact that there are more collections necessarily does not mean people liked it more. It only means that more people saw it. For instance Satya when it released was taken off from the theatres on the 2nd or 3rd day in parts of UP, Rajasthan for lack of audience. So it was registered as a super flop in those areas. But a year later when I went to those areas for some other work everybody recognized me as the director of Satya. How does that happen? It’s simply because when it was released nobody heard about it and did not go to see. By the time they heard about it, it was taken off the theatres. So they must have finally seen it on video or cable. Today I doubt that you can find a single individual who will say that he liked Bandhan more than Satya but the collections at that time told a very different tale.
Now coming to the individual’s point of view at best I will try to describe it in an example. Suppose you go to a crockery store to buy a dinner set. You will check out the various designs available and pick the one you like the best. You will never ask the salesman if it’s a hit or flop and neither will you ask a critic to review it. Anyone with a mind of his own will do the same with a movie. This was best illustrated by Abhishek Bachchan recently. When he was planning to see a movie I told him that many didn’t like it and he said he would like to make his own pinion.
Often you will hear about a film’s opening in terms of percentage. Let’s say a film opens in 10 theatres having a capacity of 200 seats each. On the first screening if all shows are full it will register as 100% opening meaning 2000 people saw it. But if the distributor opens it in 20 theatres and it registers 50% opening then it is considered below the mark. But the bottom line is that still 2000 people saw. Fair enough that the additional theatres will incur extra theatre rentals and print costs but that decision will always be with the distributor of the concerned circuit on his perception and vision of how many people will watch it and has nothing to do with the filmmaker but eventually it is the filmmaker’s branding which will suffer on account of ignorance and of a decision made by someone else.
To sum it up strictly from a filmmaker’s perspective I would define a hit and flop in terms of what the film cost to the producer and how much he could recover on the first immediate sale. Any further trading of it is strictly subject to various individuals decisions of how and how not to market it which cannot be controlled by the filmmaker.
If a book is written by Ayn Rand and a wholesaler or retailer tries to sell it to a Mills and Boon reading audience, he is bound to be unsuccessful. And I really don’t think Ayn Rand could be blamed for the failure and the same thing goes in reversal of trying to sell a Mills and Boon’s book to an Ayn Rand reader.”
Priya
Great post. I did enjoy some of the movies you all listed. Here are a few more movies to ponder on
Anjali - was an exceptional movie taken with a different story line instead of the usual hero - heroine romantic backstage. I have always been a Mani Ratnam fan - Agni Natshatram, Mouna Ragam,Roja,Bombay and kannathil Muthamittal were his masterpieces worth watching multiple times - great entertainer, i haven’t watched the recent Yuva and Guru yet.
Rhythm - was musically excellent and different story line.
Kamal is definitely one of the talented movie maker but does make a lot of mistakes.
Dasavatharam for instance , it was neither a comedy or a serious movie, what a waste of money and effort. It was a bad choice of movie director( who does not know to take a movie with one character),musician, story etc. I think he was just thinking about his ten character and just walked in any time he was called. He could have just given the script to Crazy mohan and made it into a comedy like Michael Madana Kamarajan.
I also enjoyed watching these hindi movies lately:
Taare Zameen Par - One of the recent movies which created awareness that all children are not born to achieve, if a child is struggling at school find out why? - Here in the US we do have a lot of emphasis on special education right from preschool i hear a lot of emphasis now in india as well.
Range De Basanti - loved the way the movie turned seriously in the second half.
Raincoat - the only movie which gave Aish some acting ground.
I will add a few more as i remember…
Vamsi - I disagree with RGV that no one has asked questions on what a flop is. On the contrary, there’s considerable clarity these days. People no longer simply go by “100 Days in the Theater”. They look at the collection.
One could argue that people involved in making movies don’t have a business knack & hence haven’t done the math. Producers, Distributors & Movie Theater owners are business people & hence know the precise day in which collection starts dulling - in Tamil Nadu, it is the 35th day.
Lately, all I’ve been seeing in India Today, The Hindu or other media is, how too few films make money for someone or other in the supply chain & a detailed analysis of the numbers involved is presented in pie-charts. In the end, what matters is whether people watched it enough - which means, people in the supply chain made money or at the very least, the distributors didn’t make a big loss.
“Sarkaar Raj” ran reasonably well in the theaters - but the cost of the movie was too high, so ROI was negative. In the case of movies with star value, the producers make money. Distributors struggle if the movie is panned by the audience & the theater owners do not want to show it any more. This is what happened with Rajini’s “Baba”.
Heavy marketing is done for movies with star value - as in Vijay & Shriya’s “Azhagiya Tamil Magan” or Vijay & Trisha’s “Kuruvi”. Both were flops. Likewise, there was so much hype about Vikram & Trisha’s “Bheema” - it was a total dud. So, the argument that people didn’t know about the movie & hence didn’t come to the theater - doesn’t fly. I would accept that reason only for small budget movies with very little advertising budget.
How does the industry survive? Simply because there are many directors, stars & genres. If a director or a star deliver a string of flops, their market wanes. Someone else steps in. If a genre fails, distributors stop buying another movie in the same genre. Producers refuse to fund such movies. Then, some other genre has an unprecedented success. And everyone gets on that band-wagon.
If the audience liked the movie, but the producers or distributors lost money - then in the next movie of the director/star, either care is exercised in choosing the genre, crowd pleasers are added, cost control is exercised etc. If the audience had a lukewarm response to the movie & no one lost money, then again people invest in the director/star’s movies.
Movies are a high risk - high margin business, at least as it stands today. There are enough people with dreams of a super-hit to invest in the glamorous field. Kamal’s movies don’t do that well these days. Doesn’t stop him from making movies now, does it? Same with Ram Gopal Varma.
People are getting very concerned about collection. Which is why high-budget movies are dubbed & released in multiple states at the same time - in the hope that some state would love it. And they have an assortment of bankable stars from various states. Suman as the evil politician (for Andhra). Jayaram in a guest role (Kerala covered). Atul Kulkarni as the thug (Mumbai taken care of). Divya is the heroine (Kannada audience covered). Rohini Hattangady is the mother (”A” audience will check it out).
The film world is caught in a logjam. Either, they should run it as a business. Or, run it as an art. Right now - its in a confused state. People are staying away from the theaters because of better entertainment in the TVs, DVD rentals are cheaper & the theater ticket costs have soared. Signs that the industry is deeply troubled are everywhere.
In any case, this post is about how movies are generally dumb in India & getting dumber. And how we struggle to win world level awards. And how very few solid entertainers & good movies are made - leave alone world class & sublime movies.
Sujatha - Thanks for your comment.
I liked Anjali when I saw it. After a few years - and after watching more & better movies, I think the movie needs rework. Mani Ratnam needs a good editor. Is the movie about Anjali? In that case, why does she make her entry after 1 hour? The 1st half of the movie is simply a waste of time - however charming it might seem. Why does the director need 1 hour of warming up to get to the point? That’s what I didn’t like. Barring that, it was a good movie. Certainly not world class.
Mouna Ragam is a classic! Roja is World Class! But in Bombay, Mani Ratnam was caught in a rut. Bombay is by no means as good as Mouna Ragam or Roja. Agni Nakshatram is an entertainer. It looked a little forced. By no means a master-piece.
Kannathil Muthamittal handles a tough subject - so that’s a big plus. And Nandita Das! OMG! She’s the next best thing after Shabana Azmi. But again - the director fritters away the 1st half in songs & cute things kids do. The flash-back is too long & follows the “Vikram Aur Baital” style of story-telling! As in, the flash-back is told all at the same time. That’s a very old story-telling technique. Someone should tell Mani Ratnam that there are exotic creatures called “editors”
And that you can intrigue the audience by letting them piece things together.
Rhythm - A flagrant copy of “Random Hearts”. Which greatly reduces its value as a movie. If you overlook that - I can’t - its a good movie.
Dasavatharam - Fully agree. We see Kamal’s movies because he’s a great actor. And he plasters himself with so much make-up that he can’t emote!! Which defeats the very purpose of watching his movies.
Taare Zameen Par - Will watch it on DVD. Ashamed to say I haven’t seen it yet.
Rang De Basanti - Left me cold. I thought it was an odd movie. For one, the casting was dumb-dumb-dumb. Aamir Khan is 40 years old. Or older. Please, can he stop acting as a 23 year old? Siddarth is a pukka South Indian guy. He doesn’t look like Anupam Kher’s son. Madhavan looks like my relative - pukka South Indian Brahmin. He doesn’t look remotely like a Punjabi. Luckily for us, though Madhavan is 38, he still looks young & it doesn’t look odd when he’s paired with Soha. Soha is ok, though she is no Sharmila Tagore.
Atul Kulkarni was f@#*ing brilliant. Kunal Kapoor looked every bit his part. So, with mostly awful casting, the movie is off to a bad start.
And why the hell does it take the director 1 hour to warm up to the plot? The irritating song sequence in the campus. And when the movie started in full speed, it had its moments. But, I found the ending chaotic & ill-conceived. Sorry.
Raincoat, the only movie that gave Aishwarya Rai room to act?! Come on, Sujatha! Devdas, Choker Bali & Provoked didn’t give her chances?! Please note that Savitri Ganesan was phenomenal in Devdas. Aishwarya Rai sucked even in Dhoom-2. She can’t even act in a scene where she just has to show up & flirt with the hero. I remember Silk Smita - an item girl - do this fantastically in “Moondram Pirai”. BTW, Silk was a decent actor. Never got enough chance to show-case her skills. Aishwarya is a dumb-ass. Gets too many chances & thinks she’s accomplished. Devuda!
I agree with your opinions Priya.
Silk Smitha - She acts good. Only her eyes ooze dope/sexyness and cant cast her as anything other than either item girl/vamp/may be drug addict
She acted as Sarat Babu’s wife in Seethakoka Chiluka (Alaigal Ayvathillai - Tamil Original)
Warming up !!! All those are to enthrall different segments and make it more bankable. (and they are so called family entertainers
I agree about Manirathnam. He lost his midas touch after Bombay. I thought I was the only one who observed that speed bump in his career. Why the hell did he make Guru? Even Alaypayuthe - he did screw that climax. September maadham song is a jerker that comes from nowhere and goes away shot at mid afternoon in some beach resort. Will people really enjoy that harsh sun!!! Agreed they have many beer cans.
What do you think of Sankar. I think he is a jerk. His movies - more noise, bad editing, stupid jeeps in the air. I dont excuse him for making Prabhu Deva a hero. That fellow haunted us for next century with his superbaggy dances. I appreciate him for producing Kadhal though.
Vamsi - Ah, Silk Smitha. Yes, I saw the Tamil & Telugu versions of Seethakoka Chiluka. Loved her in that.
Warming up is to have something for every segment of the audience. Unfortunately, the cinematic value of the movie suffers because of that.
Oh yes. Mani Ratnam is a victim of his own image. It will do him good to take a sabbatical & reinvent himself. Alai Payudhe - the theme was good, but it certainly wasn’t one of his good movies. Madhavan was good, so perhaps the movie ran packed houses for him. Because young women have the hots for him.
Guru - I didn’t even bother to see the movie. When I realized it was based on the life of Ambani - I lost interest. I admire Ambani. But after Iruvar (based on the lives of Karuna Nidhi, MGR & Jaya Lalitha), I realized that Mani Ratnam has zero ability to take biopics.
Shankar - I agree. He is a master entertainer, no longer sincere maybe. I watch his movies if they are on TV
He is a rain-maker.
When “Gentleman” hit the screens, everyone was raving about him. I liked parts of the movie. Bodacious casting. And his anger at the state of the society resonated with people. I disliked many parts of the movie though. From “Anniyan” (”Aparachithudu”) onwards, Shankar is caught in a warp. The entire “Remo” character - bad acting by Vikram. And the final scenes where he changes rapidly between Ambi & Anniyan - pathetic over-acting by Vikram. Vikram should learn from Matt Damon or Muthu Raman on how to tone down the histrionics, yet deliver a good performance. After all, Vikram is massively talented, he just needs guidance.
I’m not well versed in dance, so maybe I have a lay-person’s opinion on dancing. But, I love Prabhu Deva - not as an actor, but as a change agent. He changed choreography on its heels. He’s a trend-setter. And I love people that are passionate about what they do. His earnestness about dance is so appealing to me.
People who love what they do, are loved by people simply for that. We once had a rickshaw driver - Sitthandi. He took a bunch of us to school everyday. You might think rickshaw driving was boring business. But, did Sitthandi have fun! After finishing a tough lap, he used to apply the brakes & dance. He loved what he did. We all loved him for that
I could write a post about him, actually.
Nice post ! Though I have always believed that there is an audience in India for all types & categories of films. Even the worst ones have people who get into the theatre to get a respite from the summer heat
If Shivaji made no sense to some elitist crowds , there was a section willing to spend their months earnings to make it to the first show.
, just that our mental faculties refused to take it lying down.
And again, as in any business ,not all would operate at the highest efficiency & churn out the best results. Darwins theory can only be applied if there exists inequality. May be since cinema has this high degree of hype ,glamour & publicity associated with it, we expect all promises made to us to be kept.
I would rather prefer a world with all sorts of films, after all beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. It’s quite possible that even the director of kuruvi might have given his best
And yep, caught up with this malayalam movie ‘Perumazhakalam’ couple of days back.Brilliant ! For non malayalees, it means ‘period of heavy rain’ . Most of the shots in the movie is accompanied by heavy rain sequences in the background. Would love to know if someone else could figure out why the movie is named that way !
Ranjit - Thanks for your comment.
Yes, there may be an audience for all kinds of movies. Which is why I wonder why we don’t make enough world class or even good movies. And when we can’t or won’t make such movies, I wonder why we salivate over the Oscars. Let’s just accept that our Film Selection Committee is made of dummies & even if it had Mensans with an IQ of 150, there would be slim pickings.
Hmm. Me being unable to understand the depth of Kuruvi
If that was proven to be true, I have to commit Harakiri. Because only a person with an IQ of 40 would be unable to grasp the nuances of that fine epic 
Perumazhakalam - That’s the one with Kavya, Dilip & Meera, right? There was a review a few years back in the Tamil weekly Vikatan about it. It was a glowing review, but there was something about it being very slow. Reason for the title - Don’t know, pal. Let me check out the movie.
Priya
Excellent post and following comments. Looks like somebody going to make a movie, i think you should, you have lot of lot information. My head started throwing ’stack over flow’. I think our film makers are in tough task to achieve, they want to satisfy A, B and C people with different expectations. It may take several more years to make world class, award winning movies. I like to watch Tamil and Malayalam movies.
Tamil movies are great to watch as entertainment, most of them are no logic, (latest example : kuruvi), masala and pure money making purpose. But last 4-5 years, we started seeing some young director movies and those are good, great to watch (Selvaraghavan, Simbu Devan, Charan and many more).
As you said, Malayalam was great one point time but now they also started masalas, but i think they have in-depth story line and comedy track in all movies. I hate to watch Malayalam art movies, it is very slow. But if someone wants to learn how to make fish curry or some dish, i highly recommend to watch Malayalam art film, they show it step by step very slowly. One movie I watched a long ago on TV, Sunday afternoon Doordharsan after the 1:15 news , the whole movie was about 2 charterers talking in a car. The car starts from a railway station and ends in a home. Thats it, nothing else.
Subba
Subba - Thanks for your comment.
What did the poet Dharmi say to Lord Shiva in the movie “Thiru Vilayadal”? He said - I can only ask questions, not answer them
So yes, while I would love to make movies or documentaries, I don’t have any practical know-how on how the industry works.
Our film-makers try to create something that will satisfy everyone. That’s not necessary. They should target a demographic & try to make movies for them. And perhaps make more movies in English or with English sub-titles. That way, they can target the whole nation.
I agree that some new directors trying to create different fare. We need more small-budget movies & cool documentaries. Only then will the industry survive.
I hate pretentious movies. One should never forget the cardinal rule of movie-making: Cinema is to entertain the viewer. Ergo, it should interest the viewer. Showing some guy shave his armpits for 15 minutes is not art.
In fact, that’s the cardinal rule of writing too. I wish someone would tell Stephen Hawking that. Guy is a genius, but has no clue how to communicate his thoughts. But that’s a different post altogether.
Priya,
Excellent and just in time too!!. I was outraged after seeing Dasavathram, which falls into a separate category I would term as IOI - Insulting ones intelligence, and wanted to do a post on such movies. And to boot, it is portrayed as some innovative concept not attempted before - what a bunch of crock. As you have mentioned, the makeup is atrocious, close-ups were an eye sore and a lot of the dialogues are unintelligible and to top it off, there seems to be some message thrown in about religion - gives me the shudders.
Few tamil movies I like - Kutti (ending is very depressing though), Veedu and Andha Naal. And on the Hindi side, I would have to throw in Sujatha, Madhumati, Sholay etc. Malayalam - Vanaprastham with the inimitable Mohanlal. Speaking of Malayalam movies, I remember attempting to watch Elipathayam during my younger days on Doordarshan and was totally lost. I am sure if I watch it now, I might even understand it and come to appreciate it is a great movie. But the only good thing it did to me at that time was induce me into a nice afternoon slumber!!
Ganesh
Ganesh - Thanks for your comment.
You watched Dasavatharam? Please accept my sympathies. Music by Himesh Reshamiyya?! And the 10 “looks” of Kamal - most of them like wooden masks - fugly! African Witch Doctors use better looking masks in their rituals. I wonder if Kamal’s head is screwed on right. If all he hears is adulation, how will he correct his madness?
I’m really sorry to say that these days I avoid Kamal’s new movies like the Ebola virus.
Kutti was indeed a good movie - very depressing though. I liked the Hindi movies in your list. But, Vyjayanthi Mala was very irritating in Madhumati. She was too cutesy, talking ditzily like a little girl. Very aggravating. She looked phenomenal though, as always.
Elipathayam?! OMG, I tried watching it many years back & it freaked me out. Art films can be a bit slow, but it should still move about, exhibit some life. It shouldn’t be dead. Adoor Gopalakrishnan scares me. I know the cognoscenti will behead me & drink my blood if I say that. Since Elipathayam is his Magnum Opus. But hey - we say it like we see it. Perhaps I should steel myself & watch it again. Who knows, I might not get tremors when I see it now.
Priya & Ganesh,
“Rajammey, Rajammey, Paasu” - The two of you watched that!! I like that movie Elipathayam simply because of the many times I have quoted that movie for a ’slo….w movie’. I still remember the scenes from the movie after 20+ years. It left such lasting impact on me
I think in general, our movie producers and directors think that their audience is denser than they actually are. How else can you explain them trying to spell out even the simplest things for us. It’s all the more surprising because, we preach and pride ourselves (!!!) as a culture that’s doesn’t openly express feelings - as a community we scorn and stare at public display of affection (including hugs). However, when we make movies we are compelled to express every bit of nuance openly, including running around trees
It’s definitely a medium to forget reality, I think.
In India, movie makers seem to have lost the concept that movies can be aspirational, inspirational and entertaining, but has to be in the realm of possibility - catching a bullet with the hero’s teeth, a single person stopping a running jet plane with a rope etc - unless you are making “The matrix” every time.
The worse part is, the general public has very little expectation from movies and don’t expect them to be in the realm of possibility as well.
I wish we would take inspiration from good movies made from other countries (read, inspiration and not plagiarize) and make great movies.
NK - Thanks for your comment.
I think we had to atone for our sins & that’s why we watched “Elipathayam”. It left a lasting impact on me too! I can’t even handle David Lynch - as in “Mulholland Drive”. Having to sit thru Adoor was such an ordeal. Really now, I should watch his other movies before judging him. Poor fella.
We are a culture that doesn’t express its feelings openly??! That’s news to me. We bawl our eyes out, we touch each other (not the opposite sex) all the time, we express our joy so openly, we are uber-sentimentalists, we express our love openly (as long as it isn’t romantic love - love for parents, friends & film idols ok). We have taboos on what to express openly & what should be best forgotten. Anger & Confrontation - NO. Anything Sexual - NONONO. Everything else - Yes, of course.
So, its not surprising that sex & violence - the taboo emotions - are reserved for the movies.
I think movies are terrible because the film-makers want a one-size fits-all approach. If only they started making movies by demographic, things might improve. Our tolerance is the stuff legends are made of
So, the “A” audience tolerates nonsense & idiocy expressly added for the “C” audience. In due course of time, the “A” audience has dumbed down to the level of the “C” audience. That’s what I think has happened in India.
How else will you explain corny masala movies running packed houses on the 1st few weeks, in multiplexes in metros?
Oops…I think i created this whole new thread for Malayalam art movie.
Yes, it is slow but has different dimension of movie, in fact, Adoor is one the gem of Indian movie industry. I agree with Ganesh that may be i was too young to judge Malayalam art movies at that time. But I like “two in one” movies art+entertainment . Since the movie industry “not doing good” nowadays, it is good to have art at same time some entertainment. We have to find a creative way of “mixing these two” to give right cocktail to audience.
One more point is, I like to see more movies or documentary from Indian directors like Michael Moore here in US.
Hope i cleared my position on this.
Subba - Too many of us have been affected personally by “Elipathayam”. We had good intentions in our hearts - “Here is a celebrated film-maker, let’s watch his movie”. How naive of us
Seriously now, Adoor is a genius, but we believe that art need not be boring. We don’t mind appreciating him, but we are unable to stay awake long enough when his movie is on
I plan to watch 1 more movie before condemning him. Maybe in a few years, I’ll have enough brains to understand his art. Who knows.
Yeah, we need short films, small budget films & documentaries. I was lucky enough to watch an Indian short film today, screened exclusively for me by the film-maker
It was cool.
I wish mainstream film-makers cared that much about my opinion. I’ll give them an earful. But sadly, they don’t know me from Adam (Eve?) & they don’t give a damn anyway.
Priya,
You are right! I take that back about showing emotions in public. Like you said, some that should be taboo are not and some that should not be are! Indeed, we are weird.
“C Audience” - I am not sure anyone believes that you can stop a bullet in it’s tracks by catching it in your teeth. What’s worse, if our ‘C audience’ did believe that after seeing the movie, guess what, they are going to be left with a gaping hole on the back of their head
I think people flock to movies because they want entertainment and don’t realize that they can get better choices if only the movie makers spend 5 more seconds thinking before truly shooting from the hip.
It’s not that we don’t have enough social causes to cover through movies (like Blood Diamond) - child labor, pedophile, sex trade, lack of civic sense - you name it, we have it. Our movie makers don’t want to spend a moment to think about these. I am not talking about our Hero fighting against the biggest politician and throwing the government over - though that’s probably as far from reality as it can get.
We need good thinking movie makers who want to be original and make a difference. We don’t need ones that dole out the same ‘man after woman’ or ‘woman after man’ stories day in and day out. I am tired of it!
Can you imagine one of our current movie makers coming out with ‘back to the future, contact, butterfly effect, memento, 12 monkeys’ or any similar movie?
NK - Yeah, the bullet sequence in Padayappa is too dumb even for the C audience. Here’s a thought - and I’m thinking out loud here - maybe we have an “F” audience in India?
For them, a gaping hole in the back of their head makes no difference. They can go on living the same ah, productive lives that they led before.
From time to time, we do see movies based on social causes - Kutti, Mandi etc. But, we don’t have enough of them. For movies to be based on social causes, film-makers need civic sense. That’s in short-supply in India - film-makers & film-goers alike.
Man Seeking Woman, Woman Seeking Man. Yep, tired of them. I’d like to see movies on Man Seeking Man, Woman Seeking Woman. Taken without taking any sides - either pro-gay or anti-gay. Movies where gays are not fodder for comedy tracks, but have a role to play. I just want the elephant in the room to be recognized. “Oh, there are no gays in India” - Yeah, right dumb-ass.
Although the movie “My Brother Nikhil” was a step in the right direction. And the TV Program “Ippadikku Rose” - where the anchor is a trans-gendered woman - give me some hope.
NK - Of course they came up with “Memento”. They called it “Ghajini”. Only they copied it & pretended they were brilliant. That doesn’t count??!!
And the “Butterfly Effect” - Kamal mentions that in Dasavatharam. Which is a copy of “Babel”.
Send us the DVD of any movie that impresses you. And we’ll make a movie