THE GEMS THAT REDEEMED A LARGELY
TERRIBLE YEAR FOR MALAYALAM CINEMA
2018 was awful for Malayalam
cinema. It is a measure of how great this film industry a.k.a. Mollywood is
though, that even in what is arguably its worst year of the past decade, it has
given us some of India’s best cinematic works. Since I reviewed Sathyan
Anthikad’s Njan Prakashan just
recently, I can’t find a way to better express my feelings than in these words
from that write-up: Sometimes I want to wrap Malayalam cinema in a big, warm
bear hug and plant affectionate, grateful kisses on its cheeks.
This list of my favourite
Malayalam films of 2018 covers theatrical releases from the last calendar year.
But increasingly, there are good films not going down that road at all. Rahul
Riji Nair’s Ottamuri Velicham (The
Light in the Room), for one, is an unnerving account of marital rape in the
remote Kerala countryside that was released directly on
online platforms. Sanal Kumar Sashidharan has decided not to waste his time
submitting his Unmadiyude Maranam
(Death of Insane) to the Censor Board due to its politically explosive content,
although that rules out a mainstream release for the film.
Nair and Sashidharan are not alone
in opting for unconventional routes to the public. As technology, exhibition
media and audiences change, their numbers are bound to increase, and as that
happens, critics’ lists such as this one too will adapt. For the moment though,
this is my pick of the best Mollywood films that came to theatres in 2018:
BEST MOLLYWOOD FILMS
1: Ee.Ma.Yau
The games people play around
death have fascinated filmmakers for decades. In Ee.Ma.Yau, Malayalam auteur Lijo Jose
Pellissery zeroed in on a son who promises his father a grand funeral despite
his financial constraints, a widow publicly – and vociferously – mourning the
passing of a spouse whose infidelity she privately suspected, and a
daughter who cares more than even she knows.
If 2017 belonged to Chemban Vinod
Jose and Pellissery as a writer-director combination (Pellissery’s smash hit Angamaly Diaries marked Jose’s debut as
a writer), then 2018 belonged again to the duo, though this time it was Jose
the actor we got to see in Ee.Ma.Yau.
His deadpan take on a son for whom time comes to a standstill with the loss of
a parent was one of the best performances of the year. Ee.Ma.Yau was a beautifully shot film packed
with hilarious situations and believable characters, with a wealth of insights
on mortality and social pretences in a tiny fishing village by the sea.
2: Eeda
Love across class, caste,
regional and religious divides has been repeatedly explored by Indian cinema,
but Eeda chose to focus instead on
another barrier that in this divisive age has been ending marriages and
friendships across the globe: the political disagreement. The film was promoted
as a Romeo and Juliet set against the
backdrop of inter-party violence in Kerala. Frankly, the Shakespearean
reference was redundant unless every romantic relationship opposed by rival
clans is to be credited to the Bard.
Both in this context, and as a
standalone story, Eeda is a
well-acted, well-told account of what happens when two young people are drawn
to each other despite their families being deeply entrenched in the
establishments of opposing political parties. Shane Nigam was endearing as a
young man from a Hindu right wing background, but the stand-out performance
came from Nimisha Sajayan as a strong-willed student who discovers the
hypocrisy of her supposedly progressive Communist people when she asserts
herself against their tyranny. A smashing directorial debut for National Award
winning editor B. Ajithkumar, and a very brave film.
3: S. Durga a.k.a. Sexy Durga
The din over the I&B Ministry’s
repeated efforts to stall this film on India’s festival circuit almost drowned
out director Sanal Kumar Sashidharan’s richly layered, no-holds-barred
condemnation of the patriarchal status quo and its upholders in Sexy Durga that was renamed S. Durga by the geniuses at the Censor
Board. Durga of the title is an ordinary woman under siege on the streets of India and at home while the goddess
of the same name is worshipped in temples and in a religious festival that
runs parallel to the story of the lead couple.
The predators posing as
protectors of women in the film mirror the manner in which patriarchy seeks to
curb and violate women in the name of keeping us/them safe. The Sangh Parivar’s
campaign against inter-faith marriages in which the woman is Hindu, parochial
biases, gender prejudice and violence all find a place in this deceptively
simple, chilling tale of a young couple in flight, trying desperately to get a
lift on a deserted road late one night.
4: Njan Prakashan
The blockbuster team of director
Sathyan Anthikad and writer Sreenivasan back together again after a gap of 16
years would be reason to celebrate on any given day. That they lived up to
their reputation with this Fahadh Faasil-starrer was the cake and the icing on
it. Njan Prakashan follows the life
of a somewhat amoral wacko called Prakashan who renames himself P.R. Akash just
to be cool, refuses to practise nursing despite being professionally qualified
because he thinks it’s not cool enough, manipulates his
loved ones and takes it for granted that those around him will never be as
conscienceless as he is. Life teaches him better through the vehicle of three
tough-as-nails women in this slice-of-life saga narrated with Anthikad’s signature
natural ease.
Emerging new talents are always a
joy to discover, but there is nothing quite as enjoyable and reassuring as
finding that a stalwart retains his touch.
5: Koode
Of the present generation of
Malayalam directors, not many can handle sibling bonds like Anjali Menon can. Bangalore Days’
helmswoman outdid herself in Koode,
her film about the ghosts of a childhood lost to sacrifices that no one should
ever be asked to make. Returning to the big screen after a four-year
post-marriage hiatus, Nazriya Nazim Fahadh provided a sparkly foil to the
brooding leading man (Prithviraj Sukumaran),
while Parvathy in a smaller role rounded off one of the best casts of the year.
The film belonged though to
Prithviraj whose outstanding performance had the power to rip the beating heart
out of an iceberg. Koode was as much
about silences as the spoken word, and the power of the unsaid. It was nothing
short of poetry on screen.
6: Njan Marykkutty
This one was pathbreaking. On
paper I can imagine that Njan Marykkutty
was described as “a transsexual man undergoes gender reassignment surgery to
become a woman”, but in translation it was so much more. Ranjith Sankar’s film
was about the government apathy, community opprobrium and even violence that
Marykkutty faces from a society that sees gender only in terms of male or
female by birth.
In a more evolved India, film
industries will have space for trans actors to play trans persons, but
considering the constant stereotyping and caricaturing by our cinemas of
characters who do not fit patriarchal norms, it counts as a crucial turning
point that a male star as mainstream as Jayasurya would opt to play a trans
woman sans mockery or comical jibes in Njan
Marykkutty and without bothering about the potential risk to his macho
image among traditionalist audiences. (For the record, a parallel evolution too
is happening – in the Malayalam film Aabhaasam
also released last year, a trans woman was played by the trans actor Sheetal
Shyam and we will hopefully see more such inclusiveness in coming years.)
Jayasurya was stupendous as
Mathukkutty who becomes Marykkutty. His remarkably unselfconscious performance
embodied the spirit of the film, which seemed determined to see Marykkutty as a
person not just a trans person. Great cinema is not born of good intentions and
humanity alone. The reason why Njan
Marykkutty works is because it has a story to tell and it tells it well,
imbuing it with both sensitivity and entertainment value.
7: Bhayanakam
A postman in World War II Kerala
transitions from being welcomed as a harbinger of good news to being shunned as
an ill omen, as the war progresses and the money orders he once bore give way
to telegrams bringing tidings of the deaths of locals on faraway battlefields.
Renji Panicker as Bhayanakam’s
troubled protagonist was an inspired casting choice. Asha Sarath played a woman
whose free thinking and unfettered lifestyle bely contemporary assumptions
about the curbs on women in non-urban settings or from earlier times.
Jayaraj’s Bhayanakam – a part of the director’s Navarasa series – deservedly
won the National Award for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best
Cinematography last year. Like all his recent works, this one too is visually magnificent,
its frames underlining the constancy of nature when left to her own devices
versus the inconstancy of humankind. Set in the backwaters of Kuttanad, one of the most stunning locations on the
planet, Bhayanakam is also a timely
reminder of the magic of the big screen for generations increasingly consuming
cinema on cellphones, laptops and televisions at home. God’s Own Country will
always be worth a visit to a movie hall.
8: Kayamkulam Kochunni
The folklore surrounding a poor
Muslim boy in Kerala who grew up to be a Robin Hood, stealing from wealthy
Brahmins to provide for impoverished Dalits and who is now immortalised at a
shrine attached to a temple in the state is worth recounting in every era. It
is of course particularly relevant and resonant in the times we live in where
Islamophobia is sweeping across the globe and where India’s Dalit community has
become more politically assertive than ever before.
Kayamkulam
Kochunni was an
extravagant production, far removed from the more small-scale cinema Nivin
Pauly is usually associated with. Its effectiveness lay in the fact that the
grandeur of its vision matched its visual scale. This was a fun, energetic
film, intelligent, inspiring and refreshingly optimistic.
9: Aadhi
Mollywood megastar Mohanlal’s
son, Pranav Mohanlal, made his debut as an adult leading man in one of the best
action flicks to emerge from Indian cinema in recent years. Mohanlal Junior is
trained in parkour, a skill that was put to ample use in this hormonally
charged action adventure packed with more quality chases and other thrilling
stunts than we are used to seeing in Malayalam cinema.
Aadhi had a worthwhile story too, so
we know that young Pranav can not just fight like a lion and run like a deer,
he can also act. That he is cute to boot is a bonus. Suspense galore, a
likeable newcomer, unrelenting action and an unexpected emotional pull are
a promising mix anyway. After Drishyam’s
nationwide success, director Jeethu Joseph showed us once again with Aadhi that few people can pull off crime
dramas quite like he does.
10: Carbon – Ashes and Diamonds
Four years after Munnariyippu gave Mammootty one of his
few memorable roles of the past decade, veteran cinematographer Venu
returned to direction with the fantastical Carbon:
Ashes and Diamonds. Fahadh Faasil here played a nutty chap whose head
churns with outlandish get-rich-quick schemes while Mamta Mohandas was
an adventurous, enigmatic late entrant in the plot who may or may not have
been a creature of his imagination.
Mollywood routinely delivers some
of the finest camerawork in the country, but K.U. Mohanan outdid himself and
set new benchmarks for cinematography nationwide in the second half of Carbon during which the storyline drifts
about in a seeming daze across mystical landscapes mirroring the wanderings of
the hero’s mind. As much as Venu’s narrative is a tribute to the potential
limitlessness of the human vision, Mohanan’s work on this film feels like a
prayer to the cosmos and to the beauty of God’s Own Country.
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