Saturday, January 11, 2014

Malayalis approach other films with a different sensibility

TIMES OF INDIA, Sunday 12-01-2014, Page 2

According to critics, Malayali viewers approach other language films with a different sensibility. “They know what they should expect in other language films. They pay for the ticket to watch that and when it served the way they want, they go after it,” film critic A Chandrasekhar. 

    Sample this scene from a new Malayalam movie. The lead character in Vineeth Srinivasan’s Thira is slightly nettled when he finds his sister in a sleeveless garb. The sister quips back asking him if it's okay when other girls do the same. He replies innocently: “Well you are my sister and I want you to dress decently.”
    This short scene about the skewed sense of morality and decency is what the critics find behind Malayali’s insatiable appetite for loud, boisterous Tamil films. Deprived of sleep and bitten by cold, they stood for hours before the first screening of Jilla was held across various theatres in the state.
    A few years ago films stuffed with pretty much similar substance featuring the most adored actor in Kerala were literally hooted off the theatres. Mohanlal had to resurrect himself after the audience grew cold towards his characters who consistently twirled moustache and blurted out sharp one-liners.
“You will not like if somebody in your family gets overtly glamorous. The same thing applies here. They would love Tamil films for all the glamour and glitz. If the same thing is repeated here, it would be trashed without mercy,” said Chandrasekhar.
Besides high-budget Tamil films come with a technical gloss that Malayalam films’ find hard to match. “The youth appreciate these films for their technical brilliance which they can’t find in Malayalam cinema. Also they are not that keen on the contemporary topics which form the core of many new generation Malayalam films. Instead they love the pace, action and glamour and when the package comes with technical perfection, they love it even more,” said film critic C S Venkiteswaran. TNN

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