A year later Lumier Brothers showed the magic on celluloid to a motley of inquisitive men in Paris, Indians too enjoyed the wonder, cinema. On July 7, 1896, Lumier films were shown at Bombay?s Esplanade Hotel. However, it took three decades for the frames of wonder to reach Kerala. The first experiment was by a Tamil dentist, J C Daniel. His banner Travancore Pictures produced Vigathakumaran (1928), starring Daniel?s son R Sunder Raj.In 1932, the star donned the mantle of producer for Marthandavarma, the second Malayalam movie. The first talkie, Balan, was in 1935.
Those drama artistes who roosted to the silver screen in its early days were Alappy Vincent, K Gopinath, M K Kamalam and K K Arur. It took five years for another Malayalam movie to see the light.
Jnanabmika and Bhutharayar, though both had Malayalam literature as their inspirational sources, flopped in a fledgling Kerala film market, thus jotting down the screenplay of loss making movies.
Giving a fresh lease of life to the Malayalam filmdom was the establishing of Udaya, the first film studio, by businessman Kunchako at Alappuzha. The 1949 release, Vellinekshatram was their maiden project.
The palmy days of commercial movie began in the second half of the 20th century. Jeevithanauga, produced of Udaya, starring Thikkurisi Sukumaran Nair, was the first mega hit. Its startling success gave way for several tearjerkers such as Stree, Navalokam and Nallathanka.
The growth of the visual medium in the state was tangible and was being reciprocated in other related areas too. Talkies were coming up in many places. The first movie house, ?New?, was established in Thiruvananthapuram. P Subrahmaniam, owner of ?New?, erected the second film studio at Nemam, Thiruvananthapuram.
Beginning of 60?s saw a bunch of new directors and scriptwriters plunging into the celluloid world strengthening it both aesthetically and commercially. M T Vasudevan Nair, a prolific novelist, was prominent among them. With Kandambacha Kottu, (61) directed by K S Sethumadhavan, then a greenhorn, Malayalam cinema ushered into colourful frames.
Directors P N Menon and A Vincent were so imaginative and talented to pump fresh blood to the flabby veins of filmbody. M T ?Vincent duo crafted Murappennu (1965) and Asuravith, both films even today reckoned first-rated among Malayalam movies. The aura of glamour and tinkle of coins in the reel world triggered an exodus of talent from drama to celluloid. Thoppil Bhasi, a dramatist, led that genre. His Thulabharam (1968) fetched Sharada, who donned the lead character in the film, the national award for best actress.
In sixties, Sethumadavan was the most fecund film director. In fact he had been growing with Malayalam film. Seventies were the vibrant days for the film world. Professionally and academically qualified directors ventured into film production bringing a new dimension and gravity to the medium.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, a graduate in Direction and Screenplay from Pune FTII, steered a new era in Malayalam filmdom. His films put the country on world film map. He was the first South Indian filmmaker to win laurels in national and International fora. Adoor has pioneered the film society movement in the state, which later helped a generation learn the grammar of movie. Elippathayam, his directorial debut, bagged the prestigious British Film Institute Award.
No other Indian film has received as many awards as Elippathayam had. His later films revolutionized audience susceptibilities. He has always been the mascot of Malayalam film medium and still straddles the international movie circles.
M. T. Vasudevan Nair, the cornucopia of imagination, wielded both pen and megaphone in Nirmalyam (73). P J Antony, who played the lead role, won that year?s national award for the best actor. Another figure that added stateliness was Aravindhan. His Utharayanam was a watershed in Malayalam.
K. J. George, another product from Pune FTII, was trailblazer in the mainstream film. His Yavanika and Olangal created ripples among film buffs. Those films proclaimed the emergence of a new audience.
John Abraham was the odd one out in the film world. The gold medallist from FTII was rebellious to the conventional pattern of the film world. The maverick director ploughed a lonely furrow. His approach to the medium was apparently bizarre to the rest of the movie world.
Eighties saw the emergence of super stars on Malayalam film firmament. Mohan Lal, donned villain role in Manjill virijna pookkal, a Navodaya production directed by Fazil. Since then the director, the producer and the villain were on a trail of success.
Fazil, one of the most prolific directors, has credited a series of money-spinning movies. Navodaya, a leading production banner, has always been on successful innovations such as My Dear Kuttichathan, the first 3-D Film, Padayottam, the first 70 M M Malayalam, and Thacholi Ambu, the first Malayalam cinemascope.
The villain, Mohan Lal turned to the sought- after hero and later grown to a thespian of extra-ordinary range. The three-time national award winner still leaves the audience into a trance.
Mammotty, advocate turned actor, made his entry with K G George?s Yavanika. The mellowed star, in the past two decades grew into the full stature with three national awards for the best actor. He had also dabbled in Tamil, Telungu, Hindi and English movies.
Another actor who brought laurels for Malayalam is Suresh Gopi. He won the national award for best actor in an offbeat film, Kaliyattom, directed by Jayaraj.
Diretor - Jayaraj, Thalolam Premji in Piravi, 1988, Director, Shaji N karun
ARAVINDAN - A lone traveller
Arvindan had emblazoned his name on Indian film world. The cartoonist-turned filmmaker was an iconoclast in Malayalam filmdom. Texture, tempo and tenure of his films had adumbrations of his cartoons. Visuals were deprived of flow and dialogues were often broken. Still Arvindan films managed to evoke the desired impact.
His films rest on a realm of solitude. His approach to the medium was unique. He left for shooting location with a skeleton, desultory script and heavily exploited his courage to go beyond the tether of script.
He grasped the language of the medium while directing the first movie, utharayanam (74). The maiden venture bagged him the state award for best director, besides half a dozen awards in other areas of production. The film is still hailed as the best one dealing with Indian independence struggle. It debouches into a nostalgic world of forlorn glory of Gandhism. After every production he recoiled into the cocoon of silence for an intellectual replenishment. The next Kanchana Seetha, about tussle between individual and person, came out after three years of cinematic silence.
Thambu (78) lensed the ripples created by a circus troop in a sleepy hamlet.
In 80?s the filmmaker in Aravindan had grown to its full bloom. Pokkuveyil was a rhythmical excavation into the being of an individual.
In Chidambaram (85), he focuses on the most abstruse aspects in man-woman relation where treachery plays spoilsport. It won the national award for best film. Oridath (86), one of his best productions, is a poetical brilliance on the dissonances in a village life brought in by urban symbols.
His swansong Vastuhara (90) is still haunting film buffs.
Thematic vitality
It is a mishmash of issues and topics that a Malayalam filmgoer encounters on the silver screen. Themes range from mundane to recondite ones. Potboilers, skin flicks, tearjerkers, slapsticks, action movies, trash and highbrow are being churned out from Kerala cauldron.
Kerala scenarists have touched every facet of life; poignant, pathetic, wistful, emotive, deadpan, gruesome and grotesque. Reels are moving; mundane; erotic; breath taking; breezy and thought provoking. Camera units have moved on to rumpus college campus, billowing sea waves, shanty towns, twilight zones of life, busy metros, and sleeping hamlets. Choppers, bullock carts and limousines make their dusty ways into a same movie. Characters are down to earth, high-flown, boorish, polished, duds, gun trotting, laidback and cocksure. Dialogues are empty, loaded. Scenarist shuttle between different socio-political events and riffle through mythologies, browse newspapers scouting for topics.
A shadow of male- dominated Kerala- society has fallen on filmdom too. It is male affair in production units. So are the topics.
No dearth for political movies in the state that went into the chronicle of communism with the first elected communist government. Muffled groans of ordinary people during the turbulent, emergency period and stories from heyday of ultra-communists, quandary those lost in the labyrinth of life are a few of ever-live topics in Malayalam. Even today Malayalam movies hark back on the communist regime of late 50?s and decline of upper class dominance.
Epics dealing with legendary characters and newspapers with stories of petty political parvenus are the two inspirational sources for Malayalam scenarists.
Epics dealing with legendary characters and newspapers with stories of petty political parvenus are the two inspirational sources for Malayalam scenarists.
The blitzskerg of private satellite channels have plunged the medium into a crisis unprecedented. Though fattening of drawing- room-visual- audience is touted as its positive side, slandering of theatre ?goers is feared to spell doom for this industry that keep lives of several lakhs going.
