What makes Malayalam films so special?
Yesterday Premam completed 4 years of theatrical release. What a magical movie! It was remade in Telugu with the same title. Malayalam cinema not only impress you, but it also inspires many filmmakers out there.
Be it Drishyam or Manichitrathazhu, Malayalam film industry (Mollywood as people call it), always inspired filmmakers to remake them in their native languages. Drishyam was remade in all South Indian languages and also in Hindi by Star heroes. Manichitrathazhu is the original of Chandramukhi which is also remade into many languages.
Now, let us see how Malayalam cinema is so special and admirable when compared to other language cinema (I’m not demeaning other language films here. So, no scope of raising controversies).
For many, movie is visual storytelling. You can make a Bahubali or a Lucifer, but you should be telling a story. If the audience are involved in your story, then you are succeeded.
Have you watched a few Malayalam movies?
What did you see? Most of them have stories which are close to reality with no unwanted scenes and songs. Also, every hero there tries to experiment with different genres rather than being in the comfort zone.
“We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.” — Walt Disney
The revenues of many movies aren't huge even in case of Top league heroes like Mohanlal and Mammootty. They do many movies in a calendar year. Take Mohanlal, for example, He had 4 releases in 2017 and 5 in 2018. They keep on doing movies in different genres.
These movies have an intense story to tell backed with a screenplay which is slow at times. Most of the Indian Art films are from Mollywood and these art movies are compared with many classics by K Viswanath garu.
The budget, on the other hand, is less compared to other industries. The investor feels safe even if the money is lost for doing an experiment. The remunerations are less, the majority of actors are from Kerala and it makes them easy to make an authentic film with a limited budget.
To add further, Kerala is God’s own Country. There are many scenic places where they can shoot the entire film in a single schedule. The beauty of nature there is taken a better advantage by them.
Also, today marks five years of the theatrical release of much loved Banglore Days!
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This article is written on a suggestion from my friend, Radha Krishna. If you want me to write anything related to movies, do let me know your suggestions.
Do you find anything to add here? Comment below. I’d love to hear from you :)
Love,
Pd.
