The brilliant film maker Harikumar who won state award for the best director for”Sukrutham”(1995) and “Pulervettom”(2002) is now doing the script work of his new film . He was a member of the national film award jury this year. Lets go through his viewpoints regarding today’s malayalam cinema.

Q: Sir, you are well known to the Kerala film viewers as a family film maker. Your last commercial film “Paranjutheeratha Visheshangal” came after 7 years gap in 2007 (after Swayamwarapandal in 2000). How do you analyse today’s malayalam cinema?

A: For the last ten years, a lack of interest is visible among the viewers towards the movies which depict the family relationships and values due to the changes in life styles. Especially in cities, economical growth has affected the relationships too. Another fact that affected the family movies is mega serials in television. The female viewers of family movies became addicted to low standard serials, and it ultimately affected the financial success of good standard family movies. This addiction to the serials can be compared with that of the immense popularity of “M” weeklys in the 80s. But I feel this addiction to serials has diminished a little bit since the last two years.

This television penetration affected all movie industries in different periods. Hollywood was supposed to be dead in the 70s due to the over poularity of television. The same trend has repeated at Mumbai in 80s regarding the Bollywood, and it affected malayalam industry in the late 90s. As like the recovery of Hollywod and Bollywood, Malayalam cinema will also comeback. This addiction to television is temporary, just like our affection towards a newly bought fancy item. Television became a member of majority kerala families in late 90s. That affection towards the newly bought good can last for a few years. So now people prefer to go to theater only for the films which are different from the serial formulas.

As like the collapse of “M” weeklys after the 80s, (almost 20 weeklys were there) this serial trend will also fade away as it doesn’t offer anything creative or related to life.

Q: So can we expect a big comeback of a prosperous malayalam cinema age?

A: Cinema will exist forever though whatever other temporary trends come in between. Cinema is the youngest art form, as its only a century old. But take the case of drama its thousands of years old art form, and still exist here. Its only 40 years since India’s ever best film is made by Satyajith Ray. The development in technology will contribute more for cinema’s future. Changes may happen in viewing methods and screening technology, but cinema won’t go away from the viewers.

Q: Do you think the themes of today’s malayalam cinema is competable with that of Tamil, Hindi movies? Do our film makers make enough experimental films as compared to other language films?

A: I was a jury member of last national awards and happened to see around 110 films from different languages in India. There were 15 films from Malayalam, 18 from Hindi, 10 from Bengali and 12 from Tamil in the first round. Only 30 films were selected for the final round. 8 films were selected from Malayalam and only 1 film from Tamil(Paruthiveeran). 7 films were selected from Bengali. I was surprised to see that only a single film is selected from Tamil, though we all say Tamil films are more experimental. Even Paruthiveeran was also constarined to all the boundaries of a commercial films and it has all the ingredients of a commercial. If there is a chance for a film like “Pulijanmam” to be made in any other languages, its only Bengali or Marathi because their govt gives a subsidy upto 30 lakhs. A film like Madambi’s first week share is 80 lakhs but Adoor’s “Naalu Pennungal” got only 3.5 lakhs in total gross.

But in case of commercial films, there are better films in Hindi and Tamil as compared to that of malayalam. Omkara, Lage Raho Munnabhai etc are good examples. Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Traffic Signal” deserves an applause, as its a very difficult one to picturise. Such efforts are not common in Malayalam. But Tamil is not upto Hindi in that respect.

The generation came after Bharathan, Padmarajan era is not having innovative thoughts like the ancestors. Its time for a new generation of film makers to come in to revolutionise malayalm cinema. They must be able to think away from the usual pattern. Today’s film makers are just folowing the predecessors’ path only for their own benefits. Thats one of the major drawbacks of today’s mainstream cinema.

Q: How do you consider the star dominance in malayalm cinema? is it positive or negative for our industry?

A: Ya its one of the major problems that our cinema is revolving around just two super stars, and its dangerous for our industry. It can adversly affect the viewers too that they wont accept the films which don’t give importance to the superstar’s stardom. There are superstars all around the world. But our major plus point is that both of our super stars are excellent actors too, can be called the best in India. But how many of the films are utilizing their talents? Do the films which utilize their talent get accepted by today’s viewers? Even Orekadal didn’t get a good run in boxoffice. Now films which are only made according to star’s pattern are accepted( like Annan Thambi). So the major crisis of malayalam cinema is the lack of confidence in the film makers for different thoughts and contracting into two stars. At the same time different themes of other languages are accepted here. The fans associations are never for the betterment of cinema.

Q: What is your hope about the upcoming film makers and actors in malayalam?

A: There are promising talents among the young film makers and actors. But it should not be constrained to one or two people. Today’s majority of actors and directors are still from 80s. We must get a group of talents in all the fields of cinema. Then only we can dream about a bright future for our cinema.

Q: Which is your next project?

A: Now I am working on a script. Its a superstar in the lead and it will not be based on the superstardom. Planning to start the shooting by the end of this year.

Nik: Thanks a lot for your time, and my best wishes for your future projects.

The film tells the story of a society that may happen in the future. Its about the ethics and values of life and not about the outlook of the world in the future. We can call the narration is symbolical in one way. But in another perspective, some of the facts are taken in a realistic way. The film points out some of the loss cultural values in its extremity.

Velipaadukal depicts the blind acceptance of stupid political and religious beliefs. In the form of “scientific religion”, the film portrays current social issues itself. The relationships become materialistic and women are getting used only for physical pleasures and reproduction. They are treated like vegetables and becomes completely illeterate. The way they recycle dead bodies becomes a spark for the lead charcter to think apart from the religion. The rebels of the religion are without ideologies and director Shahul Ameen has succeeded in relating it with todays politics in a way. The further experiences of the lead character Lintu form the rest of the story.

The film starts well, but the script is a little bit weak as it progresses, and especially the regarding the scenes leading to the climax. The final scene of the lead character should have been picturized in a more careful way. Above average performances are there from all the lead characters. As a whole, the effort from the young film makers have to be appreciated.

[DVDs of Velipaadukal can be ordered at www.reactionshots.in ]

The story portrays the life surrounding four young people aged around 24 years and Prithviraj plays the lead role. Young writer Joshua Newtonn has completed the script in a span of one year time. The shooting will commence in October. The main locations will be Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.

The makers are aiming the mainstream young audience too and they have already chosen some peppy music for Rithu.

Now a days, films are becoming “projects”. First fixes the Actor, director and writer. Story, script etc are not necessarily needed. The latest example is Mammootty-Padmakumar-TA Rassaq team’s Parunthu. When we watch the film, it is clearly evident that TA Rassaq didnt write anything for the film. This team’s project had changed the story two or three times, atlast they chose the basic idea of Devasuram and Vargam.

Devasuram, Vargam.. and now Parunthu. All the three films are based on the same storyline. But there is a big difference. First two films had a good script and fresh treatment. Parunthu lacks both these aspects. The only plus point in the film is the character buildup of Parunthu Purushu (Mammootty) in the first half. It was refreshing to see one of our superstars doing a negative role after many years. Everything else in the film misfired. The negative touch is removed in the second half for the sake of commercial viabilities. Jayasurya did a role which could have been avoided by him, considering his current market value in malayalam cinema.

The dance sequence of Mammooty in the song was really unwanted. Padmakumar’s intention with that song is still a mystery. Purushu’s transformation was very quick and was not convincing. Two songs in the film were unwanted and misplaced. Again the cliched sequences in the climax, regarding the end of villain.

TA Rassaq seems to have forgotten even basics of script writing, according to the climax of the film. Padmakumar’s directional skills were visible in some of the scenes. But as a whole it was not upto mark.

Rating 3.5/10

The film deals with the relationship of a group of young IT professionals. Kamal has chosen simple way to narrate the modern age youngsters’ changing life style and outlook of life. The script is an above average one, but it has succeeded to give good characterization to the leading characters. There is nothing innovative in the film. Deals with friendship, love and separation.

Abhi(Narain) and Charulatha(Meera) are love birds. Mani Kunju(Jayasurya) has a soft corner of the quick witted Rose Mary(Roma). The story mainly revolves around these pairs. Sidharth (Indrajith) and Mumtaz(Samvrutha) are married couples. Kalyani(Radhika) is also a member in this friendship gang.

The songs tuned by Bijipal is just average and does not have the usual Kamal touch.

The humour in the film is purely situational and there is no Vadivelu - Vivek(Suraj- Salim Kumar) for satisfying first day audience. Narain’s performance was an average one and his character does not have complicated situations. Jayasurya has improved in the last two years and he was good with his natural performance. Meera can never be blamed for repetition, and she did justice to her character. Roma also did a good job.

In short Minnaminnikoottam is a soft feel good movie.

Rating: 6.5/10

May be Kavya Madhavan won’t file a case against these sites fearing further media publicity regarding this. Thats the main factor which persuades such sites to post fake news for popularity. Such incidents should be treated seriously under cyber law.

In the initial stages of their career, Mammooty and Mohanlal got the chance to act continuously in master film makers like Bharathan, Padmarajan, IV Sasi, MT, Priyadarshan etc. Both of them were getting films about 34-36 each per year, and majority of these films were from the above mentioned talented film makers. This has helped a lot to shape up their acting skills and star value way better than any other actors in malayalam cinema history. No current or upcoming new comers wont get that chance. They get atmost 3 or 4 films per year may be 1 or 2 will be from good directors.

Today’s industry is doing business of crores based on two stars. Big caucuses exist surrounding the stars who utilize their market value for their profit. They control all the business regarding the satellite, over seas, video rights etc. These people make hurdles for small films in all the way. Banning the paper ads is the latest move from them which adversely affect the small films.

The above mentioned situation makes even the very few good film makers of today to write stories and make films based on the big stars. They may not get much needed support from the business controlling producers for making films based on youngsters and newcomers. And it automatically affect the number films based on youngsters. When a new comer like Prithviraj criticise this situation, the fans read it as against their stars and stamp him as arrogant. When majority of the scripts were getting written for stars, youngsters lack films. Recently Naren and Jayasurya mentioned about the lack of films for them and the existence of the caucuses against new comers.

Two films were planned with Naren last year named “Orange” and “Venal” which were dropped on the caucus’s play. Naren told this to many media but majority of his words were cut down when the interviews were published. The heading of Naren’s interview in oneindia.com was “Naren against super stars”. But the content didnt have even single word “super star”. Young talents are not getting the chances behind the camera, as the associations’ “terms and conditions” are hard for them to overcome. For a new writer or editor, the membership is reserved only for the “favored” people. Without membership one cannot do anything.

How long can our industry survive depending only on Mammooty and Mohanlal? If youngsters are not supported here, will there be malayalam cinema after Mammooty and Mohanlal?

Q: Sir, You have worked as writer, assistant director, actor and now as director. Can you explain this transition briefly?

A: I had a taste for writing in my school days itself. But in film field, initially I got the helping hands of Jude Attipetti and worked as an assistant director with him. After that I got the chance to work with Bharath Gopi. As an assistant director, I did maximum films with Rajiv Anchal. I grew with the help of many people, moving from one person to another and learning from them. No one grows of his own. My part in Kashmeeram was that of an assistant director but circumstances made me to act in a few scenes in that film. It was quite natural for any assistant director to do a small role in a film. After Kashmeeram, I got many chances in films and majority of them were negative roles. Acting was never in my dreams. When I thought of making a film, Varghese’s story came into my mind since I admire him a lot. Babu Janardhanan has written an excellent script for the film and i think the film has shaped up well.

Q: How much relevant is Thalappavu in current context, when Nepal voted naxals to power and several states in India are struggling with naxal violence?

A: Now a days, how many people will react when they see some bad guys teasing a girl by the road side? When a man reacts to such a situation, we think that he will be from some political party or he has some strong backing. Can we call such a reaction from a common man as naxalism? If so I would like to call Jesus Christ also a naxal. In 70’s, the youth had their own politics. The members of political parties had the privilege to question even the leaders. But today, the youth is getting away from good politics, as they lose the interest. The leaders decide everything based on money and other factors.

The lead character of Thalappavu Joseph is also such a man who reacts against the evil in the society. He does his goodness for the whole society, not for an individual. That may be viewed as a sin in some others’ perspective. In such a perspective Jesus Christ must also be a naxal who reacted against the evils, hit a bad guy with whip, took awareness classes and united people in the society.

Q: Do you think the story of Varghese will make an impact on today’s youth who go behind Star Singers and big budget Hindi and Tamil films?

A: It is said that a story which a writer writes is getting written for a single reader who is somewhere in the society. But cinema is a product for the mass. I know that there are many people in the mass who have some elements of Varghese inside them and can relate themselves to him. We cannot say that a film can satisfy all the people in the society. It will get its viewers.

Q: What compromises you made in fictionalizing the story of Varghese and Ramachandran Pillai to make it appealing to the modern audience? Is it due to legal troubles, the original names were not used?

A: Of course there are changes in the respective characters. But their basic nature is kept intact. As I said earlier, the viewers will be able to identify their nature in the characters. There is nothing related to the legal issues regarding the names. Thalappavu’s lead characters are just inspired from Varghese and Ramachandran Pillai.

Q: A few fresh faces are there in the supporting cast of Thalappavu. How hard was it as a first time director to get the best out of these new actors?

A: I was very comfortable to work with the new comers. As a director I was able to handle them with ease. That may not be the case with senior actors. It was comparatively easy to mould the new comers into characters since they don’t have any established images.

Q: Some previous Prithviraj films like Vargam, Vasthavam were really good but those films didnt get enough pre-release publicity. Do you have some plans to market Thalappavu more aggressively?

A: As a director, I am ready to go for any extent to market this film. I made this movie for others to watch.

Q: How did Prithviraj perform in Thalappavu as compared to his previous ventures like Vargam and Vasthavam?

A: He is the most brilliant actor of new generation. He is so enthusiastic to observe people and to adapt any feature of them for his characters. When we thought of making Thalappavu, he was the unanimous choice. Writer Babu Janardhanan had drawn a sketch of Joseph during the scripting. It had a big resemblance with Prithviraj. He did full justice to “Joseph”.

Q: Having donned the director’s role, what part of the task do you think was most challenging - visualizing the scenes, training the actors, discussing and debating the screenplay with the scriptwriter or is it something else?

A: For a director all these tasks are challenging. I cannot say that one is more challenging and other is not. Cinema is a team effort. The entire crew have their respective roles in it.

Q: Which all directors have inspired your style of direction? Who is your favorite director?

A: Actually there are many brilliant directors who inspired me. I cannot say only some names specifically. I cannot say that my directorial style will be 100% pure. My shot selection and style will have shades of good works which I had seen in the past.

Q: If I say malayalees won’t accept new actors easily, what will be your opinion? Is it the reason our established directors like Priyadarshan, Fazil, Laljose, Siddique are planning their films in Tamil?

A: In Tamil there are around 25 established actors. Even our Prithviraj and Narain got enough market there. If Shivaji and Pokkiri are hits there, the same audience is ready to accept films like Paruthiveeran, Mozhi etc also.

Malayalee audience are still worshiping the big stars. I know many people who say Mohanlal and Mammootty films are guaranteed but newcomers/youngsters films are risky (in terms of quality). Malayalees need everything free without paying its cost. Kerala is one of the places in the world where there is maximum number of libraries. The reason is that Malayalees are reluctant to buy books, they need it for rent. Kerala is the only place where we can watch drama for free. In UK, if we need to watch a drama, we have to book the tickets at least before three months.

Q: What are your future projects/plans?

A: I cannot predict what can happen in next moment. Some times I may stand up from this chair with my right leg or my left leg. But it cannot be predicted now.

Q: About your family.

A: Wife and two daughters. Wife is working in Mathsya Fed.

Q: Do you have any message for the readers?

A: Be honest while approaching a movie. Say only genuine opinion about any film you watch.

Nik: Thanks you sir, All the best for Thalappavu and your future projects.

Now here comes a well made website for the upcoming movie Thalappavu. It is the best website I have ever seen for a malayalam cinema. This innovative approach from the Thalappavu crew points that our malayalam cinema industry have started to realise the potential of the marketing movies though internet. This approach is really useful for lakhs of film lovers world wide who rely on internet for information. Congratulations to the crew of Thalappavu.

Thalappavu will be released by the last week of this month. Thalappavu is Writer/Actor Madhupal’s first directional venture. Babu Janardhanan writes the script and Prithviraj plays the lead role.