The first few weeks of 2015 have not been particularly exciting for the Malayalam film industry, with a sure shot winner still not in sight. On the contrary, films which carried the burden of hope, owing to the people at the helm, turned out to be disappointments. Topping the list of such films is Mariyam Mukku , the debut directorial of James Albert, who won acclaim for writing Classmates . Surprisingly, the film failed, especially in the scripting department.
Similar fate befell Midhun Manuel Thomas who made his directorial debut last week with Aadu Oru Bheekara Jeevi Aanu .
The strongest point of one of last year’s biggest hits, Om Shanthi Oshana , was the brilliant script laced with some genuine humour, written by Midhun. But in Aadu , which showed immense promise as a spoof, he ended up doing too many things, which did not quite fall into place. Some sparks of brilliance were visible in parts, especially in creating distinct characters, but then the effect was lost when it became a bit repetitive.
High hopes
Third in the list is Rajesh Pillai’s Mili . After a forgettable debut, Rajesh made Traffic, which became a landmark film in the industry, as it marked a new phase of narrative experimentation. Rajesh took his time in bringing out his next film and so, the expectations were sky high. But, as in the other two cases, the initial promise was lost through an aimless script.
With such a below par start for the year, one can only hope the rest of the year will have a few gems in store to make up for all the disappointment.
The spectre of a ban has raised its head in Mollywood yet again, and the latest victim to face the ire of associations of producers and exhibitors is Arun Kumar Aravind, director of the critically acclaimed Left Right Left.
Aravind’s latest project with Manju Warrier in the lead has run into rough weather with the producers association.
‘Inordinate delay’
The Kerala Film Producers Association had blacklisted him after the producer of his previous movie One By Two held him responsible for the inordinate delay in completing the movie. The organisation has asked the producer of the Manju Warrier movie to rethink before going ahead with the project.
“We have also told the producer to take up the project after resolving the issue,” said M. Renjith, association general secretary.
Backing producers is a veteran of many a ban, P.V. Basheer Ahmed (Liberty Basheer), president of the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation, the combine of ‘A’ class movies in the industry. “All his (Aravind’s) producers have suffered due to prolonged shooting lasting more than 100 days. We have accepted the producers’ request not to release his movie,” he said.
Allegations rejected
People close to Aravind rejected the allegations, claiming that the producers of his movies would have never complained had the movies turned box-office hits. Citing the clash of dates of lead actors for the delayed schedule of One By Two , they argued that the actual number of shooting days had not crossed the usual 50 to 55.
Mr. Renjith, however, said the lead actor had to wait for the director twice without taking up another work. The shooting had to be shifted from Palakkad to Bengaluru and back to Palakkad again after it was found that the director had left out certain portions.
Those supporting Aravind confirmed that the work on the Manju Warrier movie was on track. Produced by ad filmmaker V.A. Shrikumar, the untitled movie has been penned by Shankar Ramakrishnan.
(Reporting by
S.R. Praveen and
G. Krishnakumar)
Mollywood has produced no big hit so far this year
