Campus days are here again in Mollywood! College life in Kerala, liberally laced on screen with its mainstays – friendship, fun, romance, politics, ideology and a bit of intellectualism too – is the genre of the season on celluloid.
If blockbuster Premam , set the scene for modern college life in 2015, Aanandam , a happy-go-lucky tale of a bunch of engineering students, released late last year, set the ball rolling for the genre. In between, Adi Kapyare Koottamani , which unfolded in a hostel, struck a chord with young audiences. The last campus film in theatres was Ore Mukham , an old school murder mystery a la Classmates . Intense college political drama Oru Mexican Aparatha is all set to hit screens this week and breezy rom-com, Poomaram , has already started making waves at the BO – even before the second schedule’s been completed! And these are just the ones we know of; many more in the genre are, reportedly, in the making.
A still from Anandam
Ganesh Raj, writer and director of Aanandam , says that the renewed interest in the genre may be because Malayalam cinema is getting younger and younger. “The average age of the cast and crew of Aanandam , for example, was 23; I was among the oldest on set at 26! Young directors, writers, technicians and artistes are exploring and positively influencing cinema with fresh ideas and perspectives and that reflects on screen,” explains the director.
A stillf rom Ore Mukham
Aju Varghese, who starred in Adi Kapyare... and Ore Mukham , on the other hand, attributes it to the changing tastes of the audience. “Last year it was horror. Before that it was sports films. Thattathin Marayathu brought back pure romance to screens... The audience is always in search of something new, something different and at the moment it’s campus life that’s clicking with them,” he explains.
Poomaram ’s director Abrid Shine agrees but draws the line at calling it a trend. Instead, he chooses to call it a “happy coincidence” of like-minded people thinking alike.
“Just because a certain film becomes a hit is not the reason why you often see similar films in the genre, in quick succession. It’s actually the other way around. The subject or something related to it – in this instance, the vibrancy that is campus life in Kerala, perhaps – that might have captured the interest of each filmmaker, which led them to announce independent projects. We’ve seen it before with last year’s set of volleyball films. This year a number of football-themed films are on the anvil,” explains Abrid, adding that he chose to do a campus film not because he set out to make one but because he “fell in love with the subject” of Poomaram .
A still from Poomaram
Similarly, for most filmmakers and actors it is nostalgia for those carefree, heady college days that led them to the films. In turn, it’s the same connection to the past, they say, that gets people into theatres.
“There has always been an audience for nostalgia. From the perspective of filmmakers, it’s a universal theme that cuts across age and social barriers,” says Ganesh. Aanandam , he says, was inspired by his own life as an engineering student. “I wanted it to be an aspirational film; a fantasy of what it’s like to be in an engineering college. In fact, after watching the film, many people told me that they missed their college days and others told me that they wished that they had studied in an engineering college,” he explains.
Aju also says he chose to do the two films because he wanted to relive his college days.
“I didn’t study in Kerala but in my college in Chennai at least 90 of my batch-mates and seniors were Malayalis and it was like a mini Kerala on campus and in the hostel. Also, my co-stars in the films, Dhyan Sreenivasan and Neeraj Madhav, are friends in real life, so I knew that we would not be acting but simply recreating the camaraderie,” says Aju.
Kalidas Jayaram, star of Poomaram chips in: “I also didn’t go to college in Kerala but believe me I wish I had! It appears to be so much fun. Students here take politics very seriously and it’s remarkable how many of them have their political ideology figured out at that young an age.”
For Tom Emmatty, writer and director of Oru Mexican Aparatha , meanwhile, it is campus politics that’s close to his heart and what he chose to make his film about.
“The film is a garland of real-life incidents, from the politically-charged atmosphere of college campuses in the state, strung together. It’s not based on one true story but it has snippets of truth from my life as a student representative and those of my friends and acquaintances. The film will reflect the reality of campus politics in Kerala in its entirety,” he explains.
That said, according to filmmakers, it’s not easy to capture vignettes of campus life on screen.
“The new trend on screen is to make it as realistic as possible. For that you need to journey with the students looking at the world through their eyes and thoughts. That’s why a lot of the supporting cast in Poomaram is made up of college students,” says Abrid. Tom too has roped in college students in his film.
“The premise of the film demanded that the lead actors work together with the students to recreate the atmosphere and that’s exactly what Tovino Thomas and Co. did,” he explains.
Campus life on screen
70s & 80s: Picnic, Ulkadal, Sarvakalashala, Chamaram, Shalini Ente Kootukari, Yuvajanoltsavam, Cheppu
90s: Mazhayathum Munpe, Kamaladalam, Pranayavarnangal, Niram
2000s: Classmates, Nammal, Chocolate, Puthiya Mugham, Five Fingers
2010s: Dr. Love, Seniors, Premam, Adi Kapyare Kootamani, Aanandam, Ore Mukham
Up for release:Oru Mexican Aparatha, Poomaram
Malayali actors who missed out on campus life in Kerala
Prithviraj, Dulquer Salman, Indrajith, Neeraj Madhav, Kalidas Jayaram, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aju Varghese, Tovino Thomas, Rima Kallingal, Mamta Mohandas, Anumol, Ahaana Krishna, Nithya Menen...
