It is not very often that three Malayalam films of a hero compete with each other at the same time.
Nivin Pauly is in that enviable situation at the moment: Ivide and Premam hit the theatres this week, even as Oru Vadakkan Selfie , the biggest hit of the year so far, continues to attract viewers.
“I cannot recall any other star with as many films at the same time,” says A.P. Hubail, manager, Film City, Kozhikode.
“Nivin has emerged as an actor who could pull in the audiences with his presence in the film.”
The young engineer-turned-actor has the statistics to prove it, too. His golden run dates back to 1983 , one of the surprise hits last year; he followed it up with films like Om Shanthi Oshana , Bangalore Days , Vikramadithyan and Mili .
Nivin seems to have got the knack to choose the right film.
The actor is not in a hurry to sign up all the films that come his way.
And it is not difficult to see why he is being liked by the audience.
He is as affable as the boy next door; he hardly ever bores you.
With films like Bangalore Days he has proved he could handle comedy with subtlety. And that is not an easy thing to do now.
Films that rode on the blind support of fans of actors who starred in it are far too many to recount. But now, it seems the situation has taken a u-turn.
It seems even the sincerest of fans do not hesitate to call a spade a spade and are turning their back on sorry films even if their idol is in the lead.
The sight of fans flocking to theatres on first the day of release to catch their super star in action, knowing fully well that it was a dud, is soon becoming a thing of the past. Yes, quite a few of them may still bother to put up flex boards, but that doesn’t stop them from giving the thumbs down.
“In fact, there had been occasions when the very same fans brought down the flex boards they had erected after being disappointed with the movie. Forget about the past practice of clapping and whistling even when they were treated to a trash movie, they are now the first to reject it,” said Sasi Ayyanchira, producer and managing director of the proposed television channel initiated by the Kerala Film Producers Association.
He recollected how during heydays of unquestioning fans representatives of superstars’ fans associations rang up producers with demands to first screen their movies in certain theatres anticipating a huge turnout of die-hard fans. “Fans no longer waste their time and energy for the success of lousy films out of love for stars,” Mr. Sasi said.
P.V. Basheer Ahamed, president of the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation, pointed at the abysmal performance of recent movies of leading actors in Malayalam. “Stars of even great stature can no longer bet on fans to prop up a dud of a movie. Star value is out of the window and new stars are a movie’s story, screenplay and its treatment,” he said.
Actors Mammootty, Mohanlal, Dileep, and Prithviraj are among the lead artistes having active fans associations in Mollywood. Kollywood actors like Vijay, Surya, and Vikram match them for fan following.
Telugu actor Allu Arjun is another actor with a sizable fan base here.
(Reporting by
P.K. Ajith Kumar and
G. Krishnakumar)
