Thoughts on a book on India’s film society movements, with a guest appearance by Jawaharlal Nehru.
When was the first official film society movement started in India? Where? And why? If the answers intrigue you – 1940; Bombay; to expose budding Indian documentary filmmakers to the best documentaries in the world, so they could make effective war-effort films for the Raj – you’re the target audience for VK Cherian’s meticulously recounted India’s Film Society Movement: The Journey and Its Impact.
The (rather unlikely) subject may suggest the literary equivalent of one of those donnish documentaries on textiles or tribals we were forced to sit though before the movie got going, but the chapters offer stirring flashbacks worthy of the best fictional films. For instance, the formation of the Calcutta Film Society on October 5, 1947. Its members included Satyajit Ray and Chidananda Das Gupta. Imagine that room, that day – the cinephile’s equivalent of drawing up the Constitution. It’s not just the birth of a society. It’s the birth of a sensibility. It’s why the book is dedicated to Pather Panchali.
At a time the latest releases are just a download away, let us wonder what it must have been like to know you want to see a different kind of cinema than what was playing at the theatre near you but did not know how to go about it. This is how a young man named Shyam Benegal tackled the problem. He had started a film club in Secunderabad, sometime in 1955/56. It was called The Cultural Group. Benegal writes, in his prefatory note, “Having heard of Pather Panchali, I wrote to Satyajit Ray to ask him if we could get his film to screen at our film society. He graciously sent an introductory letter to his producers, who in turn sent us a print quite unhesitatingly for a screening.” This wait, this anticipation, one might argue, transformed these films into religious experiences. We are, after all, talking about prayers being answered, the gods of cinema making themselves manifest at a humble doorstep. The formation of fervent cults was only a matter of time.
Soon, devotees were everywhere, organising screenings of films sourced from distributors and European embassies, and then discussing these films to death. Admission to these societies meant you had arrived, that you were the cinema world’s answer to the Literature student who’s not just read Ulysses but annotated each page. Cherian charts the growth of film societies in Delhi (an unconfirmed story has it that Rajiv Gandhi was denied entry), Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna, Agra and Madras. Speaking of the latter, the list of names of regulars at the screenings contains the usual suspects (K Balachander, Kamal Haasan, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, Balu Mahendra) and an utter surprise (SP Muthuraman). To the uninitiated, this is a little like discovering David Dhawan was a fan of Jean Renoir.
By the 1970s, societies had sprung up in nooks and corners, and PK Nair of the National Film Archive of India fumed, “This misguided proliferation brought all sorts of people to the movement. People who had never heard of Flaherty or Ozu, or could distinguish between Einstein and Eisenstein, emerged as the new breed of film organisers. Presumably, their only aim was to climb up the social bandwagon or getting invited to an Embassy cocktail party.” Or watching uncensored films. Before the arrival of the video cassette player, people were willing to put up with two hours of Bergman in order to catch a two-second shot of breasts.
The book is dotted with delightful cameos, from KA Abbas of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) to Satish Bahadur (“the guru of film appreciation in India”) to Marie Seton (the “chain-smoking, saree-draped” Britisher and lifelong Indophile) to Indira Gandhi, who, after a private screening of Garm Hava at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, helped the controversial film get a release.
Her father, too, drops in for a guest appearance. Here he is, holding forth on film: “It is melodrama that interests large numbers of people, whether in India, England or America or elsewhere. Public taste, to some extent, moulds what is presented to it. At the same time, what is presented should mould public taste.” In other words, cinema was very much part of the Prime Minister’s nation-building agenda. And did you know he defended Pather Panchali against criticism that it pandered to Western notions of India? “What is wrong about showcasing India’s poverty? Everyone knows that we are a poor country. The question is: are we Indians sensitive to our poverty or insensitive to it?”
As amazing as this quote is, surely it did not merit two mentions, first on page 15, then on page 35. This is, mercifully, not a book review, so we need not dwell on these repetitions, or wish that the book had been edited better, its contents organised with more of a narrative thrust. We can simply seek out the next titbit, like the author finding himself behind Adoor Gopalakrishnan in a queue at Trivandrum’s Sreekumar Cinema, before a screening of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
The book ends on a wistful note, observing how changing technologies and decreasing political patronage contributed to the decline of film societies. The question comes up often. Do other nations produce (and consume) more non-mainstream cinema because their governments fund these productions? Or was alternate cinema always just for a minority, which becomes even more of a minority in a nation of a billion? That is a subject for another book, one that looks forward. This one is really about the era Gopalakrishnan describes in his foreword. “At a time when the cinemas of Europe and the East were inaccessible to the cinephiles of our subcontinent, film societies provided us with the special privilege of watching, relishing, debating and writing about the very best of world cinema.”
An edited version of this piece can be found here. Copyright ©2016 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
brangan
November 26, 2016
I put up the video of La Strada there because that was one of the first “art films” I saw at the Chennai film society. Would be great if others could chip in with their “firsts.”
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Anu Warrier
November 26, 2016
My ‘first’ was Nirmalyam – and for the longest of times, I was terrified of the velichappadu.
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Kartheek
November 27, 2016
Though i have seen a good number of art films, the movie “yi yi” was the first time that a film that was unknown and inaccessible was introduced to me through a screening at a film society in coimbatore.
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sirishaditya
November 27, 2016
My first artfilm was, I think, 27 Down. The melancholy of those shots.
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Anand Narayanan
November 27, 2016
My first ‘art’ film was Persona. Are the film societies right now? Br, why don’t you form one? I will join.🙂
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'V'enkatesh
November 27, 2016
To the uninitiated, this is a little like discovering David Dhawan was a fan of Jean Renoir.
Does it affect you the same way when somebody tells you that Bharathiraaja is a fan of Steven Spielberg, or worse Kamaal R. Khan is a fan of Kamal Haasan? 🙂
My first was a Ray film, thanks to the good old DD. The most recent one is Abhay – the fearless. 🙂
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MANK
November 27, 2016
Brangan, schlock master Rajkumar Kohli was a fan of Francois Truffaut. hell he even adapted Widow wore black in to Nagin 🙂
My first ‘art film’ was Adoor gopalakrishnan’s Kodiyettam.i had a hard time keeping awake. 🙂
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Rohit Sathish Nair
November 27, 2016
Anantaram (that too only in parts) by Adoor, said to be one among his less popular, yet more experimental works. Don’t remember much of it, yet found it interesting
As ‘V’enkatesh said, Dhanyavaad DD!
To what extent does ‘Once Upon A Time In America’ qualify as arthouse cinema? After all, it’s Leone’s only non-Western, non-Bilbical/historical film, and it did not work at all when cut down to size by commercial requirements.
PS: Views on the ‘Silence’ trailer?
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Anand Govindarajan
November 27, 2016
BR – SP Muthuraman (SPM) should not very much be a surprise, because he was responsible for some new wave subjects even back then like Oru Oodhapoo Kansimittigiradhu, based on a story by Pushpa Thangathurai. The storyline of this movie was fairly out of the box that you would maybe associate with someone like K.B. I have seen several interviews where KH has mentioned SPM in very high esteem as someone who knows his craft. Although he essentially created commercial potboilers, he was quite adept at it and had tried a variety of subjects. Probably no contemporary “commercial” director will be able to get anywhere close to the breadth of subjects SPM handled. Also another noteworthy point is SPM apprenticed with both Puttana Kanagal and M. Krishnan Nair (incidentally Bharathiraja also apprenticed with both of them).
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SR
November 28, 2016
only after i read (~ 2/3 years ago) that one of Jack Nicholson’s favorite movies is ‘the music room’ (Satyajit Ray’s jalsagar) did i start registering him as an actor (prior to that his brand was vulgarity/aggression). my first ‘art film’ was chaplain’s ‘the tramp’ – my 8/9 year old self didn’t care for it and I remember having enjoyed Shashi Kapoor’s ‘Fakira’ instead. I am grateful for my mother taking me to see foreign films – no doubt the genesis of my abiding love for this genre. In this time of ‘Thanksgiving’, I’ll call her up and acknowledge this (all this thanks to your review query – merci, Mr. Rangan).
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Sifter
November 28, 2016
I have seen a good number of Art Films (courtesy our good old DD), but remember only two.
Elippathayam, from which the dialogue ‘Rajamme, Pashu’ stood out because we used to make fun of it and the fact that as kids, we couldn’t understand the purpose of rats being caught and drowned while the music thunders. The same movie is immensely different after all these years.
Mrigaya, which I remember was a story of a tribe and Mithun Chakraborty.
Wish DD restarts the tradition of showing art movies.
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Vivek
November 28, 2016
The first film I saw in a film society was Emir Kusturica’s Underground. It was screened by Collective Chaos in Bangalore. The venue was a tiny classroom and at one point I was worried the film would never end. Bangalore Film Society and Suchitra were already active by then but CC was the first that made difficult films more approachable.
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brangan
November 28, 2016
I am loving this list of ‘firsts’. Thanks everyone.
Anand Govindarajan: I know SPM has done films that are “different” when compared to his AVM masalas, but when they were still within the grammar of the Tamil cinema of the time. I wouldn’t call Oodhapoo new-wave, exactly. It’s very much a story-driven drama, which was popular in the 1970s, and the “newness” came from the situations in the script rather than any filmmaking style.
If you take KB, he does visual things apart from what’s in the script — there was nothing in SPM’s films. He was content to remain invisible. And this is very unlike someone who frequents festivals — the general festival-goer tries to incorporate at least some of that into his films. See what Kamal says in this interview here…
“We can use these ideas, at most, in a scene or two. Our films can’t take much more. ”
Even those one or two things are hard to find in SPM’s films. (Which is okay. If he just wanted to be invisible and tell a story, that’s his choice But it was a tad surprising, hence the mention.)
Another interview with Kamal about festivals:
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Madhu
November 28, 2016
Does ‘Aval Appadithan’ classify as an art film? Or was it just a movie that was radical at that time?
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Anand Govindarajan
November 28, 2016
Fair point BR. Perhaps the breadth of SPM’s subjects may have been influenced by his presence at film festivals. Wonder who (if any) are the regulars in contemporary Indian cinema that visit film festivals for education and professional development, and who are the surprising regulars like SPM 🙂
Incidentally, on Saturday DD screened “Sandhya Ragam” which you could call a “festival” film, and your article shows up the next day.
Film appreciation I think should happen at the school level, like they have us do book reviews at school, and teach us how to read and interpret the context in language classes. Presently film appreciation is “administered” through a handful of reviewers like you, when you write about some nuances, subtleties etc. It is something like the doctor doubling up as a cook (to help us).
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MANK
November 28, 2016
Rohit, Anantaram is perhaps Adoor’s best, i would say Anantaram and Elipathayam are his masterpieces, but Anantaram is my favorite. its one of the rare cases where he made a city based contemporary film dealing with issues of schizophrenia . Usually his films are period films dealing with issues like feudalism and communism. i saw it recently after a long time and was blown away by it. it is close to a perfect film that one can ever hope to see.
And reg. OUATIA, you could call it an art film, even though films that are made on such a scale are usually not referred to as such. And so was Once upon a time in the West. it is perhaps the biggest and most extravagant art film western ever made.
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Vikram s
November 28, 2016
BR, my first art film was ‘Ankur’….all I remember now is the menacing drumbeats and Sadhu Meher’s silences…
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Rohit Sathish Nair
November 28, 2016
MANK:
Watched it long back when I was 11 or 12, yet I am amazed to find out that I remember quite a lot about it. I do remember that his story was narrated through flashes of memory, and with his breakdown followed by a scene from his childhood where he counts the number of stairs to a pond as he goes down them.
Did you get to watch Pinneyum? I didn’t get to, but I do feel the idea behind it is an excellent one, and certainly a part of his oeuvre. Critics back home weren’t kind to him, supposedly, while on the other hand, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV showered praise on it. The reviews done by our folks though, seems to show some kind of cluelessness about his work. What do you feel about Kerala’s film criticism scene today, Chettaa?
Watched OUATIA just a few weeks back, and I had a similar experience as a viewer as I had for Kammatipaadam. The length tests you but never gets you disconnected from the narrative, and there’s always something round the corner that makes you sit up. That said, this is a wonderful one, especially as you try to find out what the actual ending is. It’s a fine exercise trying to compare both films and see what Rajeev Ravi does differently.
Watched the Silence trailer?
PS: Chettan naattil evideya?
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MANK
November 29, 2016
followed by a scene from his childhood where he counts the number of stairs to a pond as he goes down them.
Well that is the final scene and sort of encapsulates the essence of the film. first he count down in odd numbers, then he goes back and count down in even numbers. thats how the film unfolds.The same story told from 3 different perspectives. there has been lot of films – Roshomon being the main – where the same story unfolds from different angles, the difference here is that the first 2 versions belong to the protagonist himself and in third version , the filmmaker shows us what is the actual story. Adoor achieves this complex task exquisitely.
No i have not seen Pinneyum, i missed it. i dont think it played even for a week anywhere. As for malayalam film criticism, i dont take any of them seriously . these days everybody is driven by the agenda – political or otherwise – in criticizing movies. They criticise those who they can afford to and praise those that they are bound to.I had hoped that Profileration of channels and blogs would lead to the emergence of healthy criticism, i am afraid it only seems to have increased the noise level. And they is a definite dearth of film literacy. we really dont have anyone like Brangan to review malayalam films, a real pity
How do you explain something as terrible as pulimurugan being praised all around as some kind of milestone in malayalam film history when its worse than even an average masala movie. i am afraid that the allround praise and big box office of the film might turn out to be ruinous for the industry in the long run. it might take us back to the age of the superstar driven (tamil\ telugu) copycat films from which malayalam cinema had come out with great difficulty.
nattil koyikkoda, but my work keeps kicking me all over the map. monevideya?
Yes i have seen the Silence Trailer, i was not that overwhelmed. but one cannot get a sense of Scorsese film from the trailers. His movies are always better than the trailers. this one seems to be a cross between Last temptaion of Christ and Kundun, both movies i like even though they are not his best. Again i am a little suspect about these long gestating passion projects of the directors that they keep nurturing for 20 years or 30 years. it always turn out be Underwhelming . case in point Scorsese’s own Gangs of New york. hope this one turn out to be different
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Hari
November 29, 2016
Not just the ‘first’….this is the whole list of films i have seen and loved. ( In the beautiful MUBI list format)
Please have a look for whatever it is worth…
https://mubi.com/lists/my-favorite-films–22
Thanks
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P
November 29, 2016
I remember watching some Malayalam movie with my grand-dad about a guy who adopts an elephant. Don’t know if its considered art or not but it was interesting….
That and another movie with Nutan, again who’s name I misremember, but it had a Holi connection.
Weird that these two stick through my brain for so many years.
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Hari
November 30, 2016
“You are aware of objects. You have to be aware of your subjectivity. When you are looking at a sunset, you are so absorbed in the beauty of the sunset that you completely forget that there is a greater beauty which is making it possible for you to know the beauty of the sunset – it is your awareness.” – Buddhist Saying.
That awareness is what makes many films beautiful to someone and boring and sleepy to others….vice versa.
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Rahul
November 30, 2016
I used to watch a lot of artsy movies with my mother on Sunday afternoons on DD, but I don’t remember much about them. I did not have the self image of a cinephile, though cinema was a big part of life. Some of us used to pool money to rent VCRs to watch the latest mindless blockbusters, and this was usually an all nighter. Perhaps we could have called ourselves a film society, but we were not very discerning about what we saw , and cinema was such a basic part of life that it would have felt as absurd as calling us a food society, just because we had samosa and chai together after school.
Many years later I was watching Boogie Nights on TV alone in the wee hours of the morning- though initially I took it for soft porn , but gradually I realized I am watching something special and that how powerful an effect cinema can have on me. Another major milestone was when i saw and was blown away by Victor Erice’s Spirit of the Beehive. It was then that I started reading about movies and interacting on blogs etc.
La Strada reminds me of a period of about 3 weeks when I was totally immersed in Italian neorealist cinema. As part of a retrospective I was watching a movie or two every other day, in theater. I watched La Dolce Vita and 8 and 1/2 twice. Probably those days are the reason that I am partial to Fellini over any other filmmaker.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
November 30, 2016
Njaan Ernakulathinna, right now Btech Manipalil.
‘we really dont have anyone like Brangan to review malayalam films, a real pity’
I really feel bad when we nag him to watch Malayalam films.
‘as terrible as pulimurugan’,’worse than even an average masala movie’
So it is BAD! People were like: “Great fight scenes, great visuals, best mass movie in a long time, randaam Narasimham”. Was actually waiting to check it out for myself once I got back home, especially since Oppam was pretty engaging for a while. Aa nooru keeshayil irikkattae alle!
How did Narasimham get to be this big a hit? Remove ‘po mone dinesha’ and you get something so derivative even by masala movie standards.
So in your words, a big regression in an otherwise great year for us, as we broke the romance-comedy-sappy drama tedium, or our best year since 2013.
What’s even more insufferable is how Lal fans have flooded troll pages in their attempts to belittle Mammootty, as if bringing the first double 50 CR+100 CR actor makes you the GREATEST of GREATS in the industry.
Even if the criticism scene had good talent in store, it woud have been dwarfed by troll groups, which make a damn bloody din for their super-fickle interests
Even I wasn’t all that overwhelmed by the trailer, but it seemed to have some kind of invisible intensity.
Have only caught glimpses of Gangs of New York, and got to know that it has a somewhat ordinary, disappointing story, but I liked the parts I got to see, like how the first battle in the 18th century was shot with a lower frame rate to contemporary music and also how the assasination attempt on Day Lewis is shown with fast intercutting
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MANK
November 30, 2016
Rohit,Great fight scenes and great visuals are all there , but only at the beginning and the end. the entire middle section is a bore fest, And the great fight scenes are to be seen to believed . the climax of the film is way beyond your worst nightmares. Lalettan becomes Tarzan, superman and Batman all in one, flying , jumping and fighting -i dont know- about 1000 guys of different nationalities and a tiger with an assortment of weapons that include Boomerang, malapuram kathi etc etc.phew, its not masala filmmaking, its kitchen sink filmmaking inspired from the likes of Rohit shetty, throw everything including the kitchen sink at the audience and pulverize them in to submission.The good thing is that CGI and fight scenes involving the tiger are very well done.
Ill take the unpretentious unabashed B grade masala of Narasimham to this any day.At least Shaji Kailas and Renjith has some idea of what a masala film is, they got the mythical narrative structure of that film right, they simply went overboard on giving the divine aura to mohanlal’s character and make him look like Rajnikanth. some of the scenes from the film are unintentionally funny while watching today. the last solid masala movie of mohanlal was Naran in 2005 , since then all his masala outings have been disasters.And i liked Oppam , it was good film – eventhough inspired a lot from drishyam- with priyadarshan getting back in form after a long long time.
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MANK
November 30, 2016
Gangs of New York is a pretty solid film on its own, just not a great Scorsese film. the first hour , hour and half was terrific and sets up the film nicely. i was dissapointed with final hour or so, the pay off was just not good as the set up. but its worth watching for the magnificent performance of Daniel Day Lewis alone. my god, he lives the character of Bill the butcher
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Rohit Sathish Nair
December 1, 2016
‘they got the mythical narrative structure of that film right, they simply went overboard on giving the divine aura to mohanlal’s character and make him look like Rajnikanth. some of the scenes from the film are unintentionally funny while watching today.’
You talikng about Narasimham? For me, it seemed like a hodge-podge of subplots from the better Mohanlal films : Devasuram, a Kireedam what-if, may…be Aaram Thampuran.
Naran I never really found to be ‘solid’; take away a very good character arc of a godfather leading his godson back to the right path,or about how you get so wound up in things that you lose sight of what you went in for, you have characters way too ordinary even to be archetypes, especially Siddique the villain whose moves I could predict back at the age of 9.
True, Vaisakh is the kitchen sink guy, the torch-bearer of the trend ( or counter-trend) of Telugu/Tamil-ish Malayalam films, and I didn’t really mind Pokkiri Raja (I found it fun watching Mammootty, a pretty underrated comic actor, stooping so low and actually pulling off what Mohanlal seems to struggle to do in his mindless comedies of today) and Seniors (Biju Menon, his son, perhaps Manoj K Jayan, Suraj, and Maharajas- a showstopper in its own way even if you have only heard of it initially). MalluSingh and Sound Thoma have been insufferable, as far as I’ve heard his last two too, so now, we should be wary of him.
I was going though FB when I see this post:”Mannathe Maarikkurumbe- best song (total audiovisual) of 2016 and one of the best ever in Malayalam cinema”. My instant reaction: “How DARE you say that, especially when we had IDUKKI this year?”. I watch the music video today and the result: a super-exasperated facepalm
Oppam was actually an interesting watch for me. I was very sceptical about the film and its hype, and get in 10 minutes late, missing the Chinnamma song. By interval, I found myself looking forward to the rest of it with a good degree of eagerness. Yes, it was inspired by Drishyam and Memories (he had to turn inwards after all that inspiration from other industries), but for the first time in a while, a lot of it seemed to be one-of-a-piece. Priyadarshan seemed to have regained his old-school skills and more importantly, conviction as a storyteller which he had missed in his recent caperish outings. That inexplicable touch which made his scenes come alive even with pretty static staging, was back. He had regained his instincts in a film that didn’t them in the first place. Save for a few instances(‘Punjabile paerukaetta tharavattukaaranaalo!-I giggled at this, and Vimala Raman), I totally bought into the first half, including Jayaraman’s music and kalaripayattu prowess and his other heightened senses. Take for instance the ‘Minnaminunge’ song. When was the last time you were LED to a song through dialogue, and with the sung an extension of what was spoken till then?
Come the second half, and he tries too many things-balance this very Indian story thread with the cold and calculated white-knuckle procedural, and also pay homage to old Priyadarshan (that Mamukkoya routine) and Mohanlal films (that lockup fight scene). The individual thrills work big time, yet they never really catch fire, or catch us by our throat, and thus we get a somewhat underwhelming ending. Yes, you already have a Nandini in Ooty with a judge for a father, yet he had to scrounge for more!
I liked Mohanlal’s performance, for me his most invisible performance in a long time (even the Drishyam perfromance had an element of self-awareness), where for the most part, he could be the subtle, natural fellow we always liked him for.
PS
Sorry Rangan sir and other commenters for this should-have-been-private conversation about masala/mainstream cinema at this altar of art cinema.
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brangan
December 1, 2016
P: Are you talking about ‘White Elephant’ (see this link)?
And the Holi film, maybe it’s not Nutan but Waheeda? Phagun…
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MANK
December 1, 2016
Brangan. i think Punee is talking about sammanam starring Manju warrier and Manoj K. Jayan. that came out in 1997
http://movies.bizhat.com/review_sammanam.php
That was not an art film 🙂
Yes the Holi film seems to be Phagun, i remember watching it on DD as a kid with my family. that last scene set on a holi day – with Dharmendra returning as an old man and draping saree over waheeda and pouring color water – is something that stands out in my memory. remember everybody around me was crying their heart out 🙂
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MANK
December 1, 2016
Rohit, yes i was talking about Aaram Thampuran :). Narasimham was a terrible and a terribly crude film. the success of that film did more to damage mohanlal and malayalam cinema than any other film.And reg. Naran, well it has its share of stereotypes, but hey what’s a masala film without stereotypes.
Brangan , it was amusing to read about Kutty srank in that link you provided.its a difficult film to access . its much too abstract – both the character and the film – . mammootty was really good in the film. i wonder what you meant there by overhaul of production values. i think it was the costliest film made by Shaji N. Karun and backed by reliance. the photography, prod. design etc looked pretty good to me
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ranganathankaushik7984
December 9, 2016
I still feel its unfair to compare SPMuthuraman with David Dhawan. SPM intially made some remarkably good movies(maybe not upto the standards of KB, barathiraja or mahendram). But still he needs to be lauded for movies like Oothapoo kann simittugirathu, 6 to 60 Varai, engeyo ketta kural, buvana oru kelvikkuri, kudumbam oru kadambam. Evwn aadu puli aatram was very differwnt from his 80’s movies. Sri Ragavendra, pudu kavithai and oru manithanin kadhai also needs mention. I dont think David Dhawan has covered all these genres.
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Raghu
December 11, 2016
MANK, how would you really compare Oppam with Drishyam ? Although inspiration exists, i thought in some aspects Oppam might have matched (or perhaps even surpassed Drishyam), as in raising the intensity and suspense at some points ( priyan’s old directorial skills slightly coming back). And although Oppam is more cinematic (and more commercialised) and Drisyam would clearly be an overall greater movie, Oppam held its own, i thought. What’s your take on them both, would like to know, if you get to see this comment ?
And regarding Pulimurugan’s humongous success, with figures claiming to touch 125 and even 150 crores, previously considered unthinkable for a Malayalam movie ever, more than anything just shows the tremendous love for the actor Mohanlal among all malayalees, the same phenomenon that we see for Rajini in tamil (though Rajini has now become more pan indian).
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MANK
December 11, 2016
What’s your take on them both, would like to know, if you get to see this comment ?
Raghu, oppam is definitely a more cinematic and well made movie. thats one grouse i had against drishyam, it was completely depended on the script and actors. there was not a single memorable shot or frame that was inventive or standout in the whole film, much of the time it resembled a TV serial.Jithu’s recent film Oozham is an improvement on that score (or rather its reverse), script is weak, but its visually inventive.Oppam has Priyan at his vintage best as far as technique is concerned, the framing, lighting , sound design etc are all top notch and adds to the thrill of the movie. the script does have a lot of loopholes and its not as tight as Drishyam, but the pacing of the movie is just right and helps it to overcome those problems.
On another note, i would say the subtext of Drishyam is much more stronger,the moral questions that the protagonists grapple with are very well handled. even though it seem to be reaffirming the patriarchal fantasy of the omnipotence of man, being the ultimate provider and protector of family.but the context in which it plays out – the rural ambiance, the orthodox christian family, the true to life milieu of the characters – it does not come across as a paean for patriarchy. In oppam, there isn’t much of a subtext. its more or less designed as a roller coaster thrill ride
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Rohit Sathish Nair
December 11, 2016
I was reminded more of Memories while watching Oppam. Here too, a wrongly punished person is the villain who has no personal grudge against the hero, yet a dear one is at stake for the hero.
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Raghu
December 13, 2016
@MANK: Thanks for your wonderful analysis on Oppam and Drishyam. I too felt though drishyam may perhaps be an overall greater movie, oppam at many places, i felt was even better. It could be the crafty handling of the filmmaker, as you beautifully described.
Also happy that Priyan after a very long time has once again showed he can do any movie he aspires to. Like he can make a great movie if he wants to, a good thriller if he wants that, or he can set his bar extremely low and throw many crap movies as well, as he had been doing for more than the past one and half decade or so.
And oppam has given back him the box office might as well. It’s said to have broken many a records at box office ( that is, before the PuliMurugan tsunami stormed Kerala box office smashing out every single record in existence).
A man who has given many a unforgettable and all time classics in 80s and 90s, and can be considered among the best directors from Malayalam ever ( if you discount his post 2000 films except kaanchevaram), i really feel he should concentrate on serious films, as he himself has stated in late 90s itself that he has exhausted all his comedy stocks, and wouldn’t be attempting it again, but we all know what happened.
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MANK
December 13, 2016
Rohit, That’s true for lalettans grandmaster also no. His wife or ex wife is in danger from the vengeance of another wronged man. What I would say is that if drishyam wasn’t made and wasn’t such a success, then priyadarshan wouldn’t have had the courage to go ahead with oppam
Raghu, thanks. One thing more I would like to say about priyadarshan is that it was through his movies that I started paying attention to the technical values and credits. It was in thenmavin kombathu or kalapani that I first noticed the credit of director of audiography – Deepan chatterjee- also the different photographers- S kumar,Jeeva, Ssivan,-I was amazed by the sound design and photography of his films which was very different from other movies coming out in Malayalam. After that I got into Mani rathnam and ramgopal varma, who were doing it on a much higher level than him. Then after I was exposed to foreign cinema ,I realized that what these 3 or 4 people were trying to do individually in our country is common place in their movies . So his movies was a window to experience that kind of formalism and technical brilliance in story telling that was more exclusive to Western cinema.
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MANK
December 13, 2016
And the success of pulimurugan is actually a lot of spin. The film has an investment close to 40 CRs the producer himself has said he would hardly make a profit of around 7 or 8 crores . Both Drishyam and premam which cost less than 5 cr and grossed in excess of 60 cr are three or four times more times profitable than pulimurugan.may be the film’s success will benefit mohanlal in other ways like expanding his market into other states.
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Raghu
December 21, 2016
MANK, reg. Pulimurugan’s box office what you suggest seems to be right in terms of high production cost viz a viz some previous blockbusters, but still i think the profits for the producer should be more than this 7 or 8 crores definitely.
Since they have released the official collection reports to have crossed 150 crores already (and the film is still running in packed houses across kerala), which is already well more than double the previous highest grossing film (which was Drishyam with a world wide gross of nearly 66 crores). So my guess is that even after the taxes, distributor share and all, the producer might still make some huge returns (and that too just to add, in this time of money crunch due to demonetization and such stuffs). 🙂
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