Posted on March 26, 2019
In which I answer a few questions on an older film… or a new one.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Aman
March 26, 2019
Satellite television is one of the biggest reason for Mohanlal and Mammootty’s longevity. These 20 somethings who appears to have mad fandom haven’t seen them in the classics of the 80s and early 90s when they came out, but at any given day these films are playing on tv. So when they were doing outlandishly terrible movies in the late nineties and 00s these kids were watching the reruns of their best roles like a showreel. That sustained their stardom even in the era of softcore films era when people stopped watching films at the theater and they got away with doing all those terrible films. And once malayalam cinema was back up and running in the 2010s they had these 90s kids as ready made fans all grown up and ready to visit the theaters and they could do do the all the starry things despite costing along for a decade or more in the middle. Of course his older fans also started coming back to theater with the general health of malayalam cinema improving and they keep visiting the screen in hope of seeing old mohanlal back which the film makers exploit and overdo even in films that don’t feature him. Even terrible films like Peruchazhi, Neerali etc are trying to get away with this-film-is-bascially-old-mohanlal-references-for-millennials. Inertia of older malayalis refusing to move on can be seen in the way they are disappointed by the new age films and they would rather go back to seeing regressive middle class value films with comedy that are still playing on tv. Of course young film makers making films with the Big Ms might change the perception, but whenever they tried it hasn’t particularly worked because they were trying to make larger-than-life films in a new bottle( read Sagar Alias Jacky, Gangster etc). Curious to see how they do with a Pothan or Menon or Pushkaran though. As for starry roles may be Prithvi’s Lucifer might set a new template.
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MANK
March 26, 2019
I didn’t like him in thanmathra. I didn’t feel he nailed that character at all
And company, he carried himself well, but he has trouble speaking in an alien language. His body language and dialogue delivery was totally out of sync
Some more reasons for longevity
Both Mammootty and Mohanlal were able to fully establish themselves before the cable and internet revolution of late 90s and early 00s
Lack of competition. No star actor who came after them could match up to them talentwise. More importantly, they didn’t get the opportunities that these two got.
By late 90 , TV took away the movie audience and crisis gripped Malayalam cinema and number of productions fell. So New actors stopped getting chances and even second rung actors who were slowly coming up were reduced to playing supporting characters in Films starring the 2 Superstars
Then of course the Fan clubs.
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MANK
March 26, 2019
And not just satellite TV viewing, but also the money from TV rights. A Mohanlal film gets the highest rates from TV channels. That sustained through the dark phase. He had flop after flop between Drishyam and pulimurugan.
And apart from his passion for acting. He also has a passion for action. He does most of his stunts himself and that’s the reason why he picks movies like pulimurugan and odiyan
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MANK
March 26, 2019
. As for starry roles may be Prithvi’s Lucifer might set a new template.
I certainly hope so. The new gen films are fine. But The biggest problem I see in Malayalam cinema today is that there aren’t directors like Joshi, IV sasi or Priyadarshan anymore who can make a decent commercial entertainer with these 2 big stars. I hope Prithvi gets it right.
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Sreehari
March 26, 2019
I just don’t get it MANK. So films like Thondimuthalum, Maheshinte and Kumbalangi are expanding the frontiers of what we term “Mainstream Cinema” and these films are also making good money. Now why exactly would you want that old mediocrity to come back? Come back and do what exactly? I would have understood if the films I mentioned weren’t speaking to a wide audience, but they are. And these films are also saying something about the times we are living in. So what exactly is your beef here? I have a pretty decent understanding of Priyadarshan — and I don’t think he has made anything in his entire career that measures up to Maheshinte.
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MANK
March 27, 2019
Sreehari, I am talking about Films like aavanazhi, New Delhi, chitram, iyer the great, sphadikam etc etc,…. Which exploited the superstars’ stardom and talent in equal measure. They provide a unique experience and pleasure that none of these new gen films provide, at least for me they don’t. They are great Films in their own right and that’s the sort of Films that I miss the most today. Given a choice between maheshinte and say New Delhi, I prefer to watch the latter. maybe It’s more a personal thing . I’m quite a sucker for star personas and nothing turns me on than a great star performance in well made star vehicles.
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Anu Warrier
March 28, 2019
@MANK – in Company, he was supposed to be a Malayali, no? A man who’s transferred to Bombay. His Malayali-accented Hindi was perfectly in sync with his character. No?
And Priyan and Joshi? Man! Priyan is single-handedly responsible for some of Mohanlal’s worst excrescences and Joshi seemed to have only one demand of his script – every single one of the leads (and some of the side characters) has to die. Somehow. Doesn’t matter if he has to personally push them over the ledge!
Of the three you name, Sasi was the only one who, in my opinion, had his finger firmly on the big ‘masala’ pulse. Strong scripts, great actors – including the character artistes, and a well-delineated character arc for all of them. And he was way ahead of his time with his themes as well. (Even Avalude Raavukal didn’t deserve the bad rap it got outside the state.)
He cast superstars to type (think of Jayan in Angadi) and against (Mammootty in Aalkootathil Thaniye. And his collaborations with MT, T Damodaran and Padmarajan were brilliant.
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amith
March 29, 2019
@Sreehari Yes, the films you mentioned blur the lines but do we really wanna live in a world where those are the only class of films made? Personally, I might include Thondimuthalum in my top
5 favourite films ever, but let’s not be delusional. There is a large group of people who absolutely detested it and some who weren’t a fan of Kumbalangi Nights. Sure it’s possible that at least some of their tastes in cinema might be questionable. Yet it’s not that these aren’t sensible people. Some might even be fans of a different style of cinema as it is common with any other creative art. For the genre, and especially the style they were aspiring for , I feel both the Naadir Shah films (despite the terrible climax of AAA) and Aadu [1] were legitimate cinema. Jeethu Joseph’s Drishyam and Roshan/ Bobby-Sanjays Mumbai Police are also examples of good plot driven films. The latter was also phenomenally well-made. Like MANK said, we need more of these and less of Kasaba/Villain.
@Anu Warrier. Totally agree about IV Sasi esp. Avalude Ravukal. Reputation of the old Priyadarshan – Mohanlal films has always surprised me. I, for one, absolutely love those and never understood why everyone consider something like Mazha Peyunnu Maddhalam Kottunnu / Aram+Aram Kinnaram as low brow and yet hail National Lampoon/Airplane as a classic and Oscar Wilde a genius. Plagiarism is the only reason I could think of.
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TambiDude
March 29, 2019
Anu is right. Mohanlal was excellent in Company mainly because his accent suited the character. The way he tells “hamara kerala mein ek kahawat hai, cheh mahine milne ka baad yeh woh ho jaata hain aur woh yeh ho jata hai” was a joy to watch.
Sigh, What happened to that RGV !!! (sad)
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vinjk
March 29, 2019
@Sreehari I love all the new gen movies you mention and I agree with you to a certain extend. But to say “he[Priyadarshan] has made anything in his entire career that measures up to Maheshinte” is a bit strange.
The comparison itself is strange because the movies he made were of a totally different type. A movie does not have to be meandering, slice-of-life type cinema to be considered great. Priyadarshan’s movies were immensely entertaining and creative. The situations he created in his films are not realistic (duh!) but they were imaginative and damn funny! And he had a signature style.
He certainly has a place in the pantheons of great directors in Indian and Malayalam cinema.
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Anu Warrier
March 30, 2019
@ vinjk, when I was raging against the mess Priyan had made of a particularly good Malayalam film (my feeble brain forgets which one, now) my brother quipped: ‘Priyadarshan hasn’t made a single original movie in Malayalam; what makes you think he’s going to make one in HIndi?’
Many of his films were straightforward remakes of films from other languages, and some of them were ripoffs from foreign films. I still maintain that he was totally responsible for typecasting Mohanlal into those valippu misogynistic comedies, which nevertheless became hits purely because of Lal.
@amith – I don’t consider National Lampoon or Airplane classics either.
But man, Oscar Wilde in the same breath? You don’t see the difference?
To be clear, I have nothing against screwball comedies; some of the best ones are those. But there’s a difference between some of the tripe that Priyan served up, and intelligently made comedies – sparkling wit and actors feeding off each other rather than the slapstick that tickled Priyan’s funny bones.
And I say this as someone who really liked Poochakkoru Mookuthi despite knowing the source material (which was better, by leaps and bounds). To be honest, that had more to do with Sukumari and Nedumudi Venu than Priyan’s directorial skills. Not to mention Lal at his natural best.
And just think of how he murdered Faraar – I mean, who the heck would think of casting Shankar in Amitabh Bachchan’s role? And even otherwise, he took what was a taut suspense thriller and made it into a khichdi.
Or that beautiful little film, Katha which he ‘adapted’ (scene by scene copy, if you please) without so much as a by your leave. He didn’t even credit the Marathi play that was the source material for Katha either.
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Sreehari
March 30, 2019
Mukundetta isn’t a scene-by-scene copy. I don’t know how anyone, who has seen those two films, can actually make such a statement. And if I were to do just a performance-by-performance comparison, Mukundetta has, and continues to feel like a more ‘even’ film than Katha. The casting-against-type in Katha just didn’t work for me. Even if you were overlook the quality of the leads’ performance (except for Naval’s, maybe..which to me was the best turn in Katha), you can watch Mukundetta for the performances of those supporting actors alone — that aspect of the ‘community’ just isn’t there in Paranjpye’s original film.
I think Priyan’s films, in general, and, specifically, his use of slapstick, were hugely dependent on whether he was letting his actors use their bodies, or, whether they were all those camera-induced effects of men pushing each other out of the frame in Fibonacci fashion.
The key thing, however, is, Priyan never had any depth, or never had anything original to say about human nature or anything like that. I think he had good visual sense, and he used actors really well.
But such directors, who don’t quite have a ‘mind’ of their own, will always have a tough time as they age — because filmmaking is a young person’s medium at the end of the day. And Filmmakers who don’t have that ‘wisdom’ about them will always not age well.
I was watching Adoor’s Pinneyum recently — which features a terrible central performance by Dileep, and some shockingly amateurish filmmaking. But that movie has a lot of ‘wisdom’ in it. When you watch the film, you know it’s coming from a man who has thought about Life and Human Nature in some depth.
By that marker, Priyan had to taper off. On the other hand, I am very sure, Dileesh Pothan will always give you something interesting.
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vinjk
March 30, 2019
Abt Priyadarshan being a copycat… I too have this problem with this aspect of his works. But off-late I have feel it’s not a crime exactly…I feel he has really adapted those films to the suit malayali sensibilities and culture.
Arguments like films should impart wisdom and only then it’s “quality” cinema is just BS. To me, Priyadarshan films (80s and early 90s) are the equivalent of PG Wodehouse novels. I don’t see anyone say Wodehouse novels lack class or quality. Not all novels have to be like a Orhan Pamuk novel. Same goes for movies.
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amith
March 30, 2019
“Oscar Wilde in the same breath”
Yeah pretty sure I’m gonna regret this at some point. I mean I remember ‘reading’ Earnest and thinking “this is Priyadarshan, only better.” For Oscar Wilde, the mixups and humor were probably only devices to paint the bigger picture. The subtexts and sociopolitical commentary would have lost on me back then. Still, I realize it’s unlikely Mr. Wilde would have directed the torture scene inside the “Dakshayani Van” during the climax of Midhunam
Off Topic alertI find myself defending ( at times rather unreasonably) the older Priyan and Sreeni films since Shyam Pushkaran’s comments about them. It’s not that I didn’t agree with those observations. What I found frustrating was that he glossed over films made by/involving his associates, friends and mentors. I mean what was Rajeev Ravi thinking when he directed Annayum Rasoolum. I remember feeling a bit puzzled by all the stalking&harassment despite being younger and not very socially conscious at the time. Then there is Varathan, CIA, etc -all with problematic stretches.
Off Topic ends
I haven’t watched the original and was never a fan of “Mukundetta”. I don’t think it was very successful at the time of release. Make no mistake, Priyan has made some absolute trash like “Raakuyilin Ragasadassil”even in those days. Come to think of it, I haven’t watched the originals of a lot of his older films. Still FWIW I loved “Odaruthammava”, “Mazha Peyunnu” , “Poochakkoru” and “Aram+Aram” precisely because they were extremely self aware, stayed true to its intentionally silly tone throughout and had no pretensions which clouded some of his later works and resulted in disasters like Minnaram and Kilukkam (The humor still works for me). From the interviews of Jomon T John and a few other technicians, I gather Priyan played a large role in bringing technical finesse to mainstream Malayalam cinema. Not a testimony to the stories he told but I guess that does make him kinda important.
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Anu Warrier
April 1, 2019
Arguments like films should impart wisdom and only then it’s “quality” cinema is just BS.
@vinjk – no arguments about that. I doubt any real film lover would claim that only ‘serious’ films merit greatness.
But a bit like my quibble with amith about Priyadarshan being compared to Wilde, I would like to disagree about your comparison with Wodehouse. Again, like Wilde, Wodehouse’s plots were farcical, but his wit was intelligent. The same cannot be said about Priyan.
@amith – 🙂 Oscar Wilde’s plots may be farcical but his wit was impeccable. And it’s that interplay between characters that make his commentary on socio-political mores so enthralling.
@Sreehari – I sit corrected. I watched Mukundetta… when it first released. I faintly remember thinking – at the time – that it was a mostly a scene-by-scene copy of Katha. I haven’t revisited it to correct my impression.
Re: the casting, though – even though it surprised me, I bought it. I thought Farooque nailed the slightly flashy character very well indeed.
A serious query – if Farooque and Naseer being cast against type was an issue, doesn’t that argue for why film-makers play safe by stereotyping actors? So then, Farooque would have continued to be the paavam guy he played in every other film.
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vinjk
April 2, 2019
“Wodehouse’s plots…., but his wit was intelligent.”
Not sure I’d call his wit intelligent. May be it is. All I know is I find myself laughing out loud, even in public places, while reading his novels and short stories.
At least that’s how I react to Priyadarshan’s early movies as well.
Wodehouse writes humour so beautifully! In movies you have to bring it to life visually with some assistance from dialogues. I’d give the benefit of doubt to Priyadarshan as he doesn’t have the luxury to give elaborate setup/description to his humour.
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Nithin
July 20, 2020
To cut it short, Priyadarsan was indeed a great director during late 80s and early 90s. Dileesh Pothan (or other newgens) has nowhere near reached the level of influence or status today that Priyan enjoyed during those times.
List of his greatest films :
1. Adwaitam (1991)
2. Chitram (1987)
3. Kalapani (1996)
4. Thenmavim kombath (1994)
5. Kilukkam(1991)
6. Thalavattom (1986)
I may have missed some other great movie here. Then there are many other good to very good films as well of him from that era.
From 00’s he seemed to have lost touch and made stupid films, but he proved he can still make great films like Kanchivaram if he really wants.
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