Sankat City- drives away the blues caused by Bhramaram

We keep using the phrase ‘as different as chalk & cheese’ in our daily life so often that sometimes it takes one by surprise when you actually experience it in a very interesting way. The weekend that went by was another filmy weekend for me, but one that was rather very special. Just like enjoying a biriyani and a pizza equally or freaking out on ghazals and rock music with the same zeal, I happened to watch 2 movies this weekend which were completely unlike each other. The movies concerned were Bhramaram and Sankat City ( SC from hereon ) and there was hardly anything in common between them. For starters Bhramaram is a Malayalam movie made by Blessy (his 5th film) and stars Superstar- Mohanlal. SC on the other hand is a Hindi movie made by Pankaj Advani ( his 1st official release ) and has no superstar in it but a very talented cast comprising of Kay Kay, Anupam Kher,Rimi Sen,Chunky Pandey, Rahul Dev,Yashpal Sharma,Dilip Prabhavalkar etc.

While Bhramaram is more of a road movie with the undertone of a thriller, SC is a mad caper and is a fun ride all the way. Bhramaram is more or less a one man show (Mohanlal) while SC belongs to a whole host of characters and it is difficult to just single out just one or two characters. Well I can go on & on but then I guess the message is loud and clear by now. But what is important to know is that I had a good time watching both these movies. In their own ways both Bhramaram and SC have the capacity to engage the viewer and there in lies the one common thread between the two.

Saturday evening saw me taking off early from office to be in time to watch Bhramaram. The initial scenes are quite ordinary and it takes a while to slowly get hooked to the narrative. Suresh Menon (whom we’ve seen for ages on T.V & in Bollywood films) is Unni, a stock broker who lives with his wife (Lakshmi Gopalswamy) and daughter in Coimbatore. One fine day a very shabby looking Jose (Mohanlal) lands up at Unni’s place and introduces himself as his old classmate from school. Unni is unable to recollect Jose but since Jose is able to describe a lot of events from the school days, he is forced to believe him. Jose who claims to be a jeep driver in the high ranges of Kerala does not initially reveal the reason for his visit.

Once the reason is revealed the movie really gets going and you see traces of vintage Mohanlal slowly unraveling. After Unni and Jose embark on their journey it then goes on to become a taut game of emotions. Blessy manages to keep the narrative interesting enough by interspersing humor in certain places which helps in maintaining a balance. The cinematography of Ajayan Vincent certainly impresses especially in the night shots captured in the hills. Music by Mohan Sithara is decent. Suresh Menon certainly impresses and hopefully this performance should help him fetch more such roles. Muralikrishnan as Alex, friend of Unni is also quite effective. Lakshmi Gopalswamy and Bhoomika (Mohanlal’s wife) have nothing much to do. On the whole the movie is certainly a far cry from the recent Mohanlal movies like Red Chillies, Sagar Alias Jackie (Reloaded), Bhagawan etc and gives you glimpses of the brilliant actor that he is. Blessy again redeems himself to some extent with Bhramaram (after Calcutta News) and hopefully should do even better the next time around. Definitely not great cinema, but certainly one of the better films in recent times.

While I kept thinking of what could have made Bhramaram even better, I couldn’t escape the fact that the movie had disturbed me. Later that night Lalettan’s Shivankutty/ Jose continued to haunt me and I realized that the character was not just lingering in my mind, it was also making me feel low (those who’ve watched the movie would understand). So on Sunday morning when I woke up slightly earlier than usual, I was unsure of how to get back into groove and that’s when I realized I didn’t even have to try hard- I was lucky to end up watching a 10.30 A.M show of SC.

By now most of us know the plot and characters of SC so I wouldn’t really get into that. But yes to give a quick insight I can say that it’s all about money and how a host of characters get interwoven into a tale that has money as the fulcrum. Right from the first frame till the end I kept smiling and at times couldn’t really control myself from laughing hard- I guess it was true for everyone else among the audience too. For the sake of people who are yet to watch the movie I wish to point out a few things about the movie-
What SC definitely has-
1.Characters who are loud and even over the top and thankfully do not pretend that they are anything else2.A sparkling cast of some superbly talented actors and some of them would even surprise you with their portrayals.3.Uniform pace of the movie- there’s hardly any dull moment and you do not have to keep looking at your watch.4.Enough and more entertaining moments to keep you glued to the screen till the end, the very end.5.Some wonderful locations in & around Mumbai that have been captured brilliantly ( like for example the garbage dump )6.The budget seems to have been completely well utilized or rather most efficiently utilized ( check out the scene in the bus when the bags get switched )

What SC definitely doesn’t have-
1.Superstars and A – list heroines2.A routine structured story ( it’s a mad caper after all )3.Emotion, tragedy, drama ( well yes it does have it, but certainly not like what you think )4.Item numbers by Rakhi Sawant etc ( well there’s a small bit where Anupam Kher and dynamite are dancing though )5.Songs shot abroad6.Gyan-baazi ( oh! There’s nothing preachy here )7.While actors like Kay Kay , Anupam Kher etc have done some serious, meaningful cinema- this is certainly not a serious off beat movie.

All I can say is that SC is one movie that not only entertains it also makes you think- as to why we don’t have more of such movies coming out of Bollywood these days. While watching the movie I also realized that Pankaj Advani & his team must have certainly had a blast while shooting the movie, it clearly shows on screen as everybody seems to be enjoying what they are portraying on screen. That to me is a very big achievement indeed and I heartily salute Pankaj and the entire cast and crew for giving us SC- a film that we can certainly enjoy time and again.
It’s my fond hope that somebody concerned would do something to enable a much better presence in theatres for the movie by increasing the shows and also by enabling prime time shows wherever possible. A sincere movie like this which has also been getting good reviews needs a much better reach than what it has presently. Till then it’s a sincere request to all those who are passionate about cinema to go on & watch SC- you won’t be disappointed for sure.

P.S- Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/sankat-city-drives-away-the-blues-caused-by-bhramaram/

What ails Malayalam Cinema today?

It’s a known fact that by & large Malayalam and Bengali films have gone on to stand out for the quality of movies getting made over the years. While Bengali cinema has seen masters like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak etc during the yesteryears and is now being represented by the likes of Gautam Ghosh, Rituparno Ghosh etc, Malayalam cinema too has had its maestro’s like Adoor Gopalakrishnan,Aravindan, Bharathan,Padmarajan,T.V.Chandran etc who have brought movies of a different perspective to the intelligent audience. The difference between the Malayalam & Bengali film industry lay in the fact that while mainstream cinema in Bengali in the last 2 decades especially had degenerated into typical potboilers which were not for the intelligent audiences, in case of Malayalam cinema by & large the mainstream cinema was also of high standard. Movies made by stalwarts like Sathyan Anthikkad,Sibi Malayil,Fazil, Priyadarshan etc went on to revolutionize the 80’s and the 90’s.

This brings us to Malayalam cinema of the present. Why do we constantly hear complaints of the quality of movies going down? Why do people long for the kind of movies of the 80’s and 90’s even today? Is the situation out of control? Let’s take a lot at the situation and some of the factors going against Malayalam Cinema presently.

Genuine shortage of good films

Last year’s biggest hit was Twenty: 20, a commercial khichdi which went on to break all records of the Malayalam film industry. While that can be considered as an exception, even if one looks at the other movies made, the scenario appears bleak. Veruthe Oru Bharya was the 2nd biggest hit and while it brought back a new life for Jayaram, the movie would hardly have been considered brilliant in front of some of Jayaram’s earlier movies under directors like Sathyan Anthikkad or a Rajasenan. The story continues with most of the recent releases.

Lack of audience for middle of the road cinema

It’s a shame that in Kerala today a genuinely good film like Jayaraj’s Gulmohar, which saw writer-director Ranjith making an excellent debut as an actor or M.G.Sasi’s Adayalangal struggles to get a theatrical release. And even for some good movies done by Mohanlal like Akashagopuram or a Pakalnakshtrangal, the audience preferred to stay away, preferring to instead watch him in a Twenty: 20 or a Kurukshetra.

Influence of Hindi,Tamil & Telugu Cinema

While one always knew that Malayalam cinema stood for realistic portrayals and also appreciated it, both the film makers and the audience were satisfied that they were able to reach out to the expectations of each other. The audience in Kerala has always been intelligent and preferred to see realism in Malayalam movies and left the larger than life and the glossy stuff to Hindi & Tamil cinema. So much so that in recent times SRK and Vijay have become very big stars in Kerala also on account of their popularity among the youth. This was still all right but seeing the ever increasing popularity of Hindi & Tamil movies in the state, some of the film makers decided to go in for more gloss in their own movies. Thus bringing in typical mass dance numbers and other symbols, more representative of a Hindi or a Tamil movie. In the bargain the element of realism so much an essential part of Malayalam cinema started getting lost.

Another problem has been that of Hindi,Tamil & the Malayalam dubbed versions of Telugu movies flooding the theatres in Kerala. While Hindi & Tamil movies have always found patronage in Kerala, they are finding more acceptances nowadays due to the fall in standards in Malayalam cinema. Aamir Khan’s Ghajini has become the highest grossing Hindi movie in Kerala also. But it is the wide release of the Telugu dubbed movies which is proving to be a big nuisance. For the producers and the distributors, this is a cheap option- the cost of dubbing is not high & the movies get widely released for a 1-2 week run. This sometimes even acts as a stumbling block for the release of a small Malayalam movie.

Shortage of Theatres

The multiplex culture is yet to invade Kerala (Mohanalal in partnership with someone else is now coming up with a chain of multiplexes targeting mainly the smaller towns) and so it’s still the traditional single screens and the cineplexes which rule the roost. Over the last few years a lot of theatres have given away to shopping complexes and other constructions due to either business or other reasons. A huge city like Cochin- Ernakulam does not today have more than 10 -12 direct release theatres ( Ernakulam+Fort Cochin+Tripunithira area) and that makes the availability of screens also a major problem especially if it’s a small movie getting released.

Stars holding Sway

Nearly 3 decades old in the industry and the 2 M’s Mammootty and Mohanlal still rule the roost. They continue to do 5-6 movies a year and try to balance the middle of the road cinema with the commercial movies. Dileep and Jayaram (after T: 20 and Veruthe Oru Bharya) are hanging in there, while the others including Suresh Gopi hardly seem to hit the bulls eye these days. Among the younger stars it’s only Prithviraj who seems to have some kind of connect with the audiences. When it comes to the heroines the problem is even different. Most of the Malayalam heroines like Nayanthara, Bhavana,Navya Nair, Mamta Mohan Das are more prominent in the other South Indian languages. Kavya Madhavan and Gopika have now retired after their wedding. So a new bunch of heroines are required to bring in the freshness.

Silver Lining in the cloud?

So is the situation completely out of control? Are all the factors mentioned above to much to handle? No, I would feel that the situation can still be brought under control.
Given below are some ways to overcome the same and bring back the earlier days of the Malayalam Film Industry-
Prominent film makers like Sathyan Anthikkad, Sibi Malayil, Joshy, Fazil etc to make movies more frequently with the same kind of realism that they have been working on.
More emphasis on script to be given. People like Ranjith, Blessy,Lohitadas, Sreenivasan,T.A.Razzak etc to lead the way. Bring out more works of literary giants like M.T.Vasudevan Nair.
Encourage work of talented directors like Blessy, Shaji.N.Karun etc who can bridge the divide between mainstream & middle of the road cinema.
Make use of digital cinema- Qube & UFO to help in releasing the smaller movies
Curtail the release of dubbed releases by fixing a maximum number of movies allowed per year.
Catch them young- the Kerala Government can through their own Film Society
(Kairali) organize mini festivals in college campuses and enable the students
to get exposed to critically acclaimed Malayalam movies.
The bodies like MACTA ( Malayalam Cine Techinicians Association Federation),
AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) and the Producers Council should come forward to genuinely encourage and make good cinema. Why cannot there be budgets set aside for making some small intelligent movies patronized by these bodies itself?

All said and done all is not over and I am sure that important stake holders should be working on some of these points listed above and maybe some other points not listed here. As far as 2009 is concerned I am looking forward to movies like Pazhassi Raja (directed by veteran Hariharan, screenplay by M.T.Vasudevan Nair,Mammootty in the lead), Kutti Shranku ( directed by Shaji.N.Karun, written by Shaji.N.Karun & P.F.Mathews and with Mammootty in the lead), Brahmaram ( directed and written by Blessy and with Mohanalal in the lead), Sagar Alias Jackie ( directed by Amal Neerad,written by veteran S.M.Swamy and with Mohanalal in the lead). All these movies are of different genres and look quite exciting. I also hope that these and more such movies do their bit in a small way at least to restore some of the past glory of Malayalam Cinema.

Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/what-ails-malayalam-cinema-today/