KERALA--MALAYALAM MOVIES 1995--REVIEW---MANORAMA
P K VE3OGZ
MALAYALAM CINEMA IN REVIEW -----1995
=====================================
(The Following article is based on information from MALAYALA MANORAMA)
It was not a good year for the Malayalam movie industry. All in all some
71 pictures were released. Only 6 or 7 became super hits. Some 20 pictures
barely broke even. The remaining were dismal failures. Tamil films and
even Hindi films gave lot of competition for Malayalam.
The year was noted for the remarkable absence of directors like
Bharathan, K.G.George Balachandra Menon, Joshi, Fasil, and I.V.Sasi from
the scene.
Super hit status were gained by :-
ANIYAN BAWA CHETTAN BAWA-RAJASENANAN
ADYTHE KANMANI--RAJASENAN
MANNAR MATHAI SPEAKING-MANI C. KAPPAN
MAZAETHUM MUMPE--KAMAL
MANTHRIKAM--THAMPI KANNANTHANAM
SPADIKAM--BHADRAN
THE KING-RANJI PANIKKAR
Out of these seven two are Mohan Lal films and two Mammuti filims.It was a
good year for Suresh Gopi who did well in SASHIYAM and SINDURAREKHA.
Lal made a strong showing in two super hits- SPADIKAM and MANTHRIKAM. He
did well also in AGNIDEVAN. Mammooti did in the big hit THE KING which
released some 44 prints and is still playing house full in Kerala
theaters. The 'high voltage ' social critique theme appeals to the public.
MAZAETHUM MUMPE has a fresh look , but is not that remarkable.
SNEHATHIRAM is another picture that is not all that remarkable.
RAJASENAN has stood out as a small budget success story during the year.
Simplicity is the key to his success.
MANI C. KAPPAN an actor cum director did well with MANNAR MATHAI SPEAKING.
BHADRAN whom I met a few years back in Madras succeeded in SPADIKAM--good
show.
All in all comedy prevailed in 1995.However the repetitious nature of some
of the themes made the movies boring.
Below is a complete list of all 1995 Malayalam films
SPECIAL SQUAD
SARGAVASANTHAM
ANIYAN BAWA CHETTAN BAWA
ACHAN KOMPATHU AMMA VARAMPATHU
NIRNAYAM
AKSHARAM
MIMICS ACTION 500
SIMHAVALAN MENON
SHRIRAGAM
KUSRUTHI KATTU
PETERS KOTTA
SAMUDAYAM
MANGALYASUTRAM
HIGHWAY
KATTILE THADI THEVARUDE ANA
MANIKYA CHEMPAZUKKA
THOVALAPUKKAL
SPADIKAM
MAZAYETHUMMUMPE
MANNAR MATHAI SPEAKING
ABHIBHASHAKANTE CASE DIARY
ALANCHERI THAMPRAKKAL
PRAYIKKARA PAAPAN
THACHOLI VARGHES CHEVAKAR
MINNAMINUNGINUN MINNUKETTU
SADARAM
PUNNARAM
STREET
KALAMASSERIYIL KALYNAYOGAM
THREE MEN ARMY
AGRAJAN
AVITTAM THRUNAL AROGYASHRIMAN
HIGHJACK
THUMBOLI KADAPPURAM
ADYATHE KANMANI
BOXER
SUNDARIMARE SUKSHKKUKA
THIRUMANASSU
RATHOLSAVAM
CHANTHA
CHAITHANYAM
BALI
MAZAVILKUDARAM
PARVATHI PARINAYAM
RAJAKIYAM
THAKSHASHILA
SNEHATHIRAM BANGLORE NORTH
EZARAKUTTAM
MANTHRIKAM
SUNDARI NIYUM SUNDARAN JANUM
SASHINAS
ORMAKALUNDAYIRIKKANAM
KIDILOLKIDAM
KOKKARAKKO
SINDURAREKHA
ACHAN RAJAVU APPAN JETHAVU
MANGALAM VEETIL MANASWEHARI GUPTA
TOM AND JERRY
AGNIDEVAN
THE KING
KIRTHANAM
KAKKAKUM PUCHAKKUM KALYANAM
KALYANJI ANANDJI
PAI BROTHERS
PUTHUKOTTAYILE PUTHUMANAVALAN
SIPAILAHALA
ARABIA
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
SAKHYAM
VRUDHANMARE SUKSHIKKUKA
FOR KERALA NEWS GO TO http://ww.cs.tu-berlin.de/~devadson/wmc.html
Bobby Nayar
>January 12, 1996 Hi
>
>MALAYALAM CINEMA IN REVIEW -----1995
>=====================================
>(The Following article is based on information from MALAYALA MANORAMA)
>
>It was not a good year for the Malayalam movie industry. All in all some
>71 pictures were released. Only 6 or 7 became super hits. Some 20 pictures
>barely broke even. The remaining were dismal failures. Tamil films and
>even Hindi films gave lot of competition for Malayalam.
>
>Super hit status were gained by :-
>ANIYAN BAWA CHETTAN BAWA-RAJASENANAN
>ADYTHE KANMANI--RAJASENAN
>MANNAR MATHAI SPEAKING-MANI C. KAPPAN
>MAZAETHUM MUMPE--KAMAL
>MANTHRIKAM--THAMPI KANNANTHANAM
>SPADIKAM--BHADRAN
>THE KING-RANJI PANIKKAR
>
>Out of these seven two are Mohan Lal films and two Mammuti filims.It was a
>good year for Suresh Gopi who did well in SASHIYAM and SINDURAREKHA.
>
It should be noted that : the more new talent, the better. At least, 2 of the
above flicks had Jayram in it, and I would like to see people like him and
Babu Antony (whose movies haven't been that successful yet) come up in the
ranks, rather than experience the monotonous monopoly of Mammooty, Mohan Lal
and Suresh Gopi !
Nayar
Anil
It used to be over 100 movies years after years.
I happened to see this Movie "The King". I couldn't read any reviews
or hear any criticisms. But, hopes were some what high that Mammootty was
in the lead. But, there was no comparison to previous Mammooty movies such
as CBI diary kurippu, Oru Vadakkan Gaatha (??) etc. Whatever one may expect
in a masala Hindi movie was it all made of. There wasn't nothing notable
other some stupid gesture the hero was making over and over again.No wonder
we've fewer hits and most of 'em barely broke even.
I wonder anyone agree/disagree this.
Regards,
Anil.
--
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@----oOO---------(_)-----------------*
| Anil "the Victorious" |
|"The more I learn, the more humbled |
| I become by what I don't know" |
|(I don't like big .sig ..., for now)|
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ooO Ooo
sup...@rahul.net
>It should be noted that : the more new talent, the better. At least, 2 of the
>above flicks had Jayram in it, and I would like to see people like him and
>Babu Antony (whose movies haven't been that successful yet) come up in the
>ranks, rather than experience the monotonous monopoly of Mammooty, Mohan Lal
>and Suresh Gopi !
> Nayar
Yeah, You are right. I happened to catch one of those new-age Babu Antony
movies last month in Kerala. It had a peculiar name, "Arabia", and a
time touted and flimsy story. Somehow it kept reminding me of the old
"Vysali". Its fair and plumpy heroine, who could do well with a few
workouts, reminded me of that female from Vysali. It's an extremely
picturesque movie with a lot of stunning visuals. I don't think I have
ever seen such technical excellence in a Malayalam movie. Even for a
confirmed hater of essential ingredients in Mallu movies (fights and
booze) , I thought Babu Antony's action scenes were much more bearable
than Mohan Lal's excuse for pugnacity or Mammootti's clumsy warmongering
skills. Probably I haven't seen much of Suresh Gopi, so I refuse to
categorize him with these morons. Since most of the movies coming out
in Malayalam these days are so called action movies (so much for Hindi
influence I guess), I think the era of Babu Antony has arrived. (Will take
it if it is packaged without his usual sick and tempting heroine !)
Last month alone there were 3 new Babu Antony movies playing in our
small sleepy town.
-AS
Labeeb Ismail
> I happened to see this Movie "The King". I couldn't read any reviews
> or hear any criticisms. But, hopes were some what high that Mammootty was
> in the lead. But, there was no comparison to previous Mammooty movies such
> as CBI diary kurippu, Oru Vadakkan Gaatha (??) etc. Whatever one may expect
> in a masala Hindi movie was it all made of. There wasn't nothing notable
> other some stupid gesture the hero was making over and over again.No wonder
> we've fewer hits and most of 'em barely broke even.
>
I slept in the theatre while watching "The King" and I don't blame the
jet lag for it. If you have any love for Malayalam movies or Mammooty,
don't see "the King". I used to proudly talk about Malayalam movies
3 or 4 years back. But this vaccation the theatres in Cochin were mostly
presenting Hindi and English movies because there weren't many Malayalam
movies which could attract the crowd.
Labeeb.
sup...@rahul.net
>
>. But this vaccation the theatres in Cochin were mostly
> presenting Hindi and English movies because there weren't many Malayalam
> movies which could attract the crowd.
>
> Labeeb.
Welcome back Labeeb ;-)
I just returned from Kerala myself and I have a different take on
this. Somehow I got the feeling that the youngsters would rather
watch Hindi movies if they are given the choice, which is unfortunate
since nothing much has changed in the quality side of the hopeless
bollywood creations. This strange unexplainable phenomenon has led
to the top Malayalam distributors interested in distributing a Hindi
movie like "Rangeela" rather than buying the rights for a new
Mammootti starrer , since Mammooti is no longer an automatic take-in
for Malayalis. Mallus are for sure sick of the so called comedy
movies and tear jerkers doesn't seem to sell that well too.
Only thing that really a common man would like to see in his nearby
theatre after a hard day's work ;-) is his usual "stunt padam".
Hope movies like Mohan Lal's magnum opus "Kaalapani" , Bharathan's
"Devaraagam" and Adoor's "Kathapurushan" can bring back the glory
of the bygone days for the Malayalam Cinema in '96
-AS
Anil
|> Labeeb Ismail <LabeebX_...@ccm2.hf.intel.com> wrote:
|>
|> >
|> >. But this vaccation the theatres in Cochin were mostly
|> > presenting Hindi and English movies because there weren't many Malayalam
|> > movies which could attract the crowd.
|> >
|> > Labeeb.
|>
|>
|> Welcome back Labeeb ;-)
|>
|> I just returned from Kerala myself and I have a different take on
|> this. Somehow I got the feeling that the youngsters would rather
|> watch Hindi movies if they are given the choice, which is unfortunate
|> since nothing much has changed in the quality side of the hopeless
|> bollywood creations. This strange unexplainable phenomenon has led
|> to the top Malayalam distributors interested in distributing a Hindi
|> movie like "Rangeela" rather than buying the rights for a new
|> Mammootti starrer , since Mammooti is no longer an automatic take-in
|> for Malayalis. Mallus are for sure sick of the so called comedy
|> movies and tear jerkers doesn't seem to sell that well too.
|> Only thing that really a common man would like to see in his nearby
|> theatre after a hard day's work ;-) is his usual "stunt padam".
Your observation seems to be correct. That was why Mammooty starrer
"The King" was a big hit.
|>
|> Hope movies like Mohan Lal's magnum opus "Kaalapani" , Bharathan's
|> "Devaraagam" and Adoor's "Kathapurushan" can bring back the glory
|> of the bygone days for the Malayalam Cinema in '96
Mohanlal movie, "Agni Devan" was said to be a good one in the recent times.
Anil.
|>
|> -AS
Labeeb Ismail
>
> In article <4dngbc$5...@hustle.rahul.net>, sup...@rahul.net writes:
> |> Labeeb Ismail <LabeebX_...@ccm2.hf.intel.com> wrote:
> |> I just returned from Kerala myself and I have a different take on
> |> this. Somehow I got the feeling that the youngsters would rather
> |> watch Hindi movies if they are given the choice, which is unfortunate
> |> since nothing much has changed in the quality side of the hopeless
> |> bollywood creations. This strange unexplainable phenomenon has led
> |> to the top Malayalam distributors interested in distributing a Hindi
> |> movie like "Rangeela" rather than buying the rights for a new
> |> Mammootti starrer , since Mammooti is no longer an automatic take-in
> |> for Malayalis. Mallus are for sure sick of the so called comedy
> |> movies and tear jerkers doesn't seem to sell that well too.
> |> Only thing that really a common man would like to see in his nearby
> |> theatre after a hard day's work ;-) is his usual "stunt padam".
The taste of the malayalies for movies keeps oscillating. Do you remember
when the success formula of Malayalm movies was Mammootty, Baby Shalani
and a suitcase. Those movies (a big series of them) were also big hits
in those days, I can't imagine some one seeing movie after movie with
the same ingradient. I have doubts when someone says that the taste of
the Malayalies is the reason for the great movies produced by Malayalies.
It is true that good movies like Oru Vadakkan Veera Gatha, Kereedam etc.
were embraced by the viewers. But we also saw failures of good movies
like Aranyakam.
I liked some of the Siddiq-lal comedies. But if you want to see some
good commedy movies now, watch the stunt movies where the technical
imperfections and the hifi dramatic dialogues would make you laugh
(Maybe too much of Hollywood influence on me). In "The King" through
out the movie Mammootty would render some high sounding english words,
and before the viewer starts wondering what the meanings of the words
are, he himself translates it to Malayalam in his next sentence.
As some one commented after seeing the movie, it can be prescribed to
Mallus preparing for GRE :-). I haven't seen a single person who said
that (s)he liked 'The King', but still it was a success. (!?)
I am sure that the current trend would end and the mallus would
return to Malayalam movies when they start producing better ones.
Labeeb.