There is a trend in Tamil Cinema of remaking Malayalam
movies of late and all I can say about it is, this was inevitable. Kerala has
been doing the finest mainstream cinema for quite a while and each film has
something that Tamil film-makers can take a cue from.
I am not going to make a list and grade movies but I will
begin talking about the film I saw the latest, Premam. It is touted to be a
blockbuster that has rewritten all box office records in Malayalam and that
fact alone suffice to make me watch it. One word- ‘refreshing’ it was. To
people who say it is a rehash of Autograph, I will have to strongly disagree.
On first viewing a decade back, we adolescents were used to rejecting any movie
that does not have a plot, that does not have a stunt sequence or a denouement
that is not heavily charged. Autograph was refreshing in a way, that as far as
I knew, it was the first attempt of a film-maker in Tamil to tell one’s own
story even if it was heavily fantasized. The film had all its Tamil cinema
must-haves, the romance and the concomitant melodrama, the comedy, strong
character arcs and even some message-mongering. Try watching it again, you will
find that the film begins strongly with wonderfully written adolescent episodes
and slowly the movie deteriorates as Gopika vanishes and a tiring Balachander-archetype
Sneha redeems Cheran’s life through outrageous sacrifices with her ‘angelic’
heart. So if you ask me whether I am saying Autograph is a bad movie, I will
say no. All I am saying is that it has dated.
Coming back to Premam, what director Alphonse Putharan has
done to the Autograph premise is infusing it with some kind of ‘aimlessness’.
No scene in the film is in a hurry to leave its place and travel towards a pre-destined
climax just like how we expect our movies to do. Every scene lingers at where
it is set allowing you to internalize the milieu which the characters occupy.
You are given ample time to study people and their actions. I am not saying
that this is the first ever film that cares about its people more than its
plot. Produced by Anwar Rasheed and supposed to be a commercial movie, it
certainly is breaking some new ground. And less significant is the fact that
Putharen’s urge to push the envelope is evident in the way his story shapes
itself. In Neram, the leading man had no qualms in introducing his love as his ‘sister’
when caught red-handed by a traffic cop. Here too, you keep expecting someone
from Tamil Nadu to emerge and ruin Nivin’s unseemly love for his teacher Malar.
It happens, though with a tweak, but what I least expected was a reciprocation
from her. And it was exciting to find whom Nivin marries finally, actually is.
But trying to push the envelope is fine, but Putharen wants
to do it in every frame. The camera movement is supposed to be dynamic but here
it is restless, in some scenes. I was told by my friend that the undulating
camera movement is supposed to concretize the recurring ‘Butterfly’ motif of
the film to the viewer. Also the introduction sequence of Malar, the camera
revolves around the characters dizzying the viewer. May be Putharen wanted to propagate
the dizzying intoxication of the protagonist on meeting his love through the
movement. In a lesser movie, I would be raving about the kind of nuanced
film-making the young director has sought to achieve. Here, for a film that is so
exquisitely framed for most part-take the instance of Nivin’s introduction in
the second episode which sent a usually stone-faced viewer like me into an
irrepressible eruption of rapture, I would expect better craft that prevails
over the exhibitionist ambitions of an amateur. This was one of the reasons why
I liked his Neram a lot lesser than I should have actually. But with Premam, I
would have to give it to Putharen to have shown extraordinary progress from his
first film.
Let me talk about another movie that impressed me in
Malayalam- Ayaalum Njaanum Thammil. It should have been the finest Malayalam
movie I had ever seen, considering how rock-solid the plot and how terrific the
casting were. Still, I was consistently gnawed by poor writing and equally
ordinary direction. When a deeply dejected
Prithviraj returns after his unrealized marriage to meet an expectant Prathap
Pothan, the latter walks up to his student and asks where his wife was whom he
had promised to bring along. Prithviraj replies with a blank ‘No’ and Pothan
turns away. Prior to this scene, we are shown how desperate Prithviraj is to realize
his long-cherished dream of marrying his love and we are allowed to root for
him. When the marriage unexpectedly is spoiled by Kalabhavan, we are left in a
state of shock. All that matters at this juncture is how wrenching the pain
would be for Prithviraj and how he takes it, which is what is shown to us
subsequently through a song. The next scene ideally should reflect how Prithviraj
begins to get along with the new life that is going to be completely devoid of
any enlivening hope or direction. As a story-teller, I should be least bothered
about the inevitability of Pothan getting to know about the unforeseen event,
unless I am going to force the character to give Prithviraj some solace or
inspiration. A separate scene to show the communication of the event to Pothan,
that too in the most mundane manner possible, when it is in no way going to
impact my story is utterly superfluous. This is one of many instances where I
found the writing below-par.
Barring the scene in which Prithviraj is absolved by the ‘priestly’
Pothan of all his sins where the camera slowly glides out of the window to
reveal the name of the ‘Redemption Hospital’, there is no other place in the
movie that warrants some direction sense on the part of the film-maker.
All mainstream Malayalam movies I have seen are impressive,
mainly due to the fact that their story-writers peak every time, successfully
hiding the flaws of the story-teller. Malayalam cinema, to be concise, has
great stories, decent screen-writers and okayish directors in spite of the fact
that there is so much division of labour among the three, unlike in Tamil where
the director proudly dons all the three roles.
Tamil cinema as
always has been strongly star-dependent and whenever star power wanes, it
chooses to go plot-oriented like it has decided to do now. I am sure we will
find more remakes of wonderful Malayalam stories like Indian Rupee, Shutter, Bangalore
Days and begin to chest-bang that we are back. Let me concede that we have superb
musicians, excellent technicians and fabulous actors and that’s that. But my dear Tamil film-maker, here I lay
down my gauntlet to you- “Try remaking Premam and I will stop writing about you”
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