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MALAYALAM CINEMA
Cinema is the popular art
form which has been a good entertainer and a strong means of
mass communication in Kerala from the previous century itself.
It has the elements of different art forms including
architecture and sculpture in it.
Moreover Malayalam films
have their own existence in Kerala and is the most popular form
of art enjoyed by the mass. Hence Cinema has its own influence
on their culture.
The viewers in Kerala
enjoy the films comprehending the reality in it. The possess
high insight in distinguishing reality from fiction in the
themes of experimentalism. Malayalam Cinema has contributed much
to the creative and critical analysis sectors of Malayalam
literature.
Kerala has a very rich art
and cultural background. Its cinema s are unique in several
aspects. Unlike the other linguistic films which have started
off taking themes from the Puranas, Malayalam cinema s have taken
relevant social issues as its theme from the beginning.
The all time geniuses like
Aravindan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, John Abraham, Ramu Karriat, P A
Bakkar, K.G.George, M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Padmarajan, Bharathan,
T.V. Chandran, P.N. Menon, Shaji.N. Karun, K. P. Kumaran,
K.R.Mohanan, Jayaraj... are the contributors of Malayalam to the
world Cinema. Despite these facts now one can make a novel study
of current cinema only in connection with the social life here.
The first silent cinema in
Malayalam "Vigatha Kumaran" was screened in 1930, when
movies abroad has already begun to 'talk' and by 1931 sound
films were also made in India.
That year, the second
Malayalam cinema , "Marthanda Varma", based on a
well-known historical novel by C.V.Raman Pillai, was made.
Although sound films were produced in Hindi and Tamil regularly,
Malayalam cinema had to wait till 1938 to present its first
sound film, "Balan". In the first few years, Malayalam
films were virtually dominated by Tamil producers. Whenever they
suffered loss in Tamil films, they ventured into Malayalam
Cinema, as the investment requirements were comparatively lower.
In 1947, the first major film studio, Udaya was established in
Kerala and by the early 50s, more Keralites entered this field.
When Hindi and Tamil
cinema started off with mythological themes, Malayalam cinema s showed an interest in dealing with social issues right from the
very first cinema itself (Balan).
One of the biggest box
office hits of the 50s was "Jeevitha Nauka" (Boat of
Life, 1951). The film contained all the ingredients that were to
form the basis for future commercial productions. The cinema owed
its structure more to the village festivals of Kerala than
anything else. Cinema was seen as a mixture of various
traditional art forms like music, dance, dance-drama, mimicry
and so on. Connecting these various disparate elements was a
storyline which often showed the triumph of the good over the
evil.
It was in 1954 that
Malayalam cinema got national attention by winning the
President's silver medal for Neelakuyil. Scripted by a
well-known novelist, Uroob, produced by T.K.Pareekutty, directed
by P.Bhaskaran - who also played the key role, casted by the
then leading artsts like Sathyan and Miss Kumari, this film
deals with the subject of untouchability. Melodramatic in style
and filled with songs and dances, the cinema was a big hit with
the public. It was the teamwork of a number of film enthusiasts
who took time off their professions to live near the banks of
the Periyar river in Central Kerala discussing the script and
other sexy details of the film. There was difficulty in location
shooting at that time. Also, studio facility was limited in Kerala. In spite of these limitations, they were bent on
recreating authentic Kerala setting for the story. Props,
household articles, costumes and other cultural artifacts were
made and sent to Madras for the studio work. Most of the actors
hailed from Kerala (at that time a novelty) and they performed
in front of authentically constructed sets with all the manners
and mannerisms of Malayali characters. Even the lyrics were
derived from local folk traditions. This was at a time when
Malayalam cinema had not established its cultural identity and
was hardly distinguishable from the Tamil films of the time
except for the spoken language.
Another significant effort
was Newspaper Boy (1955) made by a group of college students
lead by enthusiastic N.Ramdas. It made use of new actors and
tried to portray realistically the travails of an orphaned boy.
This film stands out from the rest, because for the first time
it dispensed with all the elements of the so called box office
formula.
When one looks at these
early developments, one finds that Malayalam cinema had time to
evolve on its own from its silent days. Much of the visual
expression in international cinema was possible because silent
film had enough time to germinate and mature by itself. But in
the case of Malayalam cinema, sound arrived rather suddenly, and
there was no need for Malayalam cinema makers to think of
communicating through visual means. Everything could be spelt
out through dialogues. Another aspect that needs to be mentioned
here is the lack of exposure to international cinema. No matter,
how sincere and competent the script writer and director were,
the ultimate product ended up as photographed dramas staged
within studio sets. In the early sound films, there used to be
less number of cuts and less number of camera movements.
Storyline did not seem to be important. Different episodes were
self-contained and they made social comments, sometimes
directly, sometimes obliquely, while attempting to entertain.
There were parallel
streams of storyline going on. All these traits could be found
in Neelakuyil. It appears that there was not much pressure from
the audience for a tight narrative. An unhurried, leisurely pace
was acceptable for the viewers who enjoyed individual moments of
the film more than a satisfying whole, although story was of
primary importance. This was understandable especially when
cinema was seeking to displace the pastimes of an agrarian
society and the best way to do it was by maintaining a close
equation to village fairs and festivals.