Get The Tempest in your inbox.At first glance, Amal Neerad’s ‘CIA’ seems like another one in the long line of communist-themed films that have flooded the Malayalam cinema recently. Keep up with pop culture trends and follow our brand-new Instagram account. Nowadays whenever I talk to my friends about Indian movies, I recommend as many Malayalam movies as I can to them.
MALAYALAM MOVIES NEAR ME MOVIE
There are so many cinematic gems throughout India that there’s really no reason to rely on Bollywood for our movie fix anymore. Especially with the incredible success of Parasite, I believe that we ought to actively seek out films from different regions and cultures. Yet despite this, people continue to overlook these films in favor of increasingly unrealistic Bollywood films. I’ve never seen an industry so dedicated to the plight of the common man. In my eyes, these are films that could fight it out with the best Hollywood has to offer.
But the Malayalam film industry is largely committed to telling realistic, relatable, and beautiful narratives. Many of them are just as ridiculous as Bollywood, and nepotism does still play a part in the industry – albeit much smaller. Are Malayalam films perfect? Absolutely not. I’ve never seen such absurd genius as when I watched Jallikattu, a story about a bull that gets loose in a small village.īut most importantly, I’ve never seen an industry so dedicated to the plight of the common man. I’ve never seen such perfect acting as when I watched Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, a film about a man who steals a woman’s wedding necklace and the subsequent attempts to retrieve the jewelry. Yau., a film about a man from a poor family who tries to throw his father an extravagant Roman Catholic funeral. I’ve never had my heart broken like when I watched Ee. Īlthough the original Malayalam film made around one million dollars, the Hindi remake which by many accounts did not match up to the original, made around 17 times the profit.įilms like Drishyam and Manichitrathazhu may have gained the attention of Bollywood filmmakers, but they’re not outliers in the Malayalam film industry. The film was remade into several languages and was even the first Indian movie to be remade into Chinese. It’s a masterclass in directing, acting, and screenwriting. As someone who has seen the film around 15 times, I find it to be one of the best films I’ve ever laid eyes on. Similarly, Drishyam, a film about a family thrown into turmoil, was a huge hit in Kerala, becoming one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films ever. I despise the fact that the Malayalam film industry goes so unnoticed. It was, however, a huge commercial hit and after speaking to several of my non-Malayali friends, many fans of Bhool Bhulaiyaa don’t even know it’s a remake of a Malayalam film. The film was remade into Hindi as Bhool Bhulaiyaa and received incredibly negative reviews from critics for failing to capture the essence of the original. The film is about a young couple who moves into the husband’s ancestral home when the wife suddenly starts experiencing unexplained phenomena. More often than not, the remakes greatly fail to recreate the beauty of the originals.įor example, perhaps one of the most popular Malayalam films ever made is a horror-comedy called Manichitrathazhu. Malayalam films are often remade into other languages, including Hindi in Bollywood. As a Malayali, I despise the fact that the Malayalam film industry has gone so unnoticed. However, these regional films often fail to gain the same fame as Bollywood films of lower calibre. Each region of India has their own film industry, dedicated to regional diversity and cultures. India is one of the largest countries in the world, and one of the most diverse. It’s specifically the film industry based in Bombay, now Mumbai. Bollywood is not a catch-all word for any Indian movie. Consequently, films are rushed, shoddily made, and filled with crowd-pleasing item songs and cheesy dialogues.īut while criticism against Bollywood mounts, an incredible world of cinema continues to thrive in regional India. Bollywood pumps out movies at a rate unmatched by any other film industry in the world. But I do believe that largely, Bollywood values profit over the quality of films. I don’t agree with the belief that Bollywood is a “low art” because that’s a derogatory idea that ignores the complexities of many great movies. In addition to the nepotistic tendencies of the industry, many argue that the quality of films are simply not up to par.