First Rambha came on stage and danced to a Tamil song. Then Naresh Iyer crooned Cruise Control from Rang De Basanti which was followed by Mukta George dancing to the Tamil song Kutti Pisase. Naresh Iyer sang Kathal Koncham followed once again by Rambha dancing to Valayapatti and Mukta to a song from the new Hindi film Race. We looked around. The place was Kochi and it was the Amritha Film Awards 2008.
Looking for a Malayalam song or dance in such award events is like searching for a Priyadarshan movie which has not been ‘lifted’ from English. There are a few here and there, but rest are all imports. Then we cannot blame Amirtha TV alone. In Surya Awards 2008, there was a dance by Sada, Mayya Mayya by Chitra Iyer, Swetha Menon dancing to Ramana Puranthalum, Karthik singing Hindi songs and Oru Maalai, Shaan singing songs from Don and a Hindi dance by Isha Sherwani. Fortunately we also got to hear MG Sreekumar, Rimi Tomy, Swetha Mohan and Vineeth Srinivasan sing one or two Malayalam songs.
Since Kerala is so much into Tamil and Hindi film songs and dance, we decided to watch a few Tamil, Telugu and Hindi award functions to see if they had any Malayalam songs. There were none. All of their songs were in their language and none other - old songs, new songs, people like Prabhu dancing to the original Ponmagal Vanthal, Sharath Kumar and Radhika dancing to a new A R Rahman song, or Chiranjeevi dancing on stage to Nagarjuna film song.
There are two conclusions from this.
The first one is that basically no one outside Kerala cares about Malayalam songs or dances. Our pizza slice of a state does not have the cultural power in terms of music and dance to influence anyone. It is like the situation in politics. We read newspapers cover to cover and conduct protest meets condemning various world events like a bunch of ants complaining about elephant droppings at Punnathoor Kotta. We are inconsequential in the world stage about which we talk a great deal and we have the same influence at the national stage in film music as dance as Pinarayi Vijayan’s speech has on American foreign policy.
Second, we lack pride in our own culture and think adopting Tamil and Hindi songs is cool. In fact they are cool and we should enjoy the latest AR Rahman album or Pritam’s adaptation of Korean songs. We should not have hatred towards Hindi the way Tamilians do, but watching Amritha and Surya award programs, we do not see fascination, but an obsession. It is not just the award programs: in our reality singing shows there are more other language songs, and in our movies all our heroes now are settled in Pollachi. Some folks spin this as open mindedness of Malayalis, but spinning this obsession as open mindedness is just a cover for our inferiority complex.
Sitting few rows ahead of us in the award show was Kaithapram Naboothiri and he was so enjoying Karthik’s jamming session with Stephen Devassy. We too enjoyed it as much. But when one Tamil song follows a Hindi song and it is followed by a Hindi dance and a Tamil dance followed by two Malayali singers belting out the latest Hindi film hits we start feeling so shallow inside us.
The saving grace: At least for now, the hosts are speaking Malayalam. Soon that too may change.
On this day..
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17 Responses to “The Malayali Inferiority Complex”
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You are right … I accept every word written here. But first start releasing DVD’s of new movies like Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. Mallu movies will get more popularity. I remember Kavya and Dileep dancing to ‘Thotal …poomalarum..It was bad.
i saw the video of Surya TV award programs. I felt that the audiance were not enjoying Shan’s or Karthik’s program very much.
As you said no harm in watching or enjoying Tamil/Hindi numbers, but yes, it is shooting off the roof.
When you come to think of it, there are hardly any “dance (read fast numbers) worthy” songs in Malayalam.
One of the most popular ones, I would say would be Ariyaathe Ariyaathe, but again, the Kiran TV lovers or the Rasika Raja(A shame to TV Channels, this program is)fans very much love Hindi/Hindi numbers.They would never enjoy if a Dileep Kavya Madhavan dance number comes up(Lets not talk about our superstars dancing)
Even if a newbie Malayalee singer sings a Hindi number in a heavily Malayalam accented Hindi, no one cares, after all its a Hindi song.
To sum it up, let me say, its not a concerned Malayalee like you or me that is the target audience(pun intended)of these award functions, but a totally different crowd.
As they say, there is a market of everything.
–Nikhil
Could’nt agree more… I think the reason for this are much more complex. One of them might be the “Malayali lobster-mentality”. The other could be financial.
For e.g. if they include a song by M.Jayachandran/Alex Poul, someone in the organizing committe may feel that these composers are being given preferential treatment compared to other Malayali composers. In essence, as a result of our own in-fighting and groupism, we end-up ignoring our culture and promoting outside industries. Sad but very true.
Another example: Has anyone read the movie section at www.mathrubhimi.com ? The content will always be on Hindi/Tamil movies! I suspect if there is any financial aspect to this kind of programming decisions. Obviously Hindi/Tamil movies make a lot more money and they can pay channels/newspapers for publicity.
Its good to be open-minded, especially for a small state like Kerala, but predominance should be given to Malayalam songs/dances. Hindi & Tamil are good for fast “adipoli” dance/music numbers, which are very few in Malayalam. That said, there should be a good mix of all kinds of music/dance and Malayalam programs should give preference to Malayalam language.
There are some very messed up issues associated with these phenomena, a satisfactory analysis of which will take up too much time. Let me mention a couple of points that immediately come to mind :
There is a certain notion of coolness shaped by the interplay between entertainment industry and mass taste. Obviously tamizh and Hindi cinema have adapted more to the modern ideals of muscular male actors without chest hair and thin actresses etc. ( yuck! kAvya mAdhavan ) which makes malayALam cinema “uncool” but there are perhaps factors that are intrinsic to the malayALam language too. The anunAsika-atiprasaram for instance, but more :
Sanskrit is a language that has relatively very precise etymology for each word, which makes sanskrit words considerably longer ( in terms of number of syllables ) than English words. This they cautiously safe-guarded by keeping it away from masses. Hindi sort of can avoid this problem ( of long words ) by resorting to urdu origin words. Plus all sorts of ghazal-type wine-women literature makes urdu cool. Tamizh can avoid sanskrit words too, though tamizh, like malayALam has conjugations and verb-affixes ( pratyayams ) that are long - in practice both malayALam and tamizh solve this problem by considerably shortening their endings ( pOkukayANu becomes pOvvuA etc. ) - to considerably higher extents than hindi or english. Now, I may be kicked around for saying this, but when tamizh does that, there is still a certain amount of “crispness” about the diction. malayALam sounds relatively “njaNunjaNE”, like soggy chakka-varuttatu; the distortions come across more as a slur, with sort of nauseating nasality. For instance see how this manifests with regards to speaking English - tamizh accent comes across as amusing while mallu accent as ( in extreme instances ) even sometimes nauseating. One can notice a clear difference in crispness between “Ankhon Dekhi” and any news-related program in malayALam. Add to it that many of the words in malayALam representing serious ideas are from sanskrit, and hence due to the afore-mentioned etymology reason, long.
The other option is not to distort words - many people of our elder generation hold as sacred some pronunciation-related notions, what with many of our think tanks speaking awfully slowly, enunciating every word extremely painstakingly. The younger generation has neither the airs nor the patience for that; to them language has to convey facts efficiently. Period.
So we are between the devil and deep sea - extreme inefficiency or nauseating slur; there doesn’t seem to be a good middle-ground for the language.
How does all this come into play - I do think the above-mentioned factors make it difficult for fast “foot-tapping” numbers to be successful in malayALam. People want forgetfulness, not strain their mind in the least to capture melodic twists and turns during such celebrations. So even if the big companies come in as you want them to, I don’t know if there is much hope in this department.
Blaming Malayalam language is not fare.. Malayalam, with its origin rooted in Tamil and adpted words from Sanskirt is much more expressive and rich in its vocabulary.
We do have very catchy, but still classy fast numbers. e.g: choolamadichu karangi nadakkum, ramayanakkatte, sundari sundari onnorungi vaa.. etc.. I think a lot has also to do with who owns the TV channel. Since Suriya is owned by SUN-network, they will inadvertently try to promote Tamil movies.
The video is awful! Shan’s kind of singing is alien to Malayali audience and he is really forcing the audience to groove with him. What a pity!.
vc - its not inferiority complex. these award shows reflect the changing tastes of malayalis. in the 90’s and even until recently malayalam award shows consisted of songs rendered by malayali singers, some mimicry skits from kochin kalabhavan/ guiness or harisree and that was it. however its recently that we have award shows containing item numbers and songs from non-malayali singers etc.
award shows are dime a dozen these days. we have vanitha awards, jeevan awards, kairali, People, manorama, asianet , surya , amritha, ujala, film critics, nana, vellinakshatram and so many others. for these shows to bring in peope the organizers need rambha and mukta who also like to make a quick buck or two. They also like to listen to tamil/hindi numbers.
However this is a bad trend. The day is not far when the “malayalism” will go out of our movies, award shows, channels etc. and that will be a sad day for malayalam.
Well I dont think it has anything to do with inferiority complex or anything. Its just that catchy, peppy songs have never been that commonplace in malayalam cinema. Hindi and tamil movies have them in abundance. Our forte has always been melody. And still is. Last years best songs I guess were from Arabikatha. These melodies are good to hear by not good for song n dance stage shows. Once in a while a fast, “dancable” song comes and I think that does find its way to stage shows. Songs like “chella thamare”, “lajjawathi”, “chilamboli kaate” etc.
It just shows the broadmindedness of the Malayalee that they knows, appreciates and cares for not just their own but other cultures and languages. This is unlike the general trend in the world and we should be supportive of it. Malayalam will not die because some people listen to and appreciate some other languages.
“We should not have hatred towards Hindi the way Tamilians do” - WTF
Great article and even more intriguing conversation!
I agree with many ideas posted by froginthewall.
I as a non-Indian and non-Malayalee do have a few thoughts to share.
1. I have dabbled in learning Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. I agree Malayalam has long words and of the three languages, Malayalam is the most difficult to write, read and speak, for me. But does this mean it should be more difficult for native speakers as well? Definately not. But there are a few issues with this I have come across. (a) As I understand it film songs are a newer addition to Kerala films to make them more popular. Not so long ago Kerala films either had no songs or few songs. If that is true, then the industry is still learning how to integrate successfully. Possibly imitation [of other cultures in India] is most flattering. (b) There are many melodious and beautiful songs in Malayalam and like another mentioned are not fast in tempo. Pop culture favors these fast and sometimes raunchy songs. Tamil and Telugu cinema seem to have more of these (Though I am sure true with Hindi too…). (c) Keralites living abroad somehow take up their host culture more fluently and easily compared to other Indians. THere is even argument among the Keralites I know here in New York why they don’t teach their kids Malayalam. They say unlike other Indians (Tamil, Hindi, etc.) Mallus don’t seem to be as interested or motivate to teach their kids Malayalam as the others. (This is not my thought- this is what the Malayalee community here has told me numerous times after learning I am learning Malayalam.)
2. History and Geography of Kerala.
Keralites liking foreign things most likely is not new. Kerala’s unique place on the world map has allowed for trade of ideas and people and cultures for hundreds of years. When I say people, I am actually referring to the Jews in particular. What other state in India has such an inclusive and varied relgious population as Kerala? Also, I refer to Keralites themselves trading over foreign lands for better job opportunities. Keralites must be the largest expat Indian linguistic group in much of the Middle East (How many Mallu films are based on that! Rarely would see such a theme in Tamil or Hindi movies.) Historically Kerala has adopted many foreign ideas because of geography which makes the mindset different. Even in terms of social revolutions in Kerala this makes societal change easier. This part of the discussion is better left in another post!
p.s. I agree with the comment on actors also. South Indian actors have been the last to adopt the western look for actors and actress. Kerala has not yet been taken over by these kinds of looks and personally as an American I am happy about that. Beauty should vary based on culture and personally I don’t prefer the Hollywood standard of beauty… Kerala actors are much easier on the eyes and look more real than Hollywood actors.
Thanks for reading.
“South Indian actors have been the last to adopt the western look for actors and actress” - really i am proud of this fact. I am proud because eventhough we are seeing and mingling with every other culture.., we keep our genuineness and we are not trying to imitate them as othe north indians do. Our people really keeps our culture and are not shy to show that..
1. Ramayana Kaathe with Chitra’s out-of-comfort-zone singing and outdated rhythms discarded by Ilaiayraja in 1986 is quoted as a great dance/rhythm song in Mallu. This shows the level of importance given to Rhythm in mallu movies as a whole.
2. And that is not such a bad thing,as a whole. Let the Rahmans and Loys experiment with Rhythm and let the Himeshes churn out pointless dance music - when we want simple soothin melody, we will safely come back to MFM, knowing that we will get our peace and comfort. If that changes, then that is like building amusement parks in kovalam beach to attract tourists.
3. I think when someone says Kavya is yuck, that shows what this generation wants - made up plastic dolls with Zero acting talent. In such a scenario, it is no wonder the scenario you mention
Also, when sometime back you listed all time great albums of MFM, most of them were indian-classical based. That probably shows why MFM is what it is. I mean, you cant even think of such outstanding efforts like GURU or MDK, which though werent based on the indian idiom, Especially GURU, which touched musical heights that very few mallu albums rpeviously would have managed to.
It shows that to an extent mallus are limited in music appreciation - cant go beyond certain idioms and phrases. I mean no disrespect. Kerala makes great movies in many genres. But when it comes to music…
raj - not sure whether you have listened to devarajan/raveendran’s/baburaj’s compositions.
malayalam music ROCKS. while there may not be enuf dance numbers or hip hops, theres more than the share of the melody
Vinay, I have acknowledged the greatness of MFM in melody definitely. But what I meant was that greatness of music need not only be in melody. And that somehow, MFM, while welcoming outstanding efforts like GURU, dont put them in the pedestal they deserve to be in.
Ofcourse, Devarajan, Baburaj, Raveendran, Dhakshinamoorthy have all blazed a glorious trail. Even average composers in mallu like MGR or Johnson would be above-average elsewhere. But I definitely feel that there is a cosy comfort-zone dwelling by mallu composers.
The point is Malayalam industry excels in various genres of movies but excels only in one genre of music - classical-based, semi-classical based or raga-based or soothing melodies.
Again, to reiterate, stupid award ceremonies arent an indication of the inferiority complex. Rather I would say it is the security factor. I think Mallus are secure in the knowledge that while they will dance to ‘foreign’ tunes and words, when it comes to calling the best and opinions on all time greats, their choice would always unanimously be mally movies, mallu directors, actors and musicians. Culturally they feel secure is what I feel.
This is the same as I feel with respect to TFM - there is no doubt that MSV, IR and ARR are perhaps the greatest film composers from South India ever. I can appreciate other music in the secure knowledge that when it comes to callign the best, we have had the best of them all.
All of them have tenuous links to Kerala as well -MSV in his personal life and IR because of the wonderful movies he has done in Mallu while ARR’s father RK Sekar was a respected Assistant to many Mallu MD’s.
Also, in a way, I am happy that way because if you seee, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi music are indistinguishable these days. Atleast, Kerala is retaining its individuality. But it also means that you will have to look out when you want other genres of music.
And I have to mention Sharath here, and he doesnt even get much appreciation among Mallus?
“We should not have hatred towards Hindi the way Tamilians do”
There is a very thin line between the moustache twirling, rasam drinking, Tamizh ranting politician from Madurai/Chennai and you.
“In fact they are cool and we should enjoy the latest AR Rahman album or Pritam’s adaptation of Korean songs.”
This is exactly what Karunanidhi’s predecssors must have said and you know how that turned out.
First principle of mass communication - Give the people what they want…
Speaking about influences, Indian cinema as a whole in the international stage is just like Keralite cinema.
We should learn something from our neighbors to the east (Hong Kong, Japanese, Korean).
they have made an impact, and have influenced western cinema.