Trivia

• MJ Radhakrishnan(Cinematography), M Jayachandran(Music Direction), T. Krishnanunni(Sound Recording), Vrinda(Choreography) won the Kerala state award in 2007 too in their respective fields.
• Jury Chairman Girish Kasaravalli commented that no short film, documentary or Children’s film made the mark.
• Jury Chairman also commented that there was no confusion this time on selection of awards and he also stated the obvious – that the quality of Malayalam movies have gone down.
• Lal has the unique distinction of being a succesful director, producer and now best actor.
• This year none of the super stars, minor stars , wannabe stars, meteors, comets or asteroids were anywhere near the awards.
  

Update(4th June, 2009):  Looks like it’s tough times at India Glitz, they have decided to ‘outsource’  HTML development.

Q: Films like “:Lage Raho Munnabhai” or “Rang De Basanti” are touted in the media as cinematic revolutions. All the time very mediocre work is done in commercial cinema, and even slight variations are billed as revolutions. How do you see this trend?

A: I have not seen these films, but it is a good thing if media embraces something different. See, the Bombay industry never has had this ambition about going abroad or doing different things. They are very happy with their business, with the NRIs watching their films and giving them money from everywhere. Now they have the ambition, but they don’t have the equipment. They try to promote rubbish at international level. You take all the Bombay films to a place like Brussels and from there you have international awards for the Bombay films – that’s a very stupid notion. You congratulate yourself for producing rubbish, and you do it 20 times every year. It is self congratulatory and it is a very pathetic situation. People laugh at you and ridicule you because of that.

More than 2 years back we had written on this topic.

For a while now there has been consistent and concerted push towards projecting Hindi movies as Indian movies, be it in Cannes, or for Oscars or National awards. More and more Hindi movies are trying to identify themselves closer to Hollywood rather than to India while they are just starting to get rid of stories where twin brothers get lost in childhood and meet after 20 years. Even though there are talented actors, directors and technicians in South India, Hindi cinema has always muscled them out, probably due to inferiority complex.

If the IIFA awards are to come anywhere near the league of other International festivals like Cannes/Berlin, the organizers have to take off their bias towards Hindi films and give equal footage to regional language films as well. That might mean less Hindi movies might get selected and the Karan Johar genre might not be showcased, but that is the way to make this festival truly Indian. [Hindi Films = Indian Films?]

And here’s veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee talking about Bollywood’s hegemonism in the National awards:

Awards don’t mean anything to me. They never did. Especially at this point in my life. I am completely disillusioned.I haven’t forgotten that once Jennifer Kapoor in Aparna (Sen)’s 36 Chowringhee Lane lost the National Award to Rekha  (Umrao Jaan ) despite having put in a much better performance than the Bollywood star.

A National Award calls for a lot of lobbyism; it is not an honest appreciation of someone’s skill. [A National award calls for lot of lobbyism]

It was news when Mohanlal met Adoor Gopalakrishnan at latter’s house last year for breakfast. Many speculated that an alliance is in offing between the two. It was widely reported in the media that Mohanlal will act in Adoor’s next movie, many considered that as equivalent of climbing Mt.Everest in Mohanlal’s career. Then we read that Adoor’s new movie’s name was Moonnu Pennungal (Three Women). Fans and public thought that this was going to be a love rectangle. Then news about movie’s star cast was announced and Mohanlal’s name was not found. Now Sify reports that Adoor rejected the idea that he ever talked to Mohanlal about acting in his next movie.

In a shocking development, noted director Adoor Gopalakrishnan has denied that Mohanlal was a part of his new film! The doyen of world cinema said: “It was just a media-made casting. I have never talked to Mohanlal about a film”.

A peeved Mohanlal when contacted in Mumbai where he is shooting for Ramgopal Varma’s Sholay refused to comment. Meanwhile Adoor is starting his new film titled Moonnu Pennungal (3 Women) from Sunday, March 11 at Ambalapuzha. The cast has Nandita Das, Padmapriya and Kavya Madhavan as the three women. Manoj K.Jayan, Mukesh, Jagathy and Jagadhish are in supporting roles. [Adoor miffed]

Many questions arise now. Why did Mohanlal have breakfast with Adoor? What did they talk during the breakfast? How many Masala Dosas did Mohanlal eat?

If a boy and girl are seen talking in a neighborhood, immediately the public assume that something is cooking between them, when in all probability the girl could be asking the boy, “Why are you always searching for Mamata Mohandas on Varnachitram.com?” Mohanlal is a good cook and probably he went to Adoor’s house to compare notes on how to make Chicken Chilli Fry. The journalistic media, which is suposed to follow high standards in reporting, added 1 and 1 and got 3, giggled like a school girl and reported it immediately.

One can’t blame the media alone for it. There is nothing exciting happening in Malayalam Film World. Mammotty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Kalabhavan Mani movies are released in the same predictability as sunrise and sunset. So when odd things happen like Shakeela acting in a Mohanlal movie or Mohanlal meeting Adoor it is reported with the same seriousness as Achyutanandan signing ADB loan which he opposed while in opposition. Unless of course, to outdo Dileep’s role in Chanthupottu, Mohanlal auditioned for the role of one of the Moonu Pennungal.

Tomorrow if news comes out that the editors of varnachitram.com met with Adoor, please don’t read too much into it. We are not writing or starring in the movie.