Now, we implore Mr.Amitabh Bachan to do a similar gesture. Mr.Bachan should share the award with Sasi Kozhikode, who would have won the award if he had worn the latex mask. This way, both Ranjith and the Bachchan clan would be happy.

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Now Roshan Andrews has challenged Ranjith’s latex mask assertion. He said that we should just swallow the blue pill and go down the rabbit hole without questioning the jury. He said there is always a controversy and it reflects poorly on Malayali culture.

Really? Why should we Malayalis accept what the jury says? We have a strong case with Paleri Manikyam, Pazhassi Raja and Kutti Sranku. So it is not just an emotional argument. Second, “culture wise”, we have bigger problems to handle, like ranking high in suicide, drinking like world is going to end, bandh and hartal if Saddam Hussein is hanged, a money order economy, Peedanam, Vanibham etc. Compared to that in the cultural pecking order, a protest for a national award ranks right above issues like why Suraj Venjaramoodu was cast in Gulumaal.

So let us protest. Unless of course Mr. Bachchan is willing to share his award with Pazhassi Raja.

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KR Mohanan and Shaji N Karun had a public spat on Satellite Television over the National awards. Mohanan commented that Reliance Big Pictures, producers of Kutty Srank bought the award for that movie. Shaji N Karun was enraged at that assertion.

Now look at this. Producer of Paa is AB Corp and Reliance Big Pictures. Producer of Kutty Sranku is Reliance Big Pictures. So who is the real award winner?

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We at VC love National Awards, we wish there were more of them.

If you had thought that the ‘poor boy meets rich girl, sparks fly at an odd hour’ kind of stories are a thing of the past, think again. Debutant director Ramakanth Sarju’s Utharaswayamvaram talks about such a tale which obviously looks outdated and perhaps like one of those boring, mushy serials on the small screen! [Utharaswayamvaram]

Now if such a movie flops, the only person who can be blamed is the producer. He took a risk, a stupid one, and made a loss. No amount of laws passed by AMMA and various organizations can make a hit out of this.

Instead of imposing artificial financial restrictions on producers, the “band-aid” folks should have asked Ranjith what should be done to revive Malayalam cinema. He would have said two things: (1) show people something new and (2) switch to literature.

Kerala Cafe, a film by ten film makers, ten camera men, ten music directors, is a step in that direction. There is a novelty to it and there is a curiousness to it. It is the boldest experiment in Malayalam cinema in a long time by a person who was bold enough to think different.

Another movie directed by Ranjith is getting released this week, Paleri Manikyam which is based on TP Rajeevan’s novel, Paleri Manikyam – Oru Pathirakkolapathakathinte Katha. It is “a remarkable Malayalam work of recent times.”

Paleri Manikyam too has its own share of novelties. 40, yes forty, new artists are being introduced in this movie. That because Renjith feels that there is a need for fresh faces in Malayalam cinema. These 40 actors were selected from theater and were benefited from acting workshop held at Kozhikkode, arranged by Renjith before the shooting commenced.  Leading Malayalam actors and directors took classes in the workshop.

With these 2 movies – Kerala Cafe and Paleri Manikyam, Renjith achieves what AMMA, FEPKA and various other alphabet soups can only dream – that is to make a difference.  Something brilliant which is not pretentious, but sufficiently entertaining to attract viewers, imaginative thinking in place of restrictive policies. It is bold experiments like these which will sustain Malayalam film industry, not an artificial limit of 3.5 crore on film making.

Image courtesy: rediff.com

Very often we have lamented about the sad state of Malayalam Cinema where only superstar movies provide guaranteed return. Why don’t Malayalees encourage youngsters or why don’t we have great scripts like the ones seen two decades back? These are questions we always asked.

Most often we hear the response that the “taste” has changed and film makers are just trying to cater new delicacies that tickle the palette. While that is acceptable, what we would like to see is film makers, who go against the convention. Now if you look for film makers like that there are plenty, but their movies remain in cans and you hear about a few of them when they win awards.

Real success is when you make an off beat film which is accepted by the masses. So it brings great joy to us to see Thirakkatha complete fifty days. The success of this movie is a tribute to Ranjith’s skill as a writer and if he is able produce occasional movies like this in the midst of his Narasimhams it would do good both for the industry and the actors involved.

We know that one swallow does not make a spring, but at least the success of this movie  shows that Malayalees are willing to give good Malayalam movies a chance so long as the movie has something fresh and is well made.

Here’s couple of reviews of this movie:

IndiaGlitz says that the movie is Thirakkatha – refreshingly different

The highlight of the movie is definitely the exquisite script work by the director, telling the plot as monologues of different personalities involved. This juxtaposing of stories between past and present may sound very complex and confusing, but in reality ‘Thirakkatha’ is one of the simplest stories you will ever see. The complexity comes from the depth of the characters, the strength of the script, and the extra investment that every single actor brings to their roles.

The story offers a lot of curiosity about whom on which the movie is based. The makers have placed the late actress Sreevidhya, directors Bharathan and Padmarajan on the posters and presented the movie as a tribute to the late beautiful actress. The movie also shows striking similarity with many actual incidents that happened in the eighties like the film ‘Kazhinja Manjukaalam’ that introduces three stars -of which the villain later turns out to become the superstar. The movie also shows the sets of ‘Rudhiram’ (or is it Roudram?) where the super star even behaves like a police officer even in his own circles, outside the film’s sets.

sify.com says that movie is ‘Quite Good’:

Director Ranjith has gone to tinsel town for his new film Thirakatha. It is about the importance of a script in filmmaking and how it evolves. But what makes this script more interesting is that the main characters are from the show world.

It is his pursuit for a new theme that takes director Akbar Ahmed (Prithviraj) to the tragic affair between Malavika (Priyamani), a yesteryear heroine who has gone into oblivion now, and the evergreen hero Ajayachandran (Anoop Menon).