So finally after quite some effort to get tickets (unusual for a Malayalam movie in Bangalore) I managed to see the much awaited ’2 Harihar Nagar’. Everyone was talking about it, some to the extent that it is the best movie in Malayalam in a long time, which was quite believable looking at the standard of some of the recent flicks I had seen.

This post is not about a review for the movie, so I’ll keep it short. The movie was just about ok. First half was excellent with some good humour (if you can excuse some really bad PJs in between). Second half was at best average, too much emo and twists and turns. But enjoyable anyway. Lal (the director and producer) however has realized the power of nostalgia. Solely due to this, the movie is going to make big bucks. It works on that feeling you get when you think of the golden age of Malayalam cinema that ‘In Harihar Nagar’ was part of.

I was probably 5 years old when the original was released and I remember going to the theatre with my parents and cousins for this. My mind was too young to really grasp the full crux of all that was happening on screen. But watching it again (and again) during adulthood, made me realize how ‘real’ this movie was. The basic plot was too outrageous to be real, but what I mean are the fine details. Every silly joke in that movie, I have seen played around me or I can imagine being played around me. That was the real brilliance behind the original and why it turned out to be a cult classic in Kerala. Every person who has some ‘malluness’ in him, would know those punchlines by heart.

I have heard loads of complaints from my non-Keralite friends, saying that Malayalam films are too real (won’t say that about the recent ones though), that there is no feeling of escapism in them. Well I love ‘real’, and I think most Malayalees do too. Maybe we didn’t need that escapism, maybe it’s already provided to us by all the ‘gelf’ money, lazyness and all the booze that we didn’t need them in the movies. But ‘real’ films owned the market in Malayalam and probably that was the major reason why the recent ‘superhero larger-than-life’ films fail. They should go back to making films like they used to! Those Mohanlal ‘unemployed’ flicks, Mamootty’s family movies, Mukesh’s ‘fraud’ movies, Jayaram’s ‘how-to-escape-from-a-big-mess’ flicks, Padmarajan’s classics, Sreenivasan’s satires… aww.. it was such a beautiful world!

I got bit by the nostalgia bug again! Back to those old cds (.avi’s rather)… ;)

I have been watching a lot of English flicks nowadays, and naturally I have spotted a few ripoffs. But most of these have been sad Bollywood remakes of brilliant movies (with exceptions off course – “Kante” vs “Reservoir Dogs”). Along the way I came across a few Malayalam movies exported from Hollywood. Well, Malayalam flicks nowadays have generally have the reputation of Hindi movies being ripped off from it thanks to the one and only Priyadarshan., but this is about the other side of the truth…

I had a light bulb flashing over my head, when I was watching Hitchcock’s classic “Vertigo” yesterday. The first half of the movie reminded me of the pyscho-thriller “Manichithrathazhu” (which was ripped off into Kannada as Apta Mithra, Tamil as the horrible Chandramukhi and recently in Hindi as Bhool Bhulaiyya). However to be honest I don’t think the movie was really a rip off. The plot went in a totally different direction and the worst you can say is maybe the mallu movie was inspired in part by the concept (which was a relief, I didn’t really like the idea that one of my favourite movies was a rip off). But that isn’t the case with the list of movies I present below:

1. Thalavattom (1986) vs One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) : This was almost a direct lift with a romantic plot added and some adjustments made to suite the locale differences. Even then I have to say Mohanlal has done a good job with this one. Both movies have that great quality of providing you with some emotional distress that lingers in your mind.

2. Nirnayam (1995) vs Fugitive (1991) : Well a rip off can’t be more direct than this. Nirnayam was just an OK masala flick for me, the movie is most famous for the looks of Mohanlal and the incredibly stupid scene of him driving (flying) an ambulance over a few police jeeps. Was also ripped off in Telugu and Hindi as “Criminal”, but it did have that great song – “Tu mile.. dil khile..”

3. Life is Beautiful (2000) vs Dead Poets Society (1989) : Another direct lift, pretty poor too I should say for an actor of the caliber of Mohanlal. The original was such a brilliant movie. Robbin Williams was too good in it.

4. Ayushkalam (1992) vs Ghost (1990) : Not a direct lift, but the general plot and concept are too similar to forgive. But incredibly both movies are really enjoyable to watch.

5. Thooval Sparsham (1990) vs 3 Men and a Baby (1987) : If you have seen the mallu movie, the title of the English original should be enough to note that it is stolen (or inspired if you may!). Recently was remade into Hindi as “Hey Baby”

The list must be longer than I think. There are a lot of B-grade mallu movies, that are culprits too.. I don’t even bother to put them here! :D The whole point is, is there so much shortage of good stories? There is enough talent in the industry to produce good movies, so do we really need to get “inspired” from the west? I don’t understand…