Of Excellence,Consumerism and ManKind

When i started actively watching Malayalam movies about 2 years back,the initial reactions from many of my friends varied from "Are you trying to impress any mallu girl" to "Are you crazy about Mallu sleaze stuff".I don't fault them.What they see is what they know.Trouble is some people don't want to take the trouble to explore to get quality stuff.They want it to always fall in their lap.

Coming back to 'Thanmatra',when I came out of the cinema hall,I had a feeling of ecstasy after seeing what i felt was a phenomenal movie.But the reactions from the predomiant Mallu movie going crowd there baffled me quite a bit.There were many sounds of "Okay","Quite Good","Nice" etc.On observing these reactions and on parallely watching some yesteryear Mallu movie in CDs and on TV,I understood the logic of why the Malayalam film industry could come up with fantastic movies studded with very good screenplays and powerhouse performances.

The Malayalam Film Industry would make an ideal choice for a B-School case study on a topic like 'Consumer Driven Quality Model'.About 25 years back their industry was no great shakes.At about that period of time there was a influx of extremely talented induviduals like Mohanlal , Mamotty , Fazil , Priyadarshan and some great screenplay writers.But talent is omnipresent and can never be cited as the sole reason for the success of one particular industry.The real reason for the sustained outflow of path breaking content was something much more vital.

The real heroes and icons of the Industry were the public.They relentlessly supported good cinema and unceremoniously dumped any sort of even mildly sub standard stuff.The kind of good cinema which came out in the 80's and 90's is being felt even today with people like Priyadarshan and P.Vasu remaking those movies till date and making a fortune out of it.It isa simple example of how adamant consumerism can bring out outputs of the highest qualtiy from any Industry.

Today when you take stock of the Malayalam Film Industry you can find that they too are plagued by their share of problems like lack of talented preformers and gradual decay in audience taste. Their audience too have started craving for stupid commercial stuff.But even today they are ready to encourage a genuinely good movie,which cannot be confidently said about their other South Indian counterparts.The Tamil Industry's fate is very shaky with the flow good movies almost vanishing and the lesser said about Andhra and Karnataka the better.

The story of the rise of the Malayalam Film Industry is an extremely enocuraging tale to every consumer or end user in any industry.It is a story of how assertive you need to be to get what you want.It is a war of sorts against the arrogant Supplier and his substandard content.The only weapon with the Consumer is the power of 'Choice'.The need of the hour for ManKind is not the Kind Man but the Adamant Man.

Of Excellence,Thanmatra and Mankind

We are blessed to have some living Legends amidst us who cannot be described using trivial adjectives like 'Fantastic' or 'Outstanding' or 'Marvelous' etc. They actually are the ones who define the very course of their respective crafts .For eg: It would be stupid to say SPB is a great singer. Cause the fact is that he actually sketched the very course of Tamil Film Music for some 15 to 20 years.He is above all such trivial judgements by us mortals.

Proceeding on similar lines i would like to discuss a topics about which i have repeatedly bugged my close friends.But I can't resist blogging about it.

Based on a lot of encouraging reviews from many respectable quarters,One fine day I ventured into a cinema hall playing a movie which goes by the name 'Thanmatra'.The Lead Role(I use the word 'Lead Role and not 'Hero' cause frankly there is no Heroics here) was being played by a gentleman by name MohanLal.What i saw for the next 2 and a half hours was what all one could expect Good Cinema and Good Acting to stand for.

The movie starts off on a pleasant note by showing the routine lifestyle of the most normal of normal families along with their aspirations and challenges.It then starts to gradually build upon a sudden and unexpected illness which plagues Mohanlal and the challenges it poses to his family.It is also punctuated with stunning subplots like a father-son bonding and a very beautiful potrayal of childhood love.

I think most of you will agree that amidst the many Stars,Megastars,Ultimate Stars and few very unique Superstars we have some rare 'Gifted Actors' in our nation.If Mr.Lal is not part of your list yet,I would strongly reccomend you to watch this movie.I have been lucky enough to see few of his movies and each time i find that his best performance always seems to be from the very next movie of his which i am slated to see.

It would be very stupid to compare him with Mr.Ulaga Nayagan because of the vast differences with regard to linguistic,cultural,behavourial and many other parameters between the two neighbouring states.Both are geniuses and Masters of the craft in their own right.But their methods of acting make an interesting point of comparison.For eg:Assume both are required to play the character of a mad man.In case of Kamal you can get a feeling of having closely interacted with a mad man for 3 Hrs.In case of Lal you will start fearing about what will happen if you become mad.This is precisely what happenned in Kerala with a lot of 40 odd year olds rushing to psychatrists to enquire about Alzheimers after seeing Lal play a patient affected with the same in the movie.

The movie makes the viewer shed a drop or two of well deserved tears,not only for the moving storyline but also for the sheer limits of human creativity and excellence in terms of acting and direction.It makes one feel that this is the kind of excellence that mankind must ultimately strive to achieve.

To be contd..