Mollywood, once known for its strong content and performances, has recently taken a different turn by limiting the content and adding more catchy elements like slow mos, catchy music (especially giving importance to that one song portion which hooks the new gen), and others. Now, with the arrival of ‘Marco’, ‘Rifle Club’, ‘Pani’, and others incoming, another element of blood shed has been added to it, which indeed has worked and most of those films have turned out to be superhits. A big question now lies ahead, is the Malayalam film industry relying too much on violent action flicks or is it just another trend that will fade away?
WOM in digital era
Audiences attention span has been affected due to the arrival of Instagram reels and other short contents. This issue has majorly affected cinemas which follow a slow-pace style storytelling which builds its pace towards the end. A quick remedy that majority of the filmmakers have found is by delivering fast paced action movies with sequences that the audiuences can edit and share as Instagram reels, increasing the mileage of the movie.
Another remedy for the filmmakers to give their films more reach and make the audiences watch their film in theatres is to add a specific unique element in the film and promote it. In the case of ‘Marco’ the makers promoted it with the tagline ‘The most violent movie in Malayalam’. The makers have done justice to what they promised. More than this, what worked is the digital era Word of mouth, which makes the audiences go and watch the film. Several viewers shared their opinions about the film’s second half, hyping up the intensity of cruelty done by the villain gang in the second half. A new gen viewer watching all the short clips hyping up the violence factor in the film, creates an interest in actually paying for a ticket for the film. The most effective way to attract viewers in this new era is via action and fast paced storylines.
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook)
Good comedy movies are lacking – Salim Kumar
During an interaction at an event conducted by Manorama, the legendary actor Salim Kumar criticized too much violence in Malayalam cinema. He said, “Name one good comedy film that happened recently. I will definitely say that the answer is no. There were numerous good comedy films back in the day, now the industry lacks good comedy films that really make you laugh,”
He said that Malayalam cinema has become a butcher shop, showcasing extreme violence. Salim kumar further shared that although the new artists are good in action and other skills, the majority of them lack good comedy delivering skills.
Why violence?
Majority of the people go and watch a movie to experience something that they can’t get in real life. Earlier movies like ‘Harry Potter’, or other fantasy films gained momentum due to the fact that these films opened new doors for the audiences that are not available for them in real life. Slowly the majority of the audiences turned to action and violent movies which gave them a sort of intense feel and also to let go of their guilty pleasure. Most of them turned to Korean or English films like ‘Saw’, ‘I saw the devil’ and other foreign movies to experience something that they have never seen before or will ever see in real life.
The same element has been now added to Malayalam cinema which can be considered as a bold attempt or just coping up with the current trend. Not everyone wants to see their own boring real life on-screen.
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook)
‘Marco’ worked not only because of it’s violence – Tovino Thomas
Billed as the most violent Indian film, ‘Marco’ had received much appreciation from the audiences. Tovino Thomas, in a media interaction, had a different view point about the film’s success. While promoting his film ‘Identity’, Tovino praised the Unni Mukundan starrer as he said, “Marco’ is a great film, not just because of its performances but also due to its technical brilliance. The portrayal of violence felt authentic, but I don’t believe the movie’s success relied solely on that aspect. Any emotion, when conveyed powerfully to the audience, can make a movie a success.”
Emotions matter, not violence
Exactly like how Tovino Thomas said, emotions work the best in a movie. For any violent scene to create an impact among the audiences, they should be emotionally invested in the character.
Taking an example from Joju George’s directorial ‘Pani’, you feel hatred towards the two villain characters played by Sagar and Junaiz, because of the evil deeds they did and the climax violent sequence, give the audience a sort of satisfaction. And thinking that the audiences who loved the violent climax sequence have a sort of evil nature inside them, and worrying that these scenes may let the viewers to set revenge on someone, is surely childish, because that’s what cinema is, and should be – to create emotions and offer a pleasure that the audiences can’t get in real life.
Same is the case with action. A story for an action flick may not be a classic one, but if it emotionally hooks you, then that’s the success, and majority of the recent Malayalam action flicks that turned out to be superhits, does the same.
Another great example is the Hindi film ‘Kill’. All of the action scenes in the film works well just because you are emotionally hooked to the characters and also you genuinely feel the hero to take down all those cruel villains who are the reason for the mishap.
Upcoming movies
There are high chances that the filmmakers may try to follow the same pattern of violence in ‘Marco’, ‘Pani’, and others and this can lead to a tiresome experience for the audiences, if they are not effectively told or the audiences are not emotionally hooked to the characters.
Hopefully, majority of the highly anticipated upcoming Malayalam films fall under diverse genres like Mohanlal’s family drama film ‘Thudarum’, Mammootty’s investigative comedy film ‘Dominic & the Ladies’ Purse’, Prithviraj Sukumaran’s ‘L2 Empuraan’, Jayasurya’s ‘Kathanar: The Wild Sorcerer’, and others.