FIFTY YEARS OF MALAYALAM CINEMA - V. C. Harris (1958-2017)

 

 

V. C. Harris (1958-2017) was a teacher, thinker, critic, theatre personality and translator.  “Ezhuthum Parachilum” and “Spectres of writing” are the books authored by him.  Here, he traces the history of fifty years of Malayalam cinema beginning with Neelakkuyil (1954) and ending with “Padam Onnu Oru Vilapam” (2003).  According to him, the optimism of the 1950s changed into discontent and disillusionment in the 1960s.  The cinemas of 1970s and 1980s reflected the impacts of modernism and National emergency.  But the films of 1990s didn’t reflect the political and cultural turbulent  situation that had been there, then. However, the music in films has effectively constructed for all the people public sphere for their past and future.

As Kerala has a different socio-political history from the rest of India, it has a distinct film making tradition.  In 1940s and 1950s, the processes of artistic productions in cinema were determined by issues like caste inequality, class consciousness, nationalism and progress.  So, optimism and enthusiasm that existed then was found in “Neelakkuyil” (1954), jointly directed by P. Bhaskaran and Ramukariat.  As many ingredients like a local story, a modern secular subject and fine music were fused into it, it is still considered to be a land mark film in Malayalam.  A decade later, another similar film “Chemmeen” (1965) by Ramukariat that focused on the local culture and mythology of fishing community in Kerala, created another landmark.

The new cinema that emerged in the early 1970s, led by Adoor Gopalakirshnan, G. Aravindan and John Abraham was dubbed as “Art Cinema”.  It was a response to the shifting grounds of politics and aesthetics.  “Swayamvaram” (1972) by Adoor Gopala Krishnan was the inaugural film of this type.  In a slightly different but related way, “Thampu” (1978) by G. Aravindan came next and showed a village community facing the modernity represented by the coming of a circus troupe.  The questioning of religious practices by secularization and modernization was portrayed in M. T. Vasudevan Nair’s “Nirmalyam” (1973).  As National emergency was declared in 1975, all political and civil rights were curtailed.  As a few politicians, government functionaries and the police had all the power, people were disillusioned at this time. Though this period produced a crop of films, of which “Amma Ariyan” (John Abraham, 1986) is a remarkable example of this period. It is an important document on the rise and fall of the revolutionary spirit in contemporary Kerala.

In 1990s the liberalization, privatization and globalization began to play a crucial role.  So, this period began to articulate the concerns of women, the dalits and the adhivasis.  There have been attempts to refine the form and content of the cinema.  Shaji N Karun’s “Vanaprastham, the last dance”, (1999) portrayed an illicit relationship between a kathakali dancer and a young woman from an upper caste family resulted in an illegitimate child.  T.V. Chandran’s “Padam Onnu Oru Vilapam (2003) effectively redefined the subject of art in the light of shifting societal perceptions.  Apart from all these, the film music addressed all the sections of the society, created a public sphere, a space where all kinds of people can come together and share a common experience and chart out a common agenda for life today and tomorrow.

----Thulasidharan V