15 MOST ENDURING LAST SHOTS IN MALAYALAM CINEMA that will stay with you for a while

film Aparan

“Spoiler Alert”. If there is something more long lasting than a first impression, it has to be that last impression. In fact some goodbyes stay with you much longer than you think. Maybe that’s why some people are remembered more for their last words than the lifetime of discourse they spend the better part of their time yapping. Movie endings have a similar effect. While the climaxes are critical in defining the plot and the overall viewing experience, that final shot where the frame freezes right before the end credits roll are capable of making a lasting impression. Some last shots are so striking they stay with you for days and at times weeks and months. They may variously be optimistic, heartbreaking or shocking, but the good ones certainly last. Following is a list of such lasting ‘last shots’ in Malayalam films that will positively stay with you for a while, be it elating or unsettling.

10 ESSENTIAL FILMS OF THE MALAYALAM NEO NEW WAVE thus far

film 1983

We faltered, and then we learned. At least so it appears from the drastic change- both in quality and earnestness- noticeable in films that are being made since 2010 in the Malayalam language. As opposed to the spell of kitschy products that were churned out in the 2000s, a genus of new experimental cinema is visibly in the making, and not to be misunderstood with the groundbreaking New Wave that uplifted Malayalam Cinema in the 1970s, this new age movement, bidding on smaller themes and unconventional narrative techniques, seems to have taken shape from a willful attempt to stay away from the formulaic Malayalam blueprint that had grown to full-fledged tripe in the 2000s. Like never before, a plethora of films addressing the life and issues of the expat and the urban Malayali also came into being, and a volley of exceedingly unconventional characters took shape in these stories. Although this intentional cry ‘to be different at any cost’ has intermittently created a bunch of cocky unsavory results, there are also some fruitful efforts with popular appeal that stood out in their thematic excellence and alternative executions. Following is a list of ten such new generation films that will give you an introduction to the merits of the Malayalam NEO NEW WAVE. Let’s hope this ‘wave’ takes a really high sweep before it turns to land, or never land all.

15 GREAT EXAMPLES OF MALAYALAM FILMS THAT BEGIN ‘IN MEDIAS RES’

film Oru Vadakkan Veera Gatha

The way a story is told is as important as the story itself, only if not more, no matter how amusing the subject matter. Even a great story could go down the q-trap if not narrated in a way appealing to the listener. There are several narrative techniques used in literature and films, which in order to hold the interest of the reader or the audience, employ various elements to set a sequence of events in the plot to do justice to the overall story. ‘In medias res’ is one such technique that is as popular as is effective. Latin for “in the middle of things”, this is when a book or movie starts in the middle of the story creating curiosity, and the bygone events are filled in through flashbacks or verbal accounts. There are several films in Malayalam that begins in medias res, where we are thrown right into the middle of action and the root cause of it all comes out only in time. Following is a list of such movies that brilliantly employ this non-linear narrative technique, scrambling the time sequence in ways beneficial to the story, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they are better or worse than each other as movies in whole, but only in their effectiveness in having started in medias res alone.

10 MOST SURPRISING PLOT TWISTS IN MALAYALAM MOVIE HISTORY that you never saw coming

“Spoiler Alert”. With a sizeable reserve of investigative thrillers and detective films, Malayalam cinema has long tasted the amusing tremors of good plot twists both mild and harsh over time, be it in the form of unforeseen revelations in great whodunits like Oru CBI Diary Kurippu or surprise endings as in Thenmavin Kombathu. Furthermore they have not stuck merely to crime genres, but have enriched our experience in drama as well as comedy with its radical change in the direction of the overall narrative, emerging at the most unlikeliest of instances. Following is a list of some such surprising plot twists that are both clever and disorienting. Some of the most popular whodunits are excluded considering the long anticipation that steals most of the fun away from the shock element.

15 MOST DANGEROUS VILLAINS IN MALAYALAM CINEMA we all love to hate

film Paleri Manikyam

Villains have always been an integral part of movie history, and the share of its Malayalam contributions have some brilliant ones that have stood out and have become more memorable than their good counterparts over time owing to their seething wickedness and idiosyncrasies that made us cringe with aversion. Following is a list of the very best of such bad guys that have enticed us with their sheer evilness and corruption in Malayalam films.

15 MALAYALAM MOVIES FROM THE 2000s you don’t want to miss

film Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja

Literally the Dark Ages in the history of Malayalam Cinema, the noughties was an absolute disaster as much with their mindless choices of subjects as with their appalling executions. More often than not they were characterized by a general lack of sensitivity, jarring aesthetics and outlandish productions. It was also a period when the graph of theatregoers drastically plummeted, and quite not unreasonably. An industry that was known to produce gems of the likes of Moonnam Pakkam, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Bharatham brilliantly blurring the difficult lines that separated the egotistical art-house cinema from their popular formulaic counterparts, was reduced to mind numbing idiocy and larger-than-life mockery with absolute disregard for visual imagery, and lasted almost an agonizingly long decade. However amidst the storm of such mass stinkers there were occasional glimmers of hope that kept our faith in the art form from totally dying out a wretched death. Following is a list of such rays of hope that was a saving grace and an exception to the barrage of bad taste that ruled the decade.

7 FANTASY FILMS IN MALAYALAM that are worth seeing

film Njan Gandharvan

For a people that viewed anything slightly deviating from the normal with distrust or sarcasm, creating something that challenged realism altogether remained a dare forever. In cinema, fantasy has never been a successful Malayali staple, although it was tried one too many times, and not entirely without occasional successes. But they never earned the appreciation that films with realistic themes did, maybe owing to the alien nature of its subject matter, or due to a general incompetence in convincingly executing the essential surreal imagery. However this had not completely deterred our filmmakers, who occasionally used fantasy to form the spine of narration as in the form of the apparition of St. Francis in Pranchiettan & the Saint and the comic plot line with the lead ghosts in Ayushkaalam and Pappan Priyapetta Pappan. But to step a few serious paces ahead, the challenge was mostly to stay within the confines of realism and put forward the idea of fantasy unhurriedly and as matter-of-factly as possible. Following is a list of such bold attempts in Malayalam language that were both indigenous enough to involve the audience and effective enough to enchant them, far from the glitz and magnanimity of its Hollywood parallels that had long owned the genre.

10 MALAYALAM MOVIES WITH COMPLEX FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIPS

 

                                                                             film Kireedam

There is no dearth of Malayalam movies dealing with the warmth and compassion in relationships between fathers and sons. Deshadanam, Thanmatra, Pappayude Swantham Appoos and Piravi among others, portray the said bond that could be variously classified as loving, friendly, protective, understanding and so on. But these relationships with the given variables of society, circumstances, and one’s inherent nature, more often than not, complicate matters resulting in slightly different outcomes, and these too are portrayed brilliantly in Malayalam movies. Following is a list of such particularly complex father-son relationships that deviate from those conventional ones built on love and respect alone, that you might want to reflect upon. That six out of the ten in the list feature one of the stalwarts of Malayalam cinema, Thilakan, says quite something about this late veteran actor and eternal father we will all love and admire forever in all his diverse avatars.

20 MALAYALAM COMEDY MOVIES that will make you laugh till it hurts

film Sanmanasullavarku Samadhanam

As the man once said, “Laughter is the best medicine”, it’s been long since man has started talking about the importance of laughter and longer still since he’s been laughing. We have always known the importance of comedy movies and we’ve been continuously making them for a long time, in fact in great quantity too. Malayalam Cinema has produced countless good comedies over the years although the language barrier has jaded its popularity to a niche audience. It's extremely difficult to sum them all up in a list of twenty, but the ones listed are invariably a few of the best examples in the genre and will make you laugh till it hurts real bad.  So have a blast!

10 VISUALLY STUNNING MALAYALAM MOVIES of all time

film Vanaprastham

Inspired by his own inherent obsession with good looks, Man has reserved a considerable judgment based on appearance even when it comes to his own creations. This has formed the basis of art appreciation the world over, even movie critiquing. While there is no dearth of good-looking films in Malayalam in general, there might be a serious scarcity of those ones with quality. There is also a general tendency to assume a visually stunning film to be one with lots of style and absolutely no substance. So the following ten Malayalam films are chosen on the basis of its artistic merit as much as their visual relevance.

12 MALAYALAM MURDER MYSTERY MOVIES totally worth your time

# No Spoilers #

film Mukham

Long before the invention of cinema, mystery stories, and most of all, murder mysteries have been observed to be of high entertainment value as short stories, novels as well as plays. Then movies came, and they started making murder mystery movies that were a hugely popular genre, and that has continued to evolve in setting and style as the time went by. In Malyalam cinema, this genre has had a wide palette of patrons and a wider range of audience to relish it. We have always loved them! Following is a list of some of the greatest murder mystery movies in the Malayalam language that is absolutely worth your time.

15 GREATEST FEMALE CHARACTERS IN MALAYALAM CINEMA

Our cinema without the bulk of feminine presence that has kept us grounded over the years since its very conception would have ended up being merely a testosterone-ridden butch-fest with brutish energy aimlessly whip-lashing in ever possible directions, not to mention the threat of repetitive themes and restricted premises. While critics are going nonstop about the lack of good female characters in films world over, there was luckily no dearth of their powerful presence in Malayalam cinema (overlooking the 2000s maybe) from the time of the melodramatic excesses of the black and white era. They never stopped coming at us as sensual divas, crazy lovers, caring mothers, nagging wives, frightening psychos, despotic leaders and charming prostitutes. Here is a list of some of the most memorable female characters in Malayalam cinema immortalized by our rich tradition of talented actors, although not all of them are brought to fruition solely by the goodwill of the respective actors, as most of them wouldn’t have taken off the ground without the bountiful blessings of a handful of gifted dubbing artists working in the industry.

5 MOST DISTURBING MALAYALAM MOVIES that will mess with your head

Be it the spurting jet of blood in a cock fighting pit or the spinning head of a decapitated gladiator, man has discovered scope of sport and entertainment in the misery and pain of others from the beginning of mankind. It must be from these basic reflexes that unsavory graphics of blood as well as traumatic subjects causing mental agony gradually infiltrated the thematic range and sensibilities of world cinema. Malayalam films have however refrained more-or-less from graphical representation of gore and violence as much as possible, but in turn focused more on the psychologically unsettling aspects of sadistic relish when urged by the same instinct, but always staying within artistic confines. There are quite a lot of upsetting films made in Malayalam cinema based on disturbing themes, be it the prolonged claustrophobia in Bharathan’s Malootty or spiraling hopelessness in Blessy’s Thanmatra, but none matches up to the haunting aftertaste that the following five leaves in any sane man’s psyche for days on end.  And none of it has the buffer of any form of stylistic flourishes to ease out the pain.

20 MALAYALAM MOVIES FROM THE 1990s you don’t want to miss

Still from film Vanaprastham

When the golden years of the 80s came to a close in Malayalam cinema, there wasn’t much anybody assumed could be made to trump the sheer excellence of it’s creativity and inventive oeuvre. But what followed in the 90s was not all that disappointing in the beginning, with its fair share of brilliance that would gradually thin out, but not disappear completely even by the end of it. Hence here is a list of those ones that you certainly don’t want to miss from the decade following the prime. Since Malayali audience has never been prejudiced about studio films and independent films, the list have a mixture of commercial as well as art-house movies from all genres possible.