After seeing the news article yesterday about this movie maybe being re-released with Hindi dubbing, I got curious and tracked down a sort-of legal online source so I could stream it. And I am kind of stunned that it hasn’t been dubbed already, and that I’d never heard about it before.
So, I’ve been watching Hindi movies for over a decade, but there are still a few I haven’t gotten around to, and others that I’ve seen but still haven’t written about. And I’ve barely started on Malayalam films. And I’ve only seen a few Tamil (Jeans, Ok Kanmani, Kandukondain Kandukondain, etc.) and Telugu (Bijjugaadi, Bahubaali, Mirchi, etc.) as well.
You have all been super nice about giving me suggestions and requests, and rather than hunting through old comments and old emails from friends whenever I need to find something to watch, I am going to put them all in one place. And if you see something missing from my list, or a miss-spelling, or anything that should be removed/changed, or an additional note I should add to the film, just note it in a comment and I will update the list!
UPDATE: I’m working through the list, the ones I’ve already written about now have links to the related post.
UPDATE 2: If it is a Hindi film from 2016 or later, just assume that I saw it opening night and wrote a regular review and summary of it, and search the full archives of the site to find those. Too many of those to list here!
I watched Classmates! After getting obsessed with it once I found out I couldn’t have it (this is also why I ended up ordering Traffic on DVD. It’s a sickness!). Well, that and after hearing about it in all sorts of places as being a landmark in the evolution of the Malayalam film industry.
I watched Drishyam! Finally breaking free of my rom-com streak! But I got Classmates delivered on DVD (finally!), so I’m going to watch that next and be back to rom-coms. Although, I think I saw somewhere that Classmates has a mystery at the heart of it along with the romance?
I wanted to watch Traffic last night, because it is supposed to be really good and groundbreaking, and the director just died, and I have been watching a ton of rom-coms and I need to rinse out my system with a thriller. But, no luck! Couldn’t find Traffic anywhere. However, Mili, by the same director, was readily available, so I watched that instead.
Another Nivin Pauly movie! Premam! Which I loved, but I should probably make it my last rom-com for a bit. I’ve been spoiling myself with a string of recent rom-com hits, I need to check out a different genre/era. I wanted to watch Traffic, but no luck, it’s not available anywhere online. Which almost gives me an excuse to watch Mili instead, which is available (and also by Rajesh Pallai, so it would be a nice thing to do the week he died). But it’s another Nivin Pauly movie, and I am dangerously close to a Nivin Pauly overload. Or maybe not? Mili does look really good!
Raghil in comments said that if I liked Ohm Shanti Oshaana, I should watch Thattathin Marayathu. So I did, and I did like it! Not as much as Ohm Shanti Oshaana, but it is definitely in the same family.
So, Lisa, my Malayalam expert commentator has been pushing me for weeks and weeks and weeks to see Manichitrathazhu. And I finally did! It was a nice break from all my Neerja posts. Next I am going to watch Thattathin marayathu from my other Malayalam expert commentator. And then maybe just go through this whole list from Midukki that a friend pointed me too. By the way, if you are enjoying my Malayalam posts but wishing I knew a lot more, or had a bigger archive, or anything, you should definitely check her out. And also this blog.
I’m done! With the dozen films I randomly checked out from the library just because they had Malayalam in the description. I regret nothing! Some of them were good, some were bad, but I ended up with a fairly broad idea of Malayalam film and culture, instead of the narrow perspective I would have gotten by just watching the very newest, very highest quality, films. And for the grande finale, I got to watch a film that was actually pretty close to what I would have chosen on purpose!
I finally finished with the pile of random library movies! Thank goodness! So I can start watching the ones people have been recommending to me in the comments! These last two, though, were really important and I am so glad I watched them!
My randomly organized stack of all the Malayalam movies owned by my library has finally turned up something from the past 10 years! And it even stars a guy I have seen before, Fahadh Faasil from Bangelore Days (and apparently in real life he is married to Nazriya Nazim? Who I love forever because of Ohm Shanti Oshaana). It was good, and definitely similar to the other modern movies I had seen, but just not quite as spectacularly good as they were. And that’s actually what I wanted, to experience something not spectacularly good.
So, last night I took the next Malayalam DVD off my library stack, and there were no subtitles! Even though the box promised them! So, yay! That was easy, and I’m down to only 4 left.
And then I took the next-next DVD off the stack, and it was an artsy looking 80s movie called Aalkkoottathil Thaniye. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but the point of requesting every single Malayalam film from the library and then watching them in a random order is to make me watch a wide variety of films, even if I don’t think I will like them. So I watched it, and turns out, it was great! I finally “get” Mohan Lal!
I was going to skip this one, but then people in the comments said it was not to be missed, so I gave it a shot! I’m glad I did. It isn’t my favorite-favorite, or one that exactly hit the sweet spot of what I like, but it was definitely interesting and different. And it got me thinking about the Mahabharata and how Indian film acting builds on a classical tradition, which is always a good time!
I shouldn’t say “odd”, because I don’t have enough data to really make that judgement. Apparently, the star (picture above) is actually a big name actor who has been in a bunch of stuff. Which isn’t surprising, because he was really really good. But he is also a little person and at times that is handled in a way that felt super progressive, and at other times, not so much.
Back 10 years ago when I first started watching Hindi movies, there was all this stuff that went completely over my head. If I enjoyed a film, it was just in the most superficial way, because the hero was cute or the love story was sweet. And then I learned more and more, and all of a sudden all these plot things started making sense, and I got that the reason this character says this thing here is because it is related to some huge political movement or religious metaphor or something.
And now I am trying to get into the regional films, and I feel like I am back to square one and I am missing all sorts of things! It is very frustrating, but I know the only way to get through it is just to keep going.
So, I did something wee bit foolish. After learning a little more about Malayalam films, and watching Ohm Shanti Oshaana, I went into my library system and requested every DVD they have with the word “Malayalam” somewhere in the description. Which is 12 DVDs, and they all arrived at once, and now I have to watch 36 hours of Malayalam films in 7 days. Which may turn out to not be humanly possible and I will end up returning some unwatched. And they are definitely not all getting full reviews!
Over the weekend, I was able to finish 2, start and reject 1, and reject 2 others just based on the box (yes, I judged a DVD by its cover). So only 7 left!
I have now seen 3 Malayalam films! Tied with my 3 Telegu, but beating my 2 Tamil. But if re-watching counts, Malayalam is going to double pretty soon. Because I loooooooved this movie, and I will be watching it over and over and over again.
A friend just sent me this super interesting link, which I encourage you all to follow! It lays out 10 things that make the Malayalam film industry special among Indian film industries.
Now, I know basically nothing about Malayalam films. I have seen Utsav Hotel and Bangelore Days, and that’s it (feel free to give me recommendations in the comments! I’m already planning to watch Ohm Shanti Oshana next, but after that I am open!). But I know a lot about Hindi film, and this list got me to thinking about why Hindi films don’t do these things, or in some cases, don’t do them any more.
dontcallitbollywood 