When it comes to Indian cinema, traditionally Bollywood with its masala movie formula consisting of entertainment and lots of glamor has always ruled the roost on the big screen. With the lock down the luxury of every Friday new release has withered away. This has given the audience a chance to explore the OTT platform wherein other language genres are also available (click here to check my previous blog on OTT) . Recently, I got a chance to experience Malayalam movies when I was recommended Drishyam 2 by one of my friends. I was impressed with the no nonsense screenplay which after an initial meandering took a gripping turn in the second half to keep me glued right till the end.
After this, it was Joji – An engineering dropout and the youngest son of a rich family lives with his aspirations of becoming super wealthy. Driven by greed and blind ambition, he decides to execute his plans following an unexpected event in the family. The plot twists and turns as one thing leads to another.
This was followed by C U Soon – A software engineer, living in Kerala, is prompted by his family to look for his cousin’s missing fiancee. As they stumble upon her video-based dummy suicide note, his cousin realises that he truly loves her and races against time to find her. I followed this with The Great Indian Kitchen – Post her marriage, a woman tries to fit into the conventional mould that society has prescribed for married women. But somewhere along the way, she starts feeling that this is not the life she wants and she revolts. Each of these movies impressed me and I was encouraged to explore more regional language movies beyond the usual Bollywood stuff. So when I was recommended Super Deluxe, a Tamil movie, I decided to give it a shot. I was impressed with the plot, screenplay, the storyline which included some deft handling of coming out by a transgender to his family.
On seeing these movies, some of the aspects that caught my attention was about how Bollywood seems to be still caught up in the bhel puri masala potboiler formula of big budget song and dance movies while the South Indian movies have been successful in moving away from relying only on star power of Rajnikanth or Kamal Hassan. Actors like Fahad Faasil and Mohanlal have been able to engage and hold the audience without any need for adding song and dance sequences to commercialise by adding glamour. These films portray true to life characters played by actors whom you would not give a second glance if you pass them on the road. The movies are shot in their real life and natural environment.These movies go beyond stereotyping characters by making them inclusive to include lady police officers or lady commissioners or deputy commissioners of Police. The best part of all these movies is that since they do away with all the bells and whistles, the run duration is between 90 – 120 min. max. Another advantage about OTT is the subtitles ensure that language no longer remains a barrier. With easy subtitles the content draws you in and makes it very engrossing.
As against this, Bollywood is not seen to be willing to experiment with the OTT platform. Im yet to see sharp and relevant to the times content which makes one sit up and take notice.The last time I recollect this happened with me was when I saw Thappad, Newton or recently Pagglait. The south Indian films especially the Malayalam movies seem to have matured and are leaving an impact on the evolved and mature audience.I also realised that the storyline pursued by the Malayalam film industry, not only keeps us engrossed, but one also gets a feeling of time well spent.
It leads to thought provoking debates, sometimes even leadership lessons (click here to check Leadership Lessons from Drishyam 2) amongst the not so well-versed audience as well. Similarly, I have been happy to have watched marathi movies such as Aamhi Doghi, YZ, Kaasav, Picaso, Naal, Deool, Astu, Baap Janm, tc.gn, Harishcandrachi Factory, Muramba, Killa or The Disciple or bengali movies like Shonar Pahar where deft handling of the storyline and screenplay keeps the viewers engrossed and also touches a chord.
Not that Bollywood is not exploring similar storylines but it’s too far and few between. The big screen stakes being too high, the focus still remains on themes pleasing the box office masses. Regional movies have proven that with the changing times and subtitles, for the OTT audience, language is no longer being a barrier; storyline and screenplay can take precedence over star power and mere entertainment. In case you are yet to explore regional films, I will encourage you to go beyond masala Bollywood movies and experiment right away by picking up any one of the movies from those mentioned above. Hope you enjoy. Cheers !
Resources: Click here for 10 marathi films to watch on Amazon; top bengali films on OTT;
Acknowledgements- My friend Ashish Parulekar and Sheetal Nagle for being a solid member of my blog support team.
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