Flashback 2008 – a review on Malayalam films

Here is an attempt to analyze some of the Malayalam films released in 2008. This year was special since it contains both the best and the worst films among the 60 numbers we got.

Last year has registered some of the biggest flop films, financially and quality wise. If there is some quality in the subject and treatment, then the result will be a financial flop and those projects which are financially sound doesn’t need to be good enough in its artistic value. So in general, a flop film doesn’t mean that it is a bad film like the way a hit film need not necessary to have a quality output.

Films like..........‘Roudram’, ‘Parunthu’, ‘One Way Ticket’[guest role] and ‘Mayabazar’ (all by Mammootty), ............‘College Kumaran’, ‘Mizhikal Sakshi’[guest role], ‘Aakasagopuram’ and ‘Pakal Nakshtrangal’ (all by Mohanlal),............ ‘Calcutta News’ and ‘Mulla’ (all by Dileep),................. ‘Sound of Boot’, ‘Aayudham’, ‘Laptop’, ‘Thavalam’, ‘Pakal Nakshtrangal’[guest role] and ‘Bullet’ (all by Sureshgopi), .................‘Novel’, ‘Magic Lamb’ and ‘Parthan Kanda Paralokam’ (all by Jayaram), ................‘One Way Ticket’, ‘Thalappavu’ and ‘Thirakkadha’ (all by Prithviraj), ..............‘Swarnnam’, ‘Kerala Police’, ‘Aandavan’, ‘Apoorva’[guest role] and ‘Kabadi Kabadi’ (all by Kalabahavan Mani), ...............‘Of The People’, ‘Malabar Wedding’, ‘Positive’, ‘Pachamarathanalil’, ‘Dhe Ingottu Nokkiye’, ‘Sambhu’, ‘SMS’, ‘Pachamarathanalil’, ‘Minnaminnikkoottam’, ‘Gulmohar’, ‘Rathrimazha’, ‘Adayalangal’ etc...... were big flops and such films bought a lose of more than 100 crores to the industry. I had left some of the film names which don’t have the minimum quality to be mentioned here.

Among the list, films like ‘Thirakkadha’ and ‘Pakal Naksharangal’ were extra ordinary in the story side and treatment area and films like ‘Calcutta News’, ‘Sound of Boot’ and ‘Positive’ were fast films and not so bad to be cornered like this. ‘Gulmohar’, ‘Thalappavu’ and ‘Pachamarathanalil’ were also different experiments which were not accepted.

Also films like ‘Parunthu’, ‘College Kumaran’, ‘Kabadi Kabadi’ and ‘Dhe Ingottu Nokkiye’ can be charted as some of the worst films ever made in Malayalam. We will feel pity for the experienced superstars, directors and writers who goes behind such terrible and horrible projects.

Some of the average hits include ‘Kurushetra’, ‘Innathe Chintha Vishayam’, ‘Cycle’, ‘Crazy Gopalan’ and ‘Lollypop’ etc. Here the amount of lose happened to the distributors / producers were reduced to a minimum. Last two films got released in the X’mas season; they were escaped not because of their efficiency, but due to the absence of their opponents.

But the toppers from the list were films like ‘Annan Thambi’, ‘Madambi’, ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’ and ‘Twenty 20’ which were super hits. Here also they are not the best films, but among the given list in which the majority was bad, they are graded as the best films.

Mammootty’s double role play in ‘Annan Thambi’ was not new, Mohanlal’s silent performance in ‘Madambi’ was another way to project heroism, Jayaram’s come back film ‘Veruthe Oru Bharya’ was accepted when the industry and the audience didn’t want an actor like him to be rest permanently after too many flops, ‘Twenty 20’ produced by Dileep for “AMMA” Association has got almost all the top stars in the industry and the script writers Udaykrishna-Sibi K Thomas has arranged all the artists in such a way as to made a good entertainer directed by Joshie.

Best Film : Thirakkadha / Pakal Nakshatrangal
Best Actor : Mohanlal [Pakal Nakshatrangal, Aakasagopuram, Kurukshetra]
Best Actress : Priyamani [Thirakkadha]
Best Director : Ranjith [Thirakkadha]
Best Script : Ranjith /Anoop Menon [Thirakkadha / Pakal Nakshatrangal]
Best Cinematography : S.Kumar / Vipin Mohan [Calcutta News / Mulla]
Best Entertainer : Twenty 20

Special Mention : Udaykrishna-Sibi K Thomas [Script, Twenty 20]

Special Mention : Madhupal [Director, Thalappavu]