Malayalam Cinema

Someone asked Midukki

She replied:

well i can only really account for malayalam movies so:

BANGALORE DAYS. bangalore days. B A N G A L O R E D A Y S.



but also if you like


cute chick flick rom com (female perspective)=ohm shanti oshaana

really well built thriller=drishyam (which is literally being remade in every single language rn)

coming of age + food=usthad hotel

coming of age non-stupid masala flick=vikramadithyan

cute romance=thattathin marayathu

intense romance=annayum rasoolum

‘english vinglish’y female empowerment=how old are you?

hardcore female revenge *tw:rape *tw:blood=22 female kottayam

real to life coming of age female journey *tw:depression *tw:suicide *tw:cutting: mili

road trip (ft.romance with an east indian lead)=npcb

historical fiction and romance [early colonial era]=urumi (the movie’s dubbed in tamil but it’s originally malayalam/without subs)

period drama [post independence]=iyobinte pushtakam

fantasy (with a religious backdrop)=amen

satirical comedy=pranchiyettan and the saint

depressing medical drama=apothecary

cute children’s fantasy flick=philips and the monkey pen

drama /nostalgia+medical/=ayalum njaanum thammil

if you know me you know that all those titles are links WITH SUBS. so click away buddy

i like to suggest bangalore days as a good start because it has a little bit of everything (almost)

Requested by swethakijawani​

a chronological list of my favourite romantic comedies released up until July 2015. i’ve marked my top 3 with *’s (*-good shit, this some good shit right there, **-if you want to be my friend you need to have significant knowledge about this movie, ***- passive aggressively drags you to watch this movie which is basically the holy grail of rom com)

all titles are links to watch online (yes, i know- you love me- i love me too): bolded have english subtitles. it’s worth working your way through these movies. so if there’s no subbed link maybe torrent it or even buy the dvd if you can

MALAYALAM:

boeing boeing (1985): 2 men + 3 air hostess being timetable romanced. remake of the 1965 hollywood film

gandhinagar 2nd street (1986): mohanlal, karthika, and sreeni at their finest. bahut hilarous aur cute hoon…hain…hai

chitram (1988): iconic mohanlal/priyan combo strikes with a romantic screwball comic tragedy+songs!!!. yes, brace yourself for the ending.

mazhavilkavadi (1989): father of girl refuses to get pair married. same old same old- but not really because the characterisation is so on point

vandanam (1989): police falls in love with criminal’s daughter. again, iconic mohanlal/priyadarshan. the comic timing of this cast bro….

varavelpu (1989): mohanlal and revathy were so adorable. another mohanlal classic. life tip: never buy a bus

aye auto (1990): i’ve come to realise that mohanlal was the primary source of romcoms in the 80s and 90s. and bless his cotton socks for that. aye auto is a film that will leave a smile on your face. you just constantly want to pull sudhi’s auto driver cheeks because he’s so innocent and innately good. rekha is wonderful as well- their english interactions are priceless. also a+ soundtrack! A E I O U.

godfather (1991): did someone say ICONIC. no malayalee exists who hasn’t seen this movie. so great. so great. also the songs are wonderful.

kilukam (1991): YET ANOTHER classic mohanlal/priyan movie with revathy at her crazy best and jagathy/innocent/thilakan ready to make you laugh till you cry.

meleparambil aanveedu (1993): shobana and jayaram!!!! the tamil remake was an insult tbqh.

midhunam (1993): honestly mohanlal was the king of rom coms and this is quite the wonderful movie.

thenmavin kombath (1994): ummm… iconic mohanlal/priyan. SHOBANA the queen. a definite favourite for many. and amazing songs.

aniyathipraavu (1997): kunchacko boban’s and shalini’s debut. and what a debut. what a pair. what wonderful music. not an amazing story but like a+++ chemistry and music.

nakshatratharattu (1998): KUNCHACKO BOBAN AND SHALINI *___* what i love about this is that it sorta portrays what a real life newly wed husband and wife would be like. bickering and jokes and sharing chores. and adorable book sharing. and the adopted mother and dad love is so good. LOVE YOUR PARENTS GUYS.

punjabi house (1998): the rise and rise of dileep! was remade into hindi (like most of this list) as chup chup ke with shahid. dileep just does it better.

summer in bethleham (1998): manju warrier the queen! she dominated as the bubbly (sorta haphazard behavior-wise) abhirami. and jayaram and suresh gopi are a delight. who do i like the most??? confusion theerkaname…ente confusion theerkaname

niram (1999): ok this was the beginning of college romance with besties and music numbers and fuck KUNCHACKO BOBAN AND SHALINI were kerala’s otp #1

darling darling (2000): this makes me laugh and it’s adorable but also like goddamnit you find yourself yelling at the character’s dumb choices - love the leads *heart eyes at vineeth and kavya*and comic genius/evil genius dileep ))

mr butler (2000): another dileep classic. i cry laughing at the elevator scene EVERY.TIME.

thenkashipattanam (2000): love…square??with epic music and loads of colour and yeh, masala movie basically + holy cow dileep is in it as well

ee parakkum thalika (2001): i used to watch this movie religiously because it just gets funnier and more adorable. and obviously dileep didn’t learn anything from varavelpu (above).

ishtam (2001) another dileep movie that i watched religiously. is it a romance or a family drama? idk, a bit of both. love it. also navya’s debut!

kalyanaraman (2002): dileep and navya nair yet again- also ft. kunchacko boban. it’s like extreme ends of emotion but like full on masala romance comedy- and was remade in telugu

meesha madhavan (2002): guess who…yes, dileep again? iconic dileep/kavya madhavan romance movie with great comedy and romance and songs

nandanem (2002): prithviraj’s debut. but it was entirely navya’s movie- so emotional and wonderful. and yes, religious- my dad loves it and he’s not even hindu. goes to show how well made it is.

oomappenninu uriyadappayyan (2002): if you ever need a reason to watch this movie just remember that the mute boy stops his deaf/mute gf from jumping off a cliff by throwing a lemon at her.

cid moosa (2003): another iconic dileep film. bhavana was great too. and the songs!!!!!! (the one made entirely out of hindi movie names to woo the ‘hindi girl’) i was most emotionally attached to the dog tho.

kilichundan mampazham (2003) first of all: soundarya :’(((( r.i.p angel. this movie is hilarous- yes, classic mohanlal/priyadarshan. the songs are wonderful and sreenivasan deserves special praise for being so great.

vettam (2004)- the movie’s been dubbed into bhojpuri for fucks sake. like it must be frickin’ hilarious

classmates (2006): perfect cast+lal jose+amazing songs+NOSTALGIA. and like super sappy romance that i will never be immune to. fucking favourite 4 ever. EVERYONE knew the lyrics to the songs.

chocolate (2007): one guy in an all girls college. prithviraj rides the college lover tag from classmates all the way to chocolate, and how well he does it.

hello (2007): idk i felt bad ignoring mohanlal for so long lol very tamil/telugu masala film-esque

bodyguard (2010): okay let me get this straight. nayanthara and dileep were 2930324 x better in this than all the remakes.

happy husbands (2010): such stupid, stupid comedy. such a wonderful, wonderful guilty pleasure.

salt n’ pepper (2011): a romance between an older man and woman told through food and phone calls. ABSOLUTE LOVE. don’t watch the remakes (like OLDER WOMAN, it’s part of the story- why is it so hard for other industries to understand)

da thadiya (2012): is this really a rom com?? idk. maybe a self discovery/self-esteem film with a romantic and humorous flavour. it’s a wonderful movie about body image and it’s cute and i’m in love with aashiq abu’s film making style. also nivin pauly makes a sexy villian.

mallu singh (2012): really colourful and lovely songs and unni mukundan is a cutie also all the cast.

thattathin marayathu (2012) * : hello nivin pauly? hello! it’s stardom calling…you’re in. BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER. shaan rahman is a boss. VINEETH SREENIVASAN. what a wonderful director and honestly the best script of the last 10 years. NIVIN AND ISHA->otp. nivin was great. everything was great.

usthad hotel (2012): ah hi dulquer?! yeh it’s stardom again. just calling to confirm that you’re in. basically. what an emotional, magnificent, deliciously well built entertainer. anwar rasheed and anjali menon please take several bows.

amen (2013): a fantasy film with a religious backdrop. solomon and shoshana were so beautiful. and quirky gorgeousness of this movie could only have been done so well by mr. lijo jose pellisserry and fahadh faasil. swati reddy makes an impressive feisty malayali nasrani kutty, yes you empty the chicken curry on your brother’s head if he’s insulting your bf. you go girl.

annayum rasoolum (2013): fahadh and andreiah take a romeo juilet style romance head on and it works because of direction by master cinematographer rajeev ravi

bicycle thieves (2013): cute, simple story- asif and aparna are wonderful

honey bee (2013): really fresh film making style but like new gen to the MAX. lots of weed and drinking but it’s an amusing watch. especially the gangster priest brothers.

neram (2013): well there’s nivin and nazriya, and nivin and nazriya, also nivin and nazriya. also alphonse putharan’s film debut after directing the hit album song nenjodu cherthu with the same lead pair. and what a debut at that PISSSTAHHHH

north 24 kaatham (2013): fahadh excels as the slightly mentally challenged harikrishnans who finds himself on a journey with the wonderful nani (swati reddy) and aged gopalan (nedumudi venu). wonderfully made.

oru indian pranayakadha (2013): i think the best part of the movie would be fahadh and amala paul’s chemistry. and ofc the songs. very innocent,and sunshine and lollipopsy

zachariyayude garbhinikal (2013): follows a gynaecologist and five women who come into his life. rima’s storyline is ofc the most fun and my favourite. and sanusha’s is… watch it to find out i guess.

bangalore days (2014) ** MY FAV. now the reason i didn’t give it 3*’s was because it’s technically a drama, not a romantic comedy- although it has that too. it has everything. it is everything. the cast. the direction. the songs. the cinematography. everything is perfection. 10/10 would recommend.

ohm shanti oshaana (2014) *** :now this is a chick flick if i ever did see one. it’s so important because the female is the hero of the film, and it’s a love story from the female perspective about the girl getting the guy. there’s a lot to laugh over and go awww over and drool over (nivin pauly with stubble can i get a hell yeah!). nazriya plays the feisty, adorable pooja perfectly and the supporting cast is perfection. special mention to BEST PARENTS EVER. also vineeth sreenivasan ) and shaan rahman strikes again with an a+++++++ soundtrack. it really is a favourite for many and it was an incredible success so yes watch it.

ithihasa (2014): a fantasy film about a boy and girl who switch bodies. simple, sweet, and genuinely funny. and the actors do so wonderfully.

ormayundo ee mukham (2014): when the girl loses her memory- yes i know you’ve heard it before but it’s really sweet and there’s definitely differences with the classic girl losing her memory thing. aesthetically a sorta hollywood like chick flick. vineeth on screen again also shaan’s rahman’s music!

100 days of love (2015): now this is even more aesthetically hollywood- everything looks beautiful. especially dulquer XD and yes nithya as well!

chiragodinja kinavukal (2015): i would actually only suggest this to people who have significant knowledge of malayalam movies because it’s A SPOOF ASDHFLDL;. with rima!! there are so many film references and it’s so well made for a debut- very enjoyable for a film fan like me

premam (2015): NIVIN PAULY!! the rise of a superstar. also alphonse works magic with his direction and the cinematography is perfection and the love stories are simple and sweet and lovely as fuck. AND CAN I HAVE NIVIN PAULY PLS???

But I really liked the female coming of age film Om Shanti Oshaana, which I watched on the flight home. Nazriya Nazim (also from Bangalore Days) plays a young 16 year old, tomboy only daughter of a doctor and a teacher. She falls hard for a guy she meets at an amusement park. He's an older guy, and a farmer. So I gather it's an intercaste thing, but also he's Hindu (the Om Shanti), and she's Christian. Oshaana was for Palm Sunday which is a key date for her story. She tries to tell him her feelings, but he stops her, and says she's too young to say something like that to an older man. She's crushed, goes off to medical school, and they meet again 6 years later when his mother is in the hospital where she works. So we're seeing the story completely from her point of view, and what wasn't the best was her trying to change herself (start wearing saris, learn to cook, etc.) which was all very traditional. What was AWESOME, was her parents knew she would never go for an arranged marriage, and encourage her career. And THIS scene was just the ultimate. I had seen it GIF'd on Tumblr, and it was the main reason I downloaded the film. Her parents joke that she would expect to visit the groom's family to check HIM out, and she then has this fantasy sequence with the bridal visit turned on its head, and Nivin serving HER tea. It's not subtitled, but she's asking him his name ("Giri") and then what he studied in school, and he demurely says, "Malayalam", which makes her laugh uproariously.







It's just so absolutely delicious to see the role reversal!




Read more: bollywhat.boards.net/thread/42/latest-movie-watched?page=70#ixzz3qXOPTcAR

midukki
How exciting! I’m already jealous because I doubt I’ll be able to watch it anytime soon (but I’d sure love hearing what you thought of it after you’ve watched it) . As for what’s going on…I know exactly what these guys are saying and I still have no clue what this movie’s about. But here’s a rough translation nonetheless:



0:34- Do you know this man?

0:49- Who are you?!

0:50- He*/that’s a jinn

0:59- He*/it’s one of ‘those’. (*I’m guessing they’re both talking about Charlie)

1:03- People say he’s crazy…

1:05- Once more!

1:07- …Extraordinarily crazy.

1:10- Sister, this isn’t the kind of guy* that’ll fit in our trousers (*’team’ is like slang for person- **basically meaning ‘we’ll never understand him’)

1:17- You know that…that pain…there is in waiting?! That (pain) has a nice feeling.

1:27- Room number 66