What I admire the most about Malayalam stars is that Mohanlal does EMPURAAN, the industry’s most anticipated film of all time, and he is going to follow it up with a rather grounded drama/thriller that’s THUDARUM. Even in 2019, his first post-Lucifer release was a simple comedy called Ittymaani: Made In China. It wasn’t a very good movie but that’s not the point. The point is that there’s no succumbing to scale, success and more importantly, PATTERN. Even Mammootty gives a huge blockbuster in the form of Bheeshma Parvam and acts in Puzhu the same year!
These mentions don’t even scratch the surface of their filmographies filled with diversity. They have done this so many times throughout their respective careers. Obviously, the next generation too followed their footsteps. It’s about setting an example.
This lack of pattern and image/genre trap is a beautiful quality that’s allowing this ecosystem to tell such a wide variety of stories. I don’t think this happens in any other industry, not in Telugu, not in Tamil…
Sure, there might be one-off instances of some stars jumping from one genre to a different one but the consistency and pace at which it happens in Malayalam cinema is astonishing and it makes me envy the audience, who get to experience such a vast of range of movies, including those led by stars.
And the thing that’s allowing Malayalam stars to do this is that they have prepared and conditioned audience for years—and they are able to take in all kind of films.
We keep listening to many stars, even seniors across industries, say that they cannot choose some kind of scripts because their fans expect them to be in a certain way but the question is: who conditioned those fans and audience to see particular kind of films in the first place?
I believe audience will accept all kinds of stories from all kinds of stars if they are prepared properly. Cannot simply use “audience expectations” as an excuse to keep churning out routine, middling content.
And yeah, I don’t care if they don’t make 1000 crores or 2000 crores because I, as an audience, don’t get a penny out of it. I just want good movies.