<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’re back with our third look at action films in Malayalam cinema! In this episode we look at the younger generation of actors who are entering the action space, with Prithviraj, Asif Ali, and Unni Mukundan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Download\u00a0Episode Thirteen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Episode Thirteen Highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spoiler Alert! We try to remember to alert listeners to spoilers, but just in case, know that we talk about the films in-depth, so be sure to watch them first if you\u2019re concerned about spoilers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:00:31] It\u2019s not the last action episode!\u00a0 Harsha notes we have plans to do one more episode on women in action films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:00:35] Today\u2019s episode is on New Gen action films, pretty much films after 2008 featuring the newest generation of superstars in the Malayalam film industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:00:50]\u00a0 We begin the episode by discussion Puthiya Mukham<\/strong>, the Prithviraj film from 2009.\u00a0 It\u2019s about a Brahmin musician who goes to college in Kochi, where he\u2019s hazed by the students.\u00a0 The physical assaults he suffers result in him changing into the film\u2019s action hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:02:00] Katherine notes that his character has had some kind of childhood trauma, which results in that any time he\u2019s in a stressful\/violent situation, his violent side may emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:02:25] The film\u2019s title can be translated as \u201cNew Face\u201d or \u201cNew Persona\u201d, so it\u2019s a reflection of what happens to the main character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:02:33] Harsha notes that this film is most notable because it\u2019s what made Prithviraj a superstar in the Malayalam industry. In her words, \u201cIt did bonkers business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:02:45] It also stars Priyamani, who was a popular pairing with Prithviraj early in his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:03:00] The draw of a masala movie like this is that Prithviraj gets to play both the quiet boy-next-door as well as the action star. In that way you get a whole range from your preferred star\u2019s talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:03:10]\u00a0 The movie came out in 2009, and this was a period whrere Telugu movies, especially with Allu Arjun and Mahesh Babu, were really doing good business in Kerala.\u00a0 Malayalam movies of the 2000s weren\u2019t that great and people weren\u2019t excited to go to the movie theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:03:25] Malayalam movies of the 2000s weren\u2019t that great and people weren\u2019t excited to go to the movie theatre.\u00a0 They had the veneer of being \u201cfamily movies\u201d, but mostly they were movies that had lower levels of humour, in which women weren\u2019t as interested in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:03:45] This film came out at a time when Telugu movies were doing really good business in Kerala, and this was a Malayalam movie trying to do what Telugu movies were doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:04:00] You also see Hindi movies of the time \u2013 for example, Dabangg \u2013<\/strong> that were also trying to emulate Telugu films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:04:15] Katherine notes that this is the place (as we\u2019ve discussed before) where Malayalam cinema gets closest to other industries from the south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:04:25] In interviews from the time, Prithviraj actually name-checked people like Allu Arjun in explaining what he was trying to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:04;40] It also benefitted by Prithviraj putting on some muscle, getting to do the clean-shaven good boy for the ladies who like that, and then he got to do the bad ass for those who that would appeal to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:04:50] Despite the fact that it was a masala movie and typically we don\u2019t think of action films as aimed at women, Harsha feels that Prithviraj in this era was making specific appeals to female gaze \u2013 something that didn\u2019t happen a lot in the movies from the 2000s.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t seen that in our action series since Jayan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:05:15] Katherine discusses sharing one of the songs from the film, where Priyamani is literally grabbing Prithviraj\u2019s chest. We don\u2019t see *that* a lot. We see a lot of the women who need to be rescued, an object for the hero and villain to fight over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:05:50] We don\u2019t see a lot of women with agency in this period, and at least with Anjana, despite the fact that her marriage is arranged, we have a character trying to hang on to a little bit of it, with her choice to stay in school, postpone the wedding for four years, and oh, yes, she\u2019ll do what she wants during that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:06:20] Harsha does point out that Anjana\u2019s choice is a bit of a plot device, but, that said, she does have a certain amount of agency, certainly not something we see much of in masala movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:06:35] In this series we\u2019ve gone over a lot of movies in which the agency of women and girls is specifically taken away, so it\u2019s at least a bit refreshing that Anjana has some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:06:45] All of that said, don\u2019t watch the film and expect to come away with female empowerment, because that is not the case. It\u2019s a little step in a good direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:06:55] The villain they cast in the film, Bala, is also considered attractive, or was, at least at that time. He was considered someone women liked watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:07:20] Katherine notes there\u2019s a song at the beginning of the film, and there is Bala dancing with Priyamani while Prithviraj plays the drums. It\u2019s notable because Bala looks happy and cheerful and non-villain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:07:50] The other thing that stands out in the film is Guinness Pakru \u2013 who now prefers to be referred to by his real name, Ajay Kumar. He is a little person who is an actor who did a couple of films with Prithviraj around this period. He plays a kind of comedy uncle, and it\u2019s a role Harsha isn\u2019t completely comfortable with. The comedy uncle is a role that\u2019s laced with a certain amount of classism and castism, and with Kumar being a person with a disability, that just piles on to the comedy uncle aspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:08:35] Katherine notes that Ajay Kumar was in a lot of films in this period, in Tamil films as well as in Malayalam films. She also notes that it was the first time she\u2019d seen a little person in Indian films in a more substantial role, even if much of it was \u201ccomedy uncle\u201d. Katherine is reminded of Mimie Mathy, the French actor who is also a little person, and who built a substantial career for herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:09:40]\u00a0 Harsha notes Game of Thrones<\/strong>, as well, with Peter Dinklage, who has also become a huge star and present in a lot of things.\u00a0 But in GOT, he had a character that was pushing the story forward.\u00a0 Ajay Kumar has a place, but he\u2019s not had that kind of career.\u00a0 He has directed a movie.\u00a0 We\u2019d love to see him in more substantial roles \u2013 much in the way that Salim Kumar has been able to transition from being a comedy actor to a serious actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:10:35] Is the reason we don\u2019t see him in more mainstream things these days because Malayalam cinema has, since the 2000s, moved away from less politically correct, more comedy uncle usage? That would mean the kinds of roles he used to do aren\u2019t as prominent as they used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:11:05] Harsha notes that Ajay Kumar is always on Malayalam television shows where they judge music and dance competitions, and he always comes across as a very likeable guy \u2013 we\u2019d like to see him given the chance to do more as an actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:11:25] Katherine suggests that despite the \u201ccomedy-uncleness\u201d of some of his roles, he\u2019s still an engaging presence on screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:11:35] Harsha mentions a show that Ajay Kumar used to do, where he would pick an old actor and tell us all about the gossip \u2013 Harsha\u2019s mother used to complain that they were making him voice misogynistic thoughts, and that\u2019s the only way he\u2019s allowed to make money in the industry. It\u2019s sad, and we want to see more work for him that allows him to do more than this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:12:15] If you want to see Prithviraj becoming a superstar, this is the movie that you should check out. It\u2019s not the best movie in the world, and if you want this kind of masala you\u2019re probably better off checking out a Telugu movie, but it is a nice milestone in Prithviraj\u2019s career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:12:40] If she has to watch patriarchy and misogyny on screen, Katherine wants it served up with big song and dance numbers and lots of glitter, and the Telugu industry serves that up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:12:55]\u00a0 Harsha notes that in the 90s and a bit beyond, stars weren\u2019t there for the female gaze.\u00a0 It was tried in the 70s with Jayan.\u00a0 In the 80s you had actors like Rahman and Shankar who were more appealing to women, but they weren\u2019t doing action movies.\u00a0 In the late 2000s you started to see movies appealing to the female gaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:13:35]\u00a0 Next we turn to the 2012 film Asuravithu<\/strong>, starring Asif Ali.\u00a0 It has a connection to Prithviraj through the film Stop Violence,<\/strong> and it\u2019s by the same director, AK Sajan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:13:50]\u00a0 The film is Asif Ali\u2019s first foray into a massy action film.\u00a0 His character is Don Bosco.\u00a0 He\u2019s in a seminary studying to be a priest.\u00a0 He\u2019s soft-spoken.\u00a0 But he eventually goes up against the gang who killed his father.\u00a0 SPOILER:\u00a0 his father is Prithviraj\u2019s character who died at the end of Stop Violence<\/strong>, though we don\u2019t know that initially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:14:20] The film opens with his mother, Angel (played by Lena) leaving him with the priests. It\u2019s a \u201cnature versus nurture\u201d thing \u2013 she\u2019s afraid if she raises him, he will become a gangster like his father. She wants him raised by the priests so he will have a better chance at becoming a good person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:14:45]\u00a0 There is a Satan\/Angel dichotamy that exists in Stop Violence<\/strong>, and this movie is fully about which parent this young man is going to follow in the path of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:15:00] Harsha did NOT like this movie at all. It was a pain to get through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:15:20] Katherine suggests it\u2019s almost caricatural as an action film. There were moments where they were hitting all the right action beats and tropes, but they were done so badly she laughed (and she apologizes for how terrible that sounds, but she couldn\u2019t help it). It was embarassing funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:15:45] As Harsha notes, any time Asif Ali\u2019s characters was smoking or walking around, his outfits changed from the white seminarian outfits to his black suits, and then suddenly he\u2019s smoking and drinking \u2013 it just happens so quickly after he finds out who his father was. He gets the kernal of the idea that the world is unfair and you have to use violence to fight it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:16:10] His change in character happens so fast! It\u2019s not explained, for example, in the way it was in Puthiya Mukham<\/strong>, for example, where they gave the main character a medical condition (real or not) to explain the change in his character. He becomes an underworld kingpin so fast!<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:16:35] There is an extremely diverse group of men and women who are his gang members. They suddenly start calling him \u2018bhaiyya\u201d out of the blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:16:45]\u00a0 One of the characters in the seminary with him, and who joins the gang with him is the son of Acid from Stop Violence<\/strong>.\u00a0 Very conveniently.\u00a0 And Harsha reminds us that he\u2019s played by Mammootty\u2019s nephew, Maqbool Salman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:17:10] The film is about Good versus Evil, and it really doesn\u2019t have much of a plot beyond that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:17:15]\u00a0 Katherine read an interview with Asif Ali for his film Underground<\/strong>, another action film.\u00a0 They asked him if there were any role he would like to try again, and he said it was this role from this film.\u00a0 He said that he jumped at the opportunity to do something he hadn\u2019t done before in films.\u00a0 Katherine doesn\u2019t think this is his wheelhouse, and Harsha agrees.\u00a0 But he said he didn\u2019t think he was a good enough actor to do the role when he took it, but he jumped at it anyway because it was something he wanted to try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:18:10] Katherine suggests we talk a bit about Asif Ali. One of the things she\u2019d started doing on Twitter is bringing attention to other actors than, as Harsha notes, \u201cour dear beloved Fahadh Faasil\u201d. (WE LOVE HIM, but there are more actors in Malayalam cinema who are worth learning about.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:18:45] Asif Ali works steadily, he\u2019s known, but for Katherine he doesn\u2019t seem to be up there with the actors that people will always mention or recommend to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:19;00]\u00a0 Harsha feels Asif Ali\u2019s niche is something like Kunchacko Boban\u2019s.\u00a0 He obviously didn\u2019t get the extremely stellar debut Kunchacko Boban had the benefit of.\u00a0 But Asif Ali made his debut with Rithu<\/strong> which was a very experimental film from director Shyamaprasad.\u00a0 He came into the film industry at a relatively young age.\u00a0 He\u2019s been steadily working, and he\u2019s got enough charisma and enough interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:19:30]\u00a0 He hasn\u2019t risen to the beloved status that Kunchacko Boban has because he just doesn\u2019t have as many years in the industry.\u00a0 However, he\u2019s on track to get to that place.\u00a0 Harsha reminds us about the joke in Ustaad Hotel <\/strong>when Asif Ali shows up and they ask him if he\u2019s Kunchacko Boban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:20:00]\u00a0 Katherine appreciates that Asif Ali takes the chance on quirkier and\/or more experimental films.\u00a0 Whether you like a film like Kili Poyi<\/strong> or not, it was an attempt to make a stoner film,\u00a0 not previously done in the Malayalam industry.\u00a0 She also thinks he\u2019s quite funny in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:20:25]\u00a0 Honey Bee<\/strong> is fun.\u00a0 Asif Ali works well in a light, fluffy space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:20:35]\u00a0 One of Harsha\u2019s favourite Malayalam films is Ozhimuri<\/strong>, with Bhavana.\u00a0 He and Bhavana are really good friends so they\u2019ve done a couple of movies together, including Honey Bee<\/strong>.\u00a0 Harsha likes their chemistry because it\u2019s clear on screen that they\u2019re friends and they like each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:20:55] All the movies Harsha thinks of with Asif Ali in them, the ones she enjoys are the smaller films where he gets to play extremely \u201cboy next door\u201d roles, or ordinary men. It\u2019s good that there\u2019s an actor who excels at playing those kinds of roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:21:15] There is space for more than one actor. And Harsha points out you get a great sense of a normal, ordinary Malayali man in many of his films. Fahadh Faasil has done some of those roles, but Asif Ali\u2019s movies are chock full of the ordinary life of people in Kerala, in the same way as Kunchacko Boban\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:22:20]\u00a0 We encourage people to seek out Asif Ali\u2019s films, other than Asuravithu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:22:30] Asuravithu<\/strong> is, in some ways, a little bit of a good fit for his filmography, because with Honey Bee<\/strong> and films like it, he\u2019s done some Kochi-centric movies where people are talking in Kochi slang and it\u2019s all about the Kochi underworld.\u00a0 If anyone ever wants to become an Asif Ali completionist they can check this out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:23:00] Every time the gang complete\u2019s a job there\u2019s a \u201cD Company\u201d stamp on the screen. Harsha reminds us that D Company was Dawood Ibrahim\u2019s gang, and she wonders why they appropriated that for the film?<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:23:40] Harsha believes we were supposed to get a second part to the film, where Maqbool Salman\u2019s character in the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:23:55] The film is also incredibly anti-Semitic, which for Harsha came out of nowhere. She suggests that Indian movies don\u2019t have a context for anti-Semitism that is known in the West and the Middle East. Jewish people don\u2019t have as much of a presence in Indian life, but also, Jewish people were famously well received by and were not persecuted in the subcontinent. So for no good reason, the film\u2019s villains are extremely, comically Jewish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:25:00] There are a lot of things that are part of Malayali culture, like castism and colourism, but anti-Jewish prejudice is not one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:26:05] Katherine considers the film for Asif Ali completionists only, with lots of warnings about the content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:26:15] We begin a discussion of the last film for this episode, Style<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:26:30] Katherine tries to summarize the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:27:30] Harsha notes that from the film\u2019s summary you can understand that the film is very low stakes, and a lot of fun \u2013 of the films we watched for this episode, this one was the most fun, with the caveat that we have reservations about Unni Mukundun because of the sexual assault allegations levelled against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:28:00] The movie spends a lot of time objectifying Unni Mukundun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:28:05] Katherine suggests that Unni Mukundun seems to be the most natural fit in the action space. Harsha notes that he really does have the physicality for it, and he may have been trying to create a kind of New Generation Suresh Gopi-type career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:28:40] The movie flips the masala trope of the hero following the heroine around at one point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:29:35] Can the situation with the sexual assault allegations be resolved in a way that respects the alleged victim, and rehabilitates the actor? Katherine feels a wee bit uncomfortable recommending the film (despite it being fun) when there has been no resolution of this situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:30:45] Harsha gives an outline of the news reports on details of the situation. We come back to talking about why are professional meetings being carried out in unprofessional contexts? Why are the meetings happening in flats and hotel rooms and not in offices? It\u2019s completely inappropriate, and it\u2019s something that has to change in the industry. Women who want to work in the industry are often forced into these inappropriate situations, where they probably feel unsafe. It’s unfair, and it shouldn\u2019t be the standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:31:45] There has to be responsibility and accountability and things have to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:32:05] As viewers we have a choice: if your actions are so egregious, and there is no accountability, then we can choose not to watch the content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:32:15] Katherine feels that right now she\u2019s sitting on a fence with respect to Unni Mukundan and his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:32:35] As Harsha notes, the sad effect of all this is that people are just no longer going to listen to stories from female writers, rather than realizing that they should be taking these professional meetings in professional places \u2013 like in an office, with other people present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:33:05] There is something about narrating a script that is very personal \u2013 they have to act out some of the characters, and maybe that\u2019s not great over an online meeting platform like Zoom. That\u2019s fine, but then you do it in an office, in a space where other people can vouch for what you are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:33:55] All of that said, we enjoyed the film. This was a time when Tovino Thomas (who plays the extremely hammy villain) hadn\u2019t quite become the star he is today. Unni Mukundan was probably the bigger name in this movie. They came into the industry around the same time, but Unni Mukundan had the benefit of having Mammootty as a kind of supporter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:34:30]\u00a0 Every time Tovino Thomas lights up a cigar it\u2019s done in a way that emphasizes the movie\u2019s title:\u00a0 STYLE.\u00a0 Harsha loops back to Asif Ali in Asuravithu<\/strong> \u2013 what they do in Style<\/strong> was what they were trying to do in Asuravithu<\/strong>, but that film didn\u2019t have the tongue-in-cheekness of Style<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:34:50] Style is very self-aware about what it is doing, and that always makes a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:34:55] Part of post-modernism, as cultures move into the post-modern art period, sees self-awareness as a key \u2013 otherwise it feels insincere to us as an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:35:00] Asuravithu<\/strong> does *exactly* the same things as Style<\/strong> \u2013 the exact same kinds of tropes and beats \u2013 and they don\u2019t work at all.\u00a0 In Style<\/strong>, they work perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:35:25] There are so many little tongue-in-cheek details in the film: Unni Mukundan\u2019s character suggests she looks like a heroine from a Telugu movie; The brothers are called Tom and Jerry. It would be corny, except they are actively trying to be corny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:36:55] Tom also allows his little brother Jerry to take his own revenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:37:35] It\u2019s an action movie. We have to accept that people beating each other up is part of that experience, otherwise why are we here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:37:45] In the moral universe of action movies, we think people settling conflict by beating each other up is fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:37:50] Violence solves nothing. Stop Violence (yes, that is a reference to a previous episode). Except in action movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:38:00] Katherine found it interesting to see Tovino Thomas and remember that period where Unni Mukundan was the bigger thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:38:15]\u00a0 One of the criticisms Unni Mukundan used to face was that he wasn\u2019t a very good actor, and probably Tovino Thomas got the benefit of being considered a better actor.\u00a0\u00a0 But Harsha doesn\u2019t mind Unni Mukundan in these kinds of roles where he plays a hemming and hawing muscled guy who everybody keeps complementing on his looks and muscles.\u00a0 See also:\u00a0 Vikramadithyan, Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya<\/strong>.\u00a0 Though Harsha also thinks he doesn\u2019t have much range beyond that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:38:55] Katherine thinks it\u2019s quite all right for some actors to have a zone they work well in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:39:20] Harsha thinks Malayalam cinema doesn\u2019t know quite what to do with Unni Mukundan. If Unni Mukundan is going to go in the lane of Suresh Gopi of sorts — Suresh Gopi had proved himself as an actor prior to becoming an action hero, and he\u2019s a good actor all around. Mukundan has had bit roles in other industries, and maybe they\u2019ll know better what to do with him, but he\u2019ll have to grow as an actor at some point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:40:10] Over the course of three episodes spanning careers from the big stars like Mammootty and Mohanlal, like Jayan and Suresh Gopi. Now we\u2019ve had a look at this younger generation, we considers some thoughts about what we\u2019ve seen doing this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n {00:40:25} For actors for whom action is just part of their bigger repertoire, like Mammootty and Mohanlal, we often see films that aren\u2019t really true action movies. Those movies don\u2019t stick out in their filmography, and they\u2019re not the ones people are drawn to when they talk about these actors. For people like Jayan and Suresh Gopi, and Unni Mukundan and perhaps Prithviraj (he\u2019s a much stronger action star than he is in other genres) \u2013 actions films are probably where they are most comfortable. They\u2019re the ones most associated with the action genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [00:41:25] For Malayalam cinema, action movies are still a pretty small genre, and there isn\u2019t a strong action choregraphy industry in India. Harsha really wants that to change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Subscribe to our feed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can connect with us on Twitter: @PolandinePatti<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n