2021 - A year of the Regional Cinema

It won’t be an overstatement to make that in the last 2 years Regional Cinema has overtaken Hindi Cinema both in terms of pure quality and innovation.

While serious film lovers always knew the power of regional cinema. So many national award winning films have been from south india. So many internationally acclaimed films have come from here. But it was always some people.

The mass audience shift to regional content was triggered primarily by the unprecedented success of SS Rajamouli’s Bahubali whose iconic dialogues and imagery captured the imagination of the entire nation. The sequel Bahubali 2 is the highest grossing film of India.  

Infact 2 regional films occupy the top 5 positions. 

The second is Rajnikant’s sequel to Robot. (2.0)

This mass audience moment and recognition of Regional cinema especially south indian cinema has made people sit up and take notice. 

everyone wants a piece of the pie now.

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Today, Malayalam, Tam

il & Telegu film releases are spoken about in the mainstream circles, reviewed by mainstream critics and the filmstars and directors slowly becoming household names.

If 2020 was good, 2021 was great for regional content.  

While selecting top 5 Hindi films was tuff coz there really wasn’t anything great to pick. 

Selecting top 5 favorites from regional cinema was tuff for exactly the opposite reason. 

So many good movies like the fantastic Karnan starring Dhanush, to Lijo joseph’s deliciously trippy Churuli to Simbu’s wickedly twisted Maanadu – none of them make the list.

In another year – these would easily make the top 3 but this year they only get an honorable mention.

So what are my favorite films of the year 2021, here goes

No.5 -

Drishyam 2

The follow up to the mega successful Drishyam. This movie was a worthy sequel to the original. Director Jeetu Joseph’s command over these characters and his ability to surprise and keep the viewers at the edge of the seat is remarkable. The fact that he manages to invoke the same tension as he did from the first film is testament to the talent and story telling ability of the man.

I guess with someone like a Mohanlal at the helm of affairs. The job becomes that bit easy.

My Drishyam review was also my most watched and liked video of alltime 

My Drishyam 2 Review

Moving on no.4

4) Mandela - A film made by rank newbies, A brand new director Madonne Ashwin, A relatively new production company and a bunch of unknown actors. The movie tickles us with its humor which is seeped in reality, all the while tapping into our inane need of rooting for the underdog.

The story of a backward caste village fool who is despised by everyone. He is the designated barber but is often thrown around and expected to do everyone’s dirty work. 

Come elections suddenly he becomes the center of everyone’s affection – why coz his is the vote that will be the deciding vote to swing that regions election one way or the other.

Now that storyline has so much situational humor filled into it matlab  Kut Kut ke bhaara hai and the makers do complete justice to it – squeezing out every joke they possibly can from a premise like this. 

But the reason why this is in my list is because the movie is much than just a Comedy. It is infact making a clear statement about various aspects be it the injustice and subjugation of the prevailing caste system in India or showing how cash-for-vote or caste-based voting is standard practice in politics

At its center the movie is about a man finding his identity and doing good by it. The acting too is on the point. I remember having a blast watching this one.

3) 

Joji

Joji is the coming together of seasoned pro’s, namely FA FA, Syam pusharakaran and Dileesh pothan.. Their previous collaborations Mahesh pratikaram & Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum are 2 landmark films in Malayalam cinema.

So everyone expected a great movie and guess what they got one too.

Right at the outset you don’t know what the film is about as the movie takes its time first establishing the household, its members and their hierarchy clearly – because you know its going to be important later in the film. 

The physically towering Kuttapan is the domineering

patriarch, followed by his eldest son jamon played brilliantly by (Baburaj) somewhere in the bottom is Joji. Who is physically and status wise the opposite end.  His laziness is almost like a rebellion towards his resentment of this hierarchy, he is the unlikeliest Macbeth.

FAFA performance is skillful – here is a man who carries out a murder undetected, but then has no endgame planned. 

His paranoia and fear leads him to overreact to events, which in turn pull him deeper and deeper in to the hole he has made for himself. 

He is playing a character within a character. 

FAFA is exactly the kind of actor today in India who can pull this level of acting chops required for a dark character like this. 

A must watch for lovers of good cinema.

No. 2 The Great Indian Kitchen 

This is the 3^rd Malayalam movie on the list, you can just understand the dominance of the industry in churning out great films one after another.

How do they do that…

Is exactly the expression that sums up Jeo baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen… 

a movie that was initially rejected by both Netflix and Amazon. It somehow found release in a rather unknown website called neestream.com … 

But they as they say – you can’t keep a good thing hidden for long – the word of mouth around the film got louder n louder. To the extent that neestream at one point in time could not handle the amount of consequent views the film was getting.

TGIK is a unique film. An film that looks inconspicuous but packs in a sting.

Its a story about a women who after marriage walks into this household, and how she adjusts to the burden of expectations.

A 100 min film with only 30 min of dialogue… the movie is just an observation of the journey of this women who is in this domestic prison of sorts, from willingness to irritation, from irritation to frustration and from frustration to her eventual breakdown… finally to her liberation.

My review of The Great Indian Kitchen

The choice of Jeo baby to just place the camera without suggesting or implying anything and letting you the viewer just realize the sheer imbalance between the genders is the stuff of genius. Its undeniably the most uncomfortable film to watch as a man. Coz chances are you might have encountered something like this or a version of this playing out in your household at some point or the other.

And finally my fav regional movie

1) The Disciple

This Marathi movie was the first Indian film to be invited to enter the main competition in the Venice Film Festival since Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. 

Where it won both the international critics award as well as best screenplay.

That’s a pretty big deal, 

but I guess many of you haven’t heard about this Chaitanya Tamhane masterpiece…  Why, in the famous lines of Sean O'Connell from Walter Mitty : Beautiful things don't ask for attention.

Also it doesn’t help that it’s not a commercial film. Actually, far far from it. 

Neither the story, nor the set-up, not even the way its shot resembles anything commercial.

It’s not a film made to be sold to an audience. If you know what I mean.

My review of The Disciple

It’s a story of a normal person – Sharad. Who dreams of being a Hindustani classical vocalist. 

We follow his journey from his mid-twenties, to his late thirties, to a bit of forties with flashbacks in between of his early childhood.

Chaitanya’s film is almost like a mediation. 

The stillness and the dept that he achieves is astounding. 

Please check out my detailed review here in the link.

So that’s it… those were my favorite regional films of the year. This was a tuff list to make… leaving out stuff wasn’t easy.

Lets hope the next year delivers on the promise of this year.