10 GREAT INDIE FILMS IN MALAYALAM FROM THE PARALLEL CINEMA MOVEMENT

film Elippathayam

Even after the formula movies of the 1950s gave way to adaptations of popular literary works in the 60s, the look, feel and the general choice of story premise in Malayalam cinema was still badly in need of a revolution, and, thanks to everything influential about the Italian Neorealism, an uprising happened very soon. As an upshot of the 50s’ Parallel cinema movement by movie giants of the likes of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen that was greatly influenced by the Italian Neorealism, Malayalam cinema also underwent a radical makeover, and a new stream of films came into being right from the beginning of the 1970s lead by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G.Aravaindan, John Abraham and the like. These films were characterized by serious subject matter that took into consideration the sociopolitical situations prevalent at the time, and their realistic depictions strictly devoid of the song and dance routine. The following list sticks to the 1970s and 80s that marked the boom of the parallel cinema, which gradually reduced in number and gave way to their much more canonical middle-stream counterparts.

10. Esthappan 1979

One of the pioneers of the art house cinema in Malayalam, G.Aravindan explored man’s obsession with divinity and his fear for the amorphous powers in Esthappan that at the same time etches a contradictory sketch of the titular fisherman who is variously described as a soothsayer, a faith healer, a thief and a charlatan through unreliable accounts of others in the fishermen community.

9. Kodiyettam 1978

Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Kodiyettam is about the growth of the central character called Shankaran Kutty, from an aimless youth with absolutely no life purposes to an emotionally mature individual. The absurdity of life where change is triggered by the most unexpected of agents is also a factor reflected upon in this transformative journey that displayed the brilliance of the actor Bharath Gopi was.

8. Manimuzhakkam 1976

Manimuzhakkam by the prodigious master P.A. Backer is filled with societal paradoxes that the protagonist tussles with, in an attempt to carve out an identity for himself, having to outlive the shift from being raised in a Roman Catholic orphanage to the rigid religious beliefs of his Hindu family. The film is based on Sarah Thomas’ novel Murippaadukal.

7. Swayamvaram 1973

Swayamvaram is the numero uno in chronology when it comes to Kerala’s groundbreaking foray into the Parallel Cinema movement. Here Adoor Gopalakrishnan explores the dynamics of a marriage dashed against the hardship and toil of life. A directorial debut that won National Award for both ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’, Swayamvaram also used sound as a leitmotif for the first time in Malayalam.

6. Uttarayanam 1974

Another masterful directorial debut, this time by G. Aravindan, Uttarayanam, based on his own cartoon series called Cheriya Lokavum Valiya Manushyarum, follows an unemployed man in his quest for a job and a study through his eyes, of the transformation in people before and after independence, that blatantly exposes the hypocritical nature of man’s survival instincts.

5. Nirmalyam 1973

“Spoler Alert”. Nirmalyam, M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s directorial debut, is perhaps the most painful film to watch on the list, and shows the slow disintegration of the family of a temple oracle overrun by poverty on the face of changing societal values and beliefs. The film is still remembered with a shudder for the climactic gore, where in a frenzied dance, the oracle publicly spits on the deity and rips open his head with the deific sword and bleeds to death.

4. Chidambaram 1985

Aravindan’s Chidambaram is an ode to the theory of remorse and redemption set against the peculiarities of man-woman relationships. This multiple award winning film for the first time featured Smita Patil in a Malayalam film, and was both a critical as well as a great commercial success for an art house production.

3. Piravi 1989

Roughly around the time when the Middle-stream cinema was at its peak, Shaji N. Karun’s Piravi made a profound statement with its powerful presence that was both moving and alarming. A father’s search for a son who initially fails to show up for his sister’s engagement and remains missing thereafter, is intensely shown with a narrative spirit that reflects on the life-giving influence of hope and the crippling consequence of its end.

2. Amma Aryan 1986

Taking the narrative structure of a road movie, avant-garde filmmaker John Abraham’s multilayered Amma Ariyan, is about a journey to the eponymous mother intended to break the sad news of her son’s death that in time and on the way unmasks the ugly state of class struggles, student protests, the crises of the labor union, and the sad paradoxes of the world we live in.

1. Elippathayam 1981

Adoor’s Elippathayam, arguably one of his best films so far, is an ode to the dying embers of the feudal system focusing on the twilight years of a family of erstwhile feudal lord that struggles to adapt to the changing times with a delusional patriarch who refuses to acknowledge the defeat of his power. If not for the intense metaphor that is hauntingly brought to life here, Elipathayam deserves to be seen for the sheer brilliance of the visual technique employed.

  

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