Revolution, M'town

Movies can be considered as an entertainment medium that have a wider reach among the public. It is probably because the storylines either inspired from real life incidents or imaginary ones are so presented on screen that people relate to it and to an extent, try to imbibe certain cinematic factors in their life. With time, movies have evolved and more realistic and intricate subjects are being dealt with. Recently released Malayalam movies like Oru Mexican Aparatha, Sakhavu and CIA, if reviewed, have communism and comrades as a common content though all these movies are very much different from each other.

We talked to actors, directors and film critics to know whether this is a new trend emerging in Malayalam cinema or it was a pure co-incidence. Commenting on whether his film Oru Mexican Aparatha was meant to glorify SFI and its activities on the college campuses of Kerala, director Tom Emmatty clarifies that glorifying the student wing of any political party was not his aim, rather he intended to portray the strength and revolution a student federation could bring in. “A huge point all tend to miss out is that some of the major movements our country has witnessed originated from college campuses. And SFI, a student wing of the Communist Party, was very strong in our campuses since a very early stage,” he says.

“They were a group who voiced against discrimination and slavery and fought for the rights, which could only be effectively implemented by the youth. That is the reason why SFI became a strong group on campuses. However, nowadays campuses have in a way become jails for students where they are only expected to study the syllabus and leave. Through Oru Mexican Aparatha, I wanted to show that campuses are not only known for their love stories but also the revolution that student federations can bring in, a kind of reminder to the system that youth should be built strong so that they lead our country in the coming years.”

Tom is of the opinion that audiences should try to see the real motive behind the movies rather than labelling them as political films. Neeraj Madhav, one of the lead characters of Oru Mexican Aparatha, says, “It is pure coincidence that our movies Sakhavu and CIA released around the same time. All the movies have different plots and were planned at different times. There are various technicalities that decide the release dates. Moreover Oru Mexican Aparatha deals with the changes a student federation could bring to a campus and Sakhavu is about the realisation a boy who boasts of being a comrade gets after meeting another comrade who could be considered as an epitome of communism. None of these movies have any intention to glorify any ideology. If one is a campus story, the other shows the pure ideologies a social worker should have.”

It is the audience that judge a movie, and films with a particular plot coming out at a period decide the trend. When they began shifting from clichéd plots, they were termed new generation movies, which if seriously thought about, could be a misconception as every generation likes changes. That’s the opinion of film critic and director, Vijay Krishnan who adds that the recent movies in Malayalam having communism as a context cannot be considered a new trend. “Movies mean changes and experiments which are sometimes accepted and loved and some other times, rejected. Different directors will definitely have different things in their mind that they intend to convey. People might think that as LDF is the ruling party and its student’s wing SFI has seen certain controversies in the recent past, a few inclined towards the party have made these films in order to glorify the party. But one should consider the effort and pain that have gone into making a movie because all these movies, apart from showing characters who are followers of communism, also have a strong message to convey. CIA is about a boy who crosses the borders to find his love. Even that is a revolution in itself.”