It was always one long narrative, with an intermission of a few minutes. Till 2009, that was the expected routine for a movie goer in Kerala when Kerala Cafe, an anthology film, broke all pre-written codes of filmmaking. Irrespective of its commercial or non-commercial status, experimentation with a film’s format was an alien concept until Kerala Cafe, which had M-Town’s 10 renowned filmmakers told 10 short stories on the theme ‘journey.’
We intend to eliminate the suffocation of morbid and monotonous shots a viewer has to endure.
It took another six years for the format to reappear in Malayalam cinema with a bouquet of five narratives, 5 Sundarikal, followed by D Company and the not-so-well known Oru Yatrayil and finally Aana Mayil Ottakam. In slow but steady pace, the portmanteau movies have been gaining acceptance. Now comes news that another bunch of movie makers is gearing up for a female-oriented ‘film of films’, Crossroad. Headed by avant-garde maestro Lenin Rajendran, a movie consortium named ‘Forum for Better Films’ brings Malayalam’s many leading ladies together on big screen. Each short movie will be restricted to 15 minutes.
5 sundarikal
“Think how unpleasant it would be if a painting suited for a smaller canvas be stretched out on to an unfittingly larger space? While watching certain movies I felt the same. Rather than trying for a concise delivery, the stories are elongated. Sometimes, a one-hour movie succeeds in narrating a tale better than a film of two or more hours’ duration. We intend to eliminate the suffocation of morbid and monotonous shots a viewer has to endure,” says Sashi Paravoor, general secretary of Forum for Better Films, and director of the short movie Lake House in the anthologyThe others in the line-up are Rajeev Ravi, Madhupal, Nemom Pushparaj, Asok R. Nath, Albert, Pradeep Nair, Babu Thiruvalla, Avira Rebecca and a new female director Nayana Sooriyan. “It’s a challenge to all of us. We ourselves have set a quality criterion within us so that all would strive to bring their best out,” says Sashi.
A still from Kerala cafe
The film has started rolling in Thiruvananthapuram. 5 Sundarikal, themed at ‘love’, had scripts developed out of five short stories including the one by M. Mukundan. Shyju Khalid, director of the segment Sethulakshmi reveals audience perception towards anthology movies. “The problem is portmanteau films are not full-on commercial films. The stories speak in a serious tone. Instead of doing a short story, it is tailored into a filmy format. The audience to these movies are hence restricted to a minority. Those looking for an entertainment factor may not fit the bill,” says Shyju.
B. Unnikrishnan, who did the short film Aviraamam starring Siddique and Shwetha Menon in Kerala Cafe, finds more anthology movies in Malayalam a welcome change. “That time we were introducing a new concept. The movie was well received critically though it was not a stupendous success commercially. In international circuit, I got a good feedback. It’s good that more directors venture into such projects,” says Unnikrishnan. Kerala Cafe was curated and produced by Renjith.
The makers of Crossroads don’t want to stop with this one particular movie. “This is the beginning, another set of directors are in the queue to develop movies out of good storyline,” says Sashi. The audience reception is also in for a change, anticipates Shyju. “Take the past three years of filmmaking. The viewers’ outlook on new gen movies in that period is not the same now. It has changed. Likewise, in future, the anthology movies may also be looked upon from a different perspective,” says Shyju.
