Scripting a flop story

Thilakan row adds to the woes of Kerala film industry which is struggling to deliver hits....

Once the object of envy of its counterparts elsewhere in the country,the commercial film industry in Kerala has lately been keeping the audience engrossed in the drama unfolding behind the screen. The controversy surrounding the outburst of senior actor Thilakan refuses to die down,hurting the already crisis-ridden industry.

Thilakan,a Padma Shri recipient,who had revolted against the denial of role in a new production the Mohanlal starrer Christian Brothers dared the actors association to take disciplinary action against him. Thilakan threatened to disrupt shooting and float a new outfit of artistes. Noted writers and Left sympathisers M Mukundan and Sukumar Azhikode also jumped into the fray,saying that editing out Thilakan from the movie was unfair. Backing Thilakan,Azhikode mounted an attack on Mohanlal and Mammooty,who have dominated the Malayalam film industry for 25 years. Thilakan had accused Mammooty of playing the villain in his celluloid career.

Over the past couple of years,the Kerala film industry has been a story of mega flops. In 2009,only six of the 78 films produced managed to recover the investment. To keep the struggling industry afloat,the producers association has put a Rs 3.5 crore upper limit on the cost to be incurred and stipulated 45 days for completing the shooting.

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According to Producers Association general secretary Sabu Cherian,the cost cutting has helped the industry but quality cinema is still missing. A project is first identified with a leading actor. The co-actors and the crew are left to the choice of the leading star,who wants to demonstrate his grip in the industry. Screenplay would be tailored to meet the superstars image. We have very few instances of a good movie organically growing from a good script, said Cherian.

The young artistes are also irked over the 50-plus mega stars playing younger characters. I am sure that after 25 years I would not be offered the type of youngsters roles now donned by Mohanlal and Mammooty, said Prithvi Raj in a recent TV interview. A producer-cum-scriptwriter,speaking on condition of anonymity,said many directors and writers were functioning as the satellites of the mega stars and very few have the courage to go in for creative experiments.

According to industry sources,the fans associations of leading actors play a crucial role too. The tickets in theatres are booked en-bloc by the associations for the first two weeks,giving the impression that the superstars movies are hits. Since ordinary actors do not have the clout or resources to maintain these fans associations,the industry is forced to fall back on the reliability guaranteed by the stars.

Parallel to this is the struggle between the prominent theatres and smaller theatres for dominance. The A-class theatres,spread across major towns,have been going all out to prevent the expansion of the screening network and had last year threatened to stall releases at the B-class theatres.