What Is The New Generation Malayalam Film Movement?

The New Generation of Malayalam cinema is a film movement in Malayalam cinema that began in the second half of the 2010s.

In the past few years, new generation movies have been increasingly setting box office records and receiving critical acclaim.

The directors of this new wave include Aashiq Abu, Anwar Rasheed, Ashiq Abu, Dileesh Pothan, Lijo Jose Pellissery, Mahesh Narayanan, Sameer Thahir, Shyju Khalid and Zakariya Mohammed.
 

What Is The New Generation (Malayalam Film Movement)?

The Malayalam film industry, the fourth biggest film industry in India in box office collections, has started making waves globally with its content-driven films.

These films have proved that Malayalam cinema is ready to experiment with new ideas and fresh concepts.

Malayalam cinema has evolved over the years from the form to its content and is impressing both the audience and critics alike.

The new generation of Malayalam films is more inclined toward reality than fantasy.

The realistic depiction of life and its struggles on screen has made these films a massive hit.

The stories are the main attraction of these movies as they are gripping until the end.

Though some of these movies may not be commercially successful, still audiences love them for their quality content.

In fact, it is due to their unique concepts that more people are watching Malayalam films now than before.

The new generation film movement in Malayalam cinema can be attributed to many factors.

Firstly, most of them have come from a theatre background which gives them an edge over other directors when handling actors and directing scenes on screen.

Secondly, they are also highly talented cinematographers who know how to capture beautiful frames in natural lighting conditions.

Imperfect At Home: What The Malayalam Film Movement Gets Wrong About Gender Dynamics

In a recent interview with The News Minute, actor Parvathy revealed that she was sexually harassed by a film director at a party. This revelation follows closely on the heels of another report about actor Rajinikanth’s son-in-law Dhanush being accused of harassment by his former co-star.

The incidents have been reported, and we have seen the fallout on social media. 

However, unfortunately, we have not witnessed an introspection within the industry itself to address the larger culture of misogyny, patriarchy and sexism that drives such incidents.

Many people are only too ready to point fingers at Dhanush or Rajinikanth without understanding the bigger picture: why do such men continue to occupy spaces of power in our society? 

The question is pertinent because it brings us to the heart of a much larger issue: what makes men feel entitled to harass women? What makes them think they can get away with it?

 How has our society allowed them to? This is where cinema comes in. We might not like to talk about it, but cinema—which is basically a mirror held up to society—is one of the biggest influences on how we perceive gender dynamics.

Cinema provides visual representations and narratives that we come across.

History Of The New Generation (Malayalam Film Movement)

Malayalam cinema is a cinema made in the Malayalam language, located in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Malayalam films are produced in India and are released in India’s several film production centres like Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kochi.

Malayalam films have a strong cult following, and some of them have achieved national and international recognition. Tulu Cinema is a term used to refer to Cinema made in the Tulu language, located in the coastal and southern parts of Karnataka, India.

The first Tulu movie was Ullasa Parvatha (1952), directed by P. Venugopala Rao. This movie was based on a novel written by Kota Shivaram Karanth.

It was released in black-and-white, but now, colour movies are being produced (2007). 

Kannada cinema is a cinema made primarily in the Kannada language, located in the state of Karnataka, India.

Kannada Cinema is famous throughout India, with distribution networks across all states of India.

The first silent film in Kannada was Keechaka Vadha by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. In 1931, Chatrapathi was released, which was the first Kannada talkie.

The new generation of Malayalam films is a period in the history of Malayalam cinema that began with the release of Padmarajan’s Oridathu (1983). 

This period marked the change of guard from the commercial films to those made with an artistic sensibility.

Essential Filmmakers Of The New Generation (Malayalam Film Movement)

When you think about the Malayalam film industry, one name comes to mind: Mohanlal. 

He is not just a superstar but also one of the most versatile actors to have ever graced the Indian film industry.

He has starred in over 300 films and has been a part of more than 80 Malayalam films as a producer, director, writer and playback singer.

 Here are a few other filmmakers making waves in the Malayalam industry: Ranjith SankarRanjith Sankar is a director known for his realistic style of filmmaking.

He started off his career by assisting P. Padmarajan before directing his first film in 1998—Kazhcha. It was a comedy thriller based on police brutality, and it won him several awards, including the prestigious National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam.

One of his most famous films is CID Moosa, which won him several accolades, including the Kerala State Film Award for Best Director and Filmfare Award for Best Director – Malayalam.BlessyIn 2002, Blessy made his debut with Traffic, which won him critical acclaim and many awards.

   

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Essential Films Of The New Generation (Malayalam Film Movement)

The “New Wave”, also known as New Generation films or Post-Travancore films, refers to a distinct period in the history of Malayalam cinema when young filmmakers brought about a radical change in the Malayalam film industry. 

The movie of the new generation had their aesthetic roots in European and American cinemas. Still, it was essentially rooted in the reality of everyday life and issues faced by the common man.

The films were noted for their technical finesse, realistic plot lines, and portrayal of themes considered unconventional or controversial. 

The movie created a new idiom in Malayalam cinema, breaking from previous conventional styles.

The “newness” was more noticeable in the themes and narration, while characterisation and treatment were similar to earlier films. 

The new wave changed the face of Malayalam cinema, bringing fresh ideas and approaches to filmmaking.

It was a breakaway from tradition and convention, emphasising realism, naturalism, and realism. 

It heralded one of the most creative periods in Malayalam cinema, with new ideas emerging.

New Wave directors brought fresh ideas to the screen with intelligent writing, excellent characterisation, taut screenplay, fine acting and technical finesse. 

New Wave films have become landmarks in Mal.

eIment)mportance Of The New Generation (Malayalam Film Mov

The New Generation was a phase in the Indian film industry that began as an alternative to mainstream cinema in the early 1990s. 

It came as a breath of fresh air, as it offered a realistic representation of life and its complexities.

The New Generation movement was led by a group of young filmmakers who sought to break away from the masala films that had ruled Indian cinema for decades. 

The action is also referred to as Parallel Cinema or the Indian New Wave.

Some of the most acclaimed filmmakers like Mani Ratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli, Mrinal Sen, Anurag Kashyap and others marked their debut during this phase. 

It was not a sudden change but rather a gradual development over a decade.

The young directors started making films with different themes and issues and were more realistic about their characters and situations. 

The movie had subtlety in acting and dialogues but was shot on locations, unlike earlier films shot in studio sets.

With liberalisation and the opening up of the economy in 1991, India saw significant changes in its social fabric. 

People have become more aware of their own lives and surroundings. This resulted in new themes being explored by these filmmakers as they wanted.

New Generation (Malayalam Film Movement) Theory

It is not possible to say that a film movement is a way because of a handful of directors or the kind of stories they choose to tell.

 Film movements are shaped by socio-political changes, the changing trends in cinema, technological developments and most importantly, the audiences.

The New Wave was new only in name. It was not a break from classical cinema but an extension of it.

The difference was in its approach to realism, as many critics have pointed out, and its use of formal experimentation. Even here, some critics feel that such experiments were not necessarily aimed at being realistic.

Formal experimentation is a part of all art movements and is not limited to realism alone. 

Film movements are always a result of the confluence of creative impulses from different quarters.

There is no denying the fact that the New Wave owed a lot to the pioneers like P. Venu (poet), P Bhaskaran (director), Kunchako (editor) and many others who made fresh waves in Malayalam literature and theatre. But they never called themselves a movement, nor did they think of themselves as one collective body against mainstream cinema.

In fact, many of these pioneers went on to make films which couldn’t be said to be very realistic or experimental.

The End Of The New Generation (Malayalam Film Movement)

A few days ago, I visited the Facebook page of a friend. I was surprised to see the post of a video from a group called ‘New Generation’.

This group had posted a video that showed an interview with director Priyadarshan. 

In the video, he said something like, “I can make any kind of film, but I am not willing to make this kind of cinema…” (something along those lines).

The term they use is ‘Amateur Cinema’, and they also have a Facebook page called ‘Amateur Cinema Movement’.

The New Generation Group is basically against film-making that is ‘not natural’ and is trying to promote more real film-making.

They argue that cinema should be shot using mobile phones and not in studios using expensive cameras. 

They are also against dubbing (if the original script has been written in Malayalam, then it should be dubbed in Malayalam) and against giving roles to famous or well-established actors in the industry.

The amateur cinema movement was started in 2007 by some students from Calicut University. 

This movement began as a reaction to the new generation of cinema which started as part of the parallel cinema movement.

On the one hand, we have people who want to do things their own way.

New Generation (Malayalam Film Movement) – Wrapping Up

The New Cinema, or the New Wave, was a cinematic movement in Indian cinema during the late 1950s and 1960s. 

The term is most commonly used for a trend in mainstream Hindi films known as “New Film”.

It also refers to a broader movement of young filmmakers in all the regional film industries of India. 

The campaign had an effect on the development of parallel cinema in India.

It has also been referred to as the “Dalit Cinema”, though this term is controversial. In the first half of the 1960s, there were two trends in Indian cinema.

Commercial movies are produced in Bollywood style, and social films are based on realistic stories delivered in art film style.

Both trends were represented by several films produced during this period. 

The social movies were influenced by European art films, while the commercial film was influenced by Hollywood films.

The films produced in both these styles were critically acclaimed and commercially successful.

 However, most directors considered these films’ artistic failures because they didn’t provide entertainment to the general public. 

Only a limited class of people could appreciate their artistic value.

New wave filmmakers aimed to make their films more accessible to the masses without sacrificing their artistic values. 

The Bombay Film Festival, organised in 1955, noticed a new trend in India.