Advance Diwali Wishes to each one of you out there. Reached Coimbatore today morning at 4. Found time to watch the matinee show of the film 'Thirakkatha' at a nearby theatre. I am not reviewing it since it has already been done many times on the net and the movie is as good as what the reviews make it out to be. I hope many more such films come up in Malayalam.
Enjoy Diwali!
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Art of Mimicry
I have been fascinated by the art of mimicry right from my childhood days. Be it school life, college life, movies or stage-shows the mimicry shows have evoked great admiration and interest among many people.
In Kerala, mimicry artistes have used their skills at stage-shows and also in films and TV comedy shows partly as comedy, and partly as a means of effective satire on the various happenings in society. Many of the mimicry artistes have diverted their career successfully into movies. The earliest example of such personalities could be Cochin Haneefa who started his career as a stage-show mimicry artiste by imitating the voices of leading actors like Sivaji Ganeshan and MGR. Others of his ilk include the famous director Fazil whose shows were regularly attended by Mammootty during the actor’s days at Maharajas College. Mammooty too is an avid fan of mimicry shows and has been seen at many Gulf Programmes.
Fazil, after his break into the film world, went on to direct many hit films and later introduced the duo Siddique-Lal into the cine field. Siddique-Lal were popular mimicry artistes cum comedians at the famous Kalabhavan troupe in Cochin. Probably Fazil was also influenced by this very fact which would have reminded him of his heydays as a mimicry artiste. This proved to be Fazil's best gift to Malayalam cinema since the duo of Siddique-Lal went to create many super-hit comedy films like In Harihar Nagar and RamjiRao Speaking.
However, as a member of YouTube quoted "Jayaram remains to-date the master of the art of mimicry". Jayaram honed his mimicry skills while studying at Sri Sankara college, Kaladi and later at Kalabhavan, Cochin. Probably the artiste whom he was mimiced often has been Prem Nazir whom Jayaram respects a lot and who he has seen in childhood at shooting locations at Perumbavoor as a young boy. In the film 'Chanakyan', Jayaram appears as a mimicry artiste with his reel-name also being Jayaram. The film which deals with a former musician (Kamal Hassan) seeking revenge over the killing of his family members by a politician (Thilakan), shows Kamal seeking the help of Jayaram (in an indirect way/ unknown to Jayaram) by making him mimick the Chief Minister's (Thilakan) voice and relaying a totally false speech on TV.
Even now Jayaram appears in quite a few Gulf Programmes where people wait to see his mimicry skills. He also appeared as a guest in the programme "Minnum Tharam" hosted by actor Jagadeesh on Asianet channel. Such is his love for the art which gave him so much fame among the people of Kerala.
Dileep, who ruled the roost during the crisis time of Malayalam film industry (1998-2002) started his career as a mimicry artiste. He honed his skills during his days at Maharajas College which later proved handy when he went searching for roles in films. He was the first anchor of the program 'Comicola' on Asianet which gained immense popularity during that time. Jayaram had this interesting anecodote regarding Dileep to share whe he appeared on "Minnum Tharam".
"Njan oru shooting kazhinju vannappo enne kanan oralavide kathirippundennu aro paranju. Chennu nokkiyappo njan kandathu melinju kolam ketta oru Dileep-ine ayirunnu. 'Sir..Njan mimicry artiste aanu' ennu paranju Dileep swayam parijayapedutthi. Sadarana ella mimicry artises kanikunna sthiram items ayirikkum eyalum kanikkan pokunnathennu ehikku thoni. 'Sir. Ithuvare arum attempt cheyyatha oru pratheka item enikku kanikkan pattum sir'. Enthennu njan nokiyaapo "Lalu Alex"-ne mimic cheythu oru dialogue. Aa samaythu athoru puthiya item ayirunnu. Adhikam arum imitate cheythittilatha oru actor ayirunnu Lalu Alex".
Saying the above, Jayaram showed the audience as to how Dileep had performed the item. It was just amazing to hear what Jayaram had said and again more amazing, to see him mimicking Lalu Alex just like how Dileep had done, or maybe even better.
At school, my classmates Anand, Tariq and Arun were known more for their monact rather than mimicry. But Anand at times used to mimic Prem Nazir, not so much by voice, but by the actions especially that famous smile of Nazir and to say that the fellow Loyolites didn't enjoy that would be a mere understatement. I feel, from the viewpoint of a lover of this art, at times, that it was rather unfortunate that there were more monoact artistes than pure mimicry artistes at Loyola School.
While the earlier mimicry artistes in Kerala used to merely mimick the voice of popular actors merely through their popular dialogues, the later one's added an element of comedy by mimicking their voice by choosing specific imaginary instances. For example I remember a mimicry artiste showing how Prem Nazir would have spoken at an election campaign.
"Ehhh..Kavilammayanu Sathyam..ehhh..kodungallur deviyanu sathyam..njan ee election-il theerchayayum vijayikkum..ehh..anganeyalla chirikkunnathu..ingane venam..Ha Ha Ha Ha".
Suraj Venjaramoodu seems to be the latest of mimicry entrants in the cine field. He is known for his famous mimicking of actor Jayan and is seen using that voice in many of the films he acts in. Since the audience too enjoy that I don't see him dropping that style in the near future.
All famous mimicry artistes have not necessarily made it big inflms. Kottayam Nazeer is such an example. Though his skills at mimicry even equal and sometimes even rise above Jayaram, his roles in films have been far and few in number. The last time I saw him in a movie was in the Sreenivasan flick "Kadha Parayumbol". While he is a definite successor to Jayaram as a mimicry legend, journey into filmdom has not been a smooth ride for him. As a film lover, I wish he gets good comedy roles which will help him leverage his acceptance among the film viewers.
Moving from people who do mimicry to people who are mimicked, there seems to be a standard list is an expected and now accepted one. The usual personalities are film actors like Nazeer, Mohanlal and Mammootty and also politicians like Achuthanandan, Karunakaran, E.K.Nayanar and even A.K.Antony. In fact the comedy shows at Asianet and Surya used to take a dig at Achuthanandan so frequently that his party supporters expressed anger at it. A popular episode at one such comedy show mimicked the phone-in program with the Chief Minister. The dialogues go like this:
Q: Saare..Njan Guruvayoor Kshethrathile Melshanti-ya samsarikkunnathu
EKN: Aaahh..enthado guruvayoorile prashnam..
Q: Sir evidethe vigraham moshanam poyi..kallane pidikkan vendiya ella sahayavum mukhya manthri cheyyanam
EKN: Aaahh..kallane pidikkan athrakku padalla. ella onnam theeyathi avide oruthan thozhan varum..avane pidicchu police-il elpiccha mathi ketto..
Jayan became the popular subject of mimicry artistes circa 2000. I remember Jayan Day being celebrated every year at CET with students coming dressed in bright red shirts and white bell-bottoms providing the ever funny college life there with even more interesting moments. I remember a Mech guy once entering our class during Jayan day. He pointed at one of the girls and asked us guys 'Ithente Seemayano?' in typical Jayan style. Of course we guys didn't spoil the fun and replied "Ohhh.thanne...kondu poykko" much to the flushed expression on the girl's face.
Even now I enjoy mimicry shows. Maybe it's the comedy, maybe because it's a good pass-time or maybe because I continue to get amazed at how the artistes manage to do it so well time and again. So, I end this post, fittingly, with this video from Youtube. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :-)
In Kerala, mimicry artistes have used their skills at stage-shows and also in films and TV comedy shows partly as comedy, and partly as a means of effective satire on the various happenings in society. Many of the mimicry artistes have diverted their career successfully into movies. The earliest example of such personalities could be Cochin Haneefa who started his career as a stage-show mimicry artiste by imitating the voices of leading actors like Sivaji Ganeshan and MGR. Others of his ilk include the famous director Fazil whose shows were regularly attended by Mammootty during the actor’s days at Maharajas College. Mammooty too is an avid fan of mimicry shows and has been seen at many Gulf Programmes.
Fazil, after his break into the film world, went on to direct many hit films and later introduced the duo Siddique-Lal into the cine field. Siddique-Lal were popular mimicry artistes cum comedians at the famous Kalabhavan troupe in Cochin. Probably Fazil was also influenced by this very fact which would have reminded him of his heydays as a mimicry artiste. This proved to be Fazil's best gift to Malayalam cinema since the duo of Siddique-Lal went to create many super-hit comedy films like In Harihar Nagar and RamjiRao Speaking.
However, as a member of YouTube quoted "Jayaram remains to-date the master of the art of mimicry". Jayaram honed his mimicry skills while studying at Sri Sankara college, Kaladi and later at Kalabhavan, Cochin. Probably the artiste whom he was mimiced often has been Prem Nazir whom Jayaram respects a lot and who he has seen in childhood at shooting locations at Perumbavoor as a young boy. In the film 'Chanakyan', Jayaram appears as a mimicry artiste with his reel-name also being Jayaram. The film which deals with a former musician (Kamal Hassan) seeking revenge over the killing of his family members by a politician (Thilakan), shows Kamal seeking the help of Jayaram (in an indirect way/ unknown to Jayaram) by making him mimick the Chief Minister's (Thilakan) voice and relaying a totally false speech on TV.
Even now Jayaram appears in quite a few Gulf Programmes where people wait to see his mimicry skills. He also appeared as a guest in the programme "Minnum Tharam" hosted by actor Jagadeesh on Asianet channel. Such is his love for the art which gave him so much fame among the people of Kerala.
Dileep, who ruled the roost during the crisis time of Malayalam film industry (1998-2002) started his career as a mimicry artiste. He honed his skills during his days at Maharajas College which later proved handy when he went searching for roles in films. He was the first anchor of the program 'Comicola' on Asianet which gained immense popularity during that time. Jayaram had this interesting anecodote regarding Dileep to share whe he appeared on "Minnum Tharam".
"Njan oru shooting kazhinju vannappo enne kanan oralavide kathirippundennu aro paranju. Chennu nokkiyappo njan kandathu melinju kolam ketta oru Dileep-ine ayirunnu. 'Sir..Njan mimicry artiste aanu' ennu paranju Dileep swayam parijayapedutthi. Sadarana ella mimicry artises kanikunna sthiram items ayirikkum eyalum kanikkan pokunnathennu ehikku thoni. 'Sir. Ithuvare arum attempt cheyyatha oru pratheka item enikku kanikkan pattum sir'. Enthennu njan nokiyaapo "Lalu Alex"-ne mimic cheythu oru dialogue. Aa samaythu athoru puthiya item ayirunnu. Adhikam arum imitate cheythittilatha oru actor ayirunnu Lalu Alex".
Saying the above, Jayaram showed the audience as to how Dileep had performed the item. It was just amazing to hear what Jayaram had said and again more amazing, to see him mimicking Lalu Alex just like how Dileep had done, or maybe even better.
At school, my classmates Anand, Tariq and Arun were known more for their monact rather than mimicry. But Anand at times used to mimic Prem Nazir, not so much by voice, but by the actions especially that famous smile of Nazir and to say that the fellow Loyolites didn't enjoy that would be a mere understatement. I feel, from the viewpoint of a lover of this art, at times, that it was rather unfortunate that there were more monoact artistes than pure mimicry artistes at Loyola School.
While the earlier mimicry artistes in Kerala used to merely mimick the voice of popular actors merely through their popular dialogues, the later one's added an element of comedy by mimicking their voice by choosing specific imaginary instances. For example I remember a mimicry artiste showing how Prem Nazir would have spoken at an election campaign.
"Ehhh..Kavilammayanu Sathyam..ehhh..kodungallur deviyanu sathyam..njan ee election-il theerchayayum vijayikkum..ehh..anganeyalla chirikkunnathu..ingane venam..Ha Ha Ha Ha".
Suraj Venjaramoodu seems to be the latest of mimicry entrants in the cine field. He is known for his famous mimicking of actor Jayan and is seen using that voice in many of the films he acts in. Since the audience too enjoy that I don't see him dropping that style in the near future.
All famous mimicry artistes have not necessarily made it big inflms. Kottayam Nazeer is such an example. Though his skills at mimicry even equal and sometimes even rise above Jayaram, his roles in films have been far and few in number. The last time I saw him in a movie was in the Sreenivasan flick "Kadha Parayumbol". While he is a definite successor to Jayaram as a mimicry legend, journey into filmdom has not been a smooth ride for him. As a film lover, I wish he gets good comedy roles which will help him leverage his acceptance among the film viewers.
Moving from people who do mimicry to people who are mimicked, there seems to be a standard list is an expected and now accepted one. The usual personalities are film actors like Nazeer, Mohanlal and Mammootty and also politicians like Achuthanandan, Karunakaran, E.K.Nayanar and even A.K.Antony. In fact the comedy shows at Asianet and Surya used to take a dig at Achuthanandan so frequently that his party supporters expressed anger at it. A popular episode at one such comedy show mimicked the phone-in program with the Chief Minister. The dialogues go like this:
Q: Saare..Njan Guruvayoor Kshethrathile Melshanti-ya samsarikkunnathu
EKN: Aaahh..enthado guruvayoorile prashnam..
Q: Sir evidethe vigraham moshanam poyi..kallane pidikkan vendiya ella sahayavum mukhya manthri cheyyanam
EKN: Aaahh..kallane pidikkan athrakku padalla. ella onnam theeyathi avide oruthan thozhan varum..avane pidicchu police-il elpiccha mathi ketto..
Jayan became the popular subject of mimicry artistes circa 2000. I remember Jayan Day being celebrated every year at CET with students coming dressed in bright red shirts and white bell-bottoms providing the ever funny college life there with even more interesting moments. I remember a Mech guy once entering our class during Jayan day. He pointed at one of the girls and asked us guys 'Ithente Seemayano?' in typical Jayan style. Of course we guys didn't spoil the fun and replied "Ohhh.thanne...kondu poykko" much to the flushed expression on the girl's face.
Even now I enjoy mimicry shows. Maybe it's the comedy, maybe because it's a good pass-time or maybe because I continue to get amazed at how the artistes manage to do it so well time and again. So, I end this post, fittingly, with this video from Youtube. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :-)
Sunday, January 27, 2008
To believe or not to believe
Whenever i visit Trivandrum I make it a point to reserve one day just to visit Beemappalli and buy a few Malayalam film cd's/dvd's to add to my existing collection. Rather than going for new movies (except for selected ones) i prefer buying the "Tried and Tested" ones a.k.a award winning, comedies, classics genre of films etc.
This time on my trip I purchased a few of the Mammootty classics. It was a DVD with the films Yathra, Thaniyavarthanam and Nirakoottu. Of these perhaps the one that will immediately strike the chord of not just a Malayalam film viewer but any film viewer would be the film "Thaniyavarthanam".
Before going into the discussion on the movie, I would like to contemplate on the theme of blind-beliefs or what is known in Malayalam as "Anthavishwasam" with respect to Malayalam movies. It is a theme brought about it in a few Malayalam movies through varied degrees of seriousness in the script.
Nagarangalil Chennu Rapaarkam (1989) was a Viji Thampi directed film starring Sreenivasan and Jayaram. Sreenivasan plays the son of Nedumudi Venu in a typical village Tharavadu. The local astrologer predicts that Sreenivasan would die within a few weeks. Then the entire family keeps him virtually in a sort of house arrest providing him with good food and all other facilities. Jayaram , his childhood friend in the village returns from town on a break and meets Sreenivasan at his home. Sreenivasan on hearing the stories about town life coupled with his boredom on being forced to stay within the boundaries of the family house decides to escape with Jayaram to the town. The film then goes through humorous twists and turns before Sreeni finally unites with his father after the prediction of the astrologer proves false. This is a comical satire on blind beliefs that exists in rural Kerala brought about in a light manner.
Based on these themes were the satire like films Sadanandante Samayam (Dileep) and a film (whose name i forgot) in which Sreenivasan is claimed to have "RajaYogam" by an astrologer and thus whoever comes in contact with him will gain enormous luck. The latter was a laugh riot but atypical of Sreeni films delivers a subtle message on the blind beliefs held by society.
Anyway coming back to Thaniyavarthanam, it tells the story of Balan Mash (so brilliantly portrayed by Mammootty) a middle class schoolteacher who falls prey to the blind beliefs held in society. His uncle Sreedharan Maman (played by Babu Namboothiri) becomes mentally retarded after getting separated from his lover (played as a cameo by Parvathi). Thus starts the blind belief in the family that in each generation one male member in the family would get mentally retarded. Unfortunately Mammootty becomes the victim and the sufferings of the protagonist depicted on screen and the climax of the movie were too tragic for me to watch this movie more than once. Unlike the other mentioned movies, this one dwells into the subject in full seriousness and considering that it was Lohitadas's debut script one can also imagine the genius of the scripting prowess of Lohitadas that were seen in his later films like Kireedam. The film shows that these incidents are caused due to the perceptions held by people rather than they exploring the reality. Directed by Sibi Malayil (known for his tragedy films) the film explores the emotions, beliefs and attitude held by people in such a society. Mukesh (playing Gopan, Mammotty's brother) is cast as a rationalist and one who despises such beliefs and who is always seen telling the family members that unless they leave the house no one is going to live a happy life. This film is a must watch not only for fans of Mammootty but also for any film lover.
Now coming to the subject of false-beliefs, one can say that with the advancement in science and the spread of income among middle class and with migration of people from rural to urban areas the stats seem to indicate a decline in such thoughts among people. But along with increase in income and a busy and stressful lifestyle also comes insecurity in life. This has induced even people among the so-called educated class to adopt false beliefs and visit god men. How can this be stopped or will it ever stop? I have no answer for this. As for me i am one who keeps faith in God but I absolutely despise false-beliefs and even get irritated when i meet people with such views. But i guess traditional views passed on by generations cannot be completely removed from minds of old-aged people who believe in them. But at least the present generation should drop such thoughts and create a healthier society in terms of social development. Would love to hear your views on this. Please do drop in your thoughts.
This time on my trip I purchased a few of the Mammootty classics. It was a DVD with the films Yathra, Thaniyavarthanam and Nirakoottu. Of these perhaps the one that will immediately strike the chord of not just a Malayalam film viewer but any film viewer would be the film "Thaniyavarthanam".
Before going into the discussion on the movie, I would like to contemplate on the theme of blind-beliefs or what is known in Malayalam as "Anthavishwasam" with respect to Malayalam movies. It is a theme brought about it in a few Malayalam movies through varied degrees of seriousness in the script.
Nagarangalil Chennu Rapaarkam (1989) was a Viji Thampi directed film starring Sreenivasan and Jayaram. Sreenivasan plays the son of Nedumudi Venu in a typical village Tharavadu. The local astrologer predicts that Sreenivasan would die within a few weeks. Then the entire family keeps him virtually in a sort of house arrest providing him with good food and all other facilities. Jayaram , his childhood friend in the village returns from town on a break and meets Sreenivasan at his home. Sreenivasan on hearing the stories about town life coupled with his boredom on being forced to stay within the boundaries of the family house decides to escape with Jayaram to the town. The film then goes through humorous twists and turns before Sreeni finally unites with his father after the prediction of the astrologer proves false. This is a comical satire on blind beliefs that exists in rural Kerala brought about in a light manner.
Based on these themes were the satire like films Sadanandante Samayam (Dileep) and a film (whose name i forgot) in which Sreenivasan is claimed to have "RajaYogam" by an astrologer and thus whoever comes in contact with him will gain enormous luck. The latter was a laugh riot but atypical of Sreeni films delivers a subtle message on the blind beliefs held by society.
Anyway coming back to Thaniyavarthanam, it tells the story of Balan Mash (so brilliantly portrayed by Mammootty) a middle class schoolteacher who falls prey to the blind beliefs held in society. His uncle Sreedharan Maman (played by Babu Namboothiri) becomes mentally retarded after getting separated from his lover (played as a cameo by Parvathi). Thus starts the blind belief in the family that in each generation one male member in the family would get mentally retarded. Unfortunately Mammootty becomes the victim and the sufferings of the protagonist depicted on screen and the climax of the movie were too tragic for me to watch this movie more than once. Unlike the other mentioned movies, this one dwells into the subject in full seriousness and considering that it was Lohitadas's debut script one can also imagine the genius of the scripting prowess of Lohitadas that were seen in his later films like Kireedam. The film shows that these incidents are caused due to the perceptions held by people rather than they exploring the reality. Directed by Sibi Malayil (known for his tragedy films) the film explores the emotions, beliefs and attitude held by people in such a society. Mukesh (playing Gopan, Mammotty's brother) is cast as a rationalist and one who despises such beliefs and who is always seen telling the family members that unless they leave the house no one is going to live a happy life. This film is a must watch not only for fans of Mammootty but also for any film lover.
Now coming to the subject of false-beliefs, one can say that with the advancement in science and the spread of income among middle class and with migration of people from rural to urban areas the stats seem to indicate a decline in such thoughts among people. But along with increase in income and a busy and stressful lifestyle also comes insecurity in life. This has induced even people among the so-called educated class to adopt false beliefs and visit god men. How can this be stopped or will it ever stop? I have no answer for this. As for me i am one who keeps faith in God but I absolutely despise false-beliefs and even get irritated when i meet people with such views. But i guess traditional views passed on by generations cannot be completely removed from minds of old-aged people who believe in them. But at least the present generation should drop such thoughts and create a healthier society in terms of social development. Would love to hear your views on this. Please do drop in your thoughts.
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