KOCHI: Much has been written about how the Renaissance transformed Kerala. Malayalam cinema, too, experienced one of its own. In fact, there was an A-team — a brilliant triad — that ushered in this cinematic movement, according to writer-filmmaker V K Cherian.
His book Noon Films and the Magical Renaissance of Malayalam Cinema provides a glimpse into the new wave in the industry during the 1970s and 1980s, the evolution of the film society movement, and the concept of arthouse or parallel cinema.
Central to this narrative is what Cherian terms the “A-team of Renaissance” — comprising Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G Aravindan, and John Abraham — along with the ripples created by M T Vasudevan Nair’s Nirmalyam.
Cherian, as he himself notes, grew up in the Kerala of the 1970s and was a first-hand witness to the transformation that the film industry underwent. Beginning with the social orientation of early Malayalam films and moving through the socio-cultural changes of the era, he explores the impact of the library and film society movements and the emergence of new writers. Cherian takes readers through the environment that set the stage for the cinematic renaissance in the state.
A film historian and close associate of Adoor and Aravindan, Cherian describes why the former remains the quintessential Renaissance man of Malayalam cinema. He also credits the Chitralekha Film Society as the primary trigger for the film renaissance in Malayalam.
According to the author, if Aravindan was the poet-philosopher of contemplative cinema, John Abraham was the baptist and cult figure of the renaissance. In a succinct analysis of Nirmalyam, Cherian illustrates how MT’s scripts played a pivotal role in shaping Malayalam’s mid-cinema movement.
The book also examines other filmmakers such as K G George and the new crop of actors who challenged the conservative mould of stereotypical heroes. Cherian juxtaposes the Malayalam new wave against the broader new wave in Indian cinema.
Published by Delhi-based Atlantic Publishers, the book is priced at Rs 995.