KOCHI: 30 years ago, in 1991, it was during an Onam season that one of the blockbusters of Malayalam cinema was released. The movie, Kilukkam, directed by Priyadarshan was released along with major releases including Mohanlal’s other movie Uncle Bun, Mammootty’s Anaswaram and his Tamil movie Azhagan and Mukesh’s Ottayal Pattalam. Kilukkam won the Onam race among the movies.
Interestingly, the next year, Mammootty’s Pappayude Swantham Appoos emerged the Onam winner with blockbuster status while released against his movie Kizhakkan Pathrose, Mohanlal’s Yodha and Adwaitham. Every year, Onam season witnesses major ‘star wars’ in the Malayalam film industry.
Thirty years later, the story is different. Due to the Covid pandemic, this is the second Onam without cinema halls functioning. “Yes. During pre-Covid times, Onam releases were a major attraction. Every year, a set of movies will be planned, scheduled and released for tapping the potential of Malayali’s biggest festival,” remembers director Sibi Malayil.
The hit-maker still remembers one of the major Onam fights in which his Summer In Bethlehem was pitted against mutistarrer Harikrishnans in 1998. Harikrishnans was the reunion of superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal after a gap of eight years and was one of the biggest releases of the decade. Some filmmakers even pushed the release date of their movies from Onam because of the hype created by Harikrishnans. “My movie, Summer in Bethlehem, too had an ensemble cast with Jayaram, Suresh Gopi and Manju Warrier playing the lead roles. Mohanlal’s cameo was our surprise and we did not reveal it till the release day. The shooting of the movie was finished by May end. We got enough time for post-production. Though some persons associated with the movie raised apprehensions on releasing it along with Harikrishnans, we decided to go ahead. The result was that both the movies faired exceptionally well at the box office,” said Sibi.
After the first day, first show of Summer in Bethlehem, producer Siyad Koker called Sibi and told him that the audience liked the movie. “However, he insisted that the eight-minute-long scene after Aami (Manju Warrier) meets Niranjan (Mohanlal) in which all family members convince her to accept Dennis (Suresh Gopi) need to be removed. Without much conviction, I agreed to his demand. From matinee, that scene was removed. The change did not affect the result as the people loved it even without the deleted scene,” he said.
Not only Sibi Malayil, but most of the noted filmmakers might have special memories in connection with Onam movies. Now, with theatres remaining closed, they are expecting that the government will take a final call on reopening cinema halls soon. “Last year, we thought life would inch back to normal by this year. But the second wave was more severe. The only thing we can hope is that things will be back to normal by the end of this year,” he added.
Blockbuster
Harikrishnans was the reunion of superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal after a gap of eight years and was one of the biggest releases of the decade