The progressive phase of Malayalam cinema

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The Malayalam film industry is one of the most vibrant film industries in Indian cinema. In the early 1900s, the industry had a wide variety of films ranging from political thrillers to comedies to kitchen-sink dramas. Over the decades, the Malayali audience has appreciated the characters' performances, scripts, and the films' direction. The industry is trying to bring versatile topics to the limelight.

"Many different themes which were once unheard of and not accepted by society are gaining more attention from the audience today. The voice of minority groups and their lives are shown through the camera lens, and many people get to know about them," said Sreenath, a media student.

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Shilpa Krishnan, a filmmaker, said, "With more technologies, filmmakers have got to experiment in many areas in movies, and Malayalam filmmakers have used them wisely. This has strongly impacted the making of Malayalam movies as well."

Even today, the Tamil and Telugu film industries glorify mass movie-making. In contrast, Malayalam cinema brings more realistic movies with quality content. "Debut directors also try to come up with good realistic scripts. Even the slang that movies use are sometimes confusing; I couldn't understand the slang in ‘Kumbalangi Nights’, but it was indispensable for that film. Films use colloquial slang to help them focus on the particular groups that the script focuses on. It adds to the realistic behaviour of that film," said Shilpa Krishnan.

The representation of women has also changed over time. "Even though directors like Bharathan, Padmarajan, Aravindan and Adoor Gopalakrishnan portrayed solid and influential characters in the early 70s and 80s, this path was not frequently followed by others. Now, the current directors influenced and inspired by those older directors have started thinking out of the box and coming up with female character-led movies," said an aspiring filmmaker Sham.

"With the new generation movie ‘How Old Are You?’, many changes have happened in the industry. The coming back of Manju Warrier and her strong female character depiction in the film ‘How Old Are You?’ gave inspiration to many female actors as well as directors," added Sham.

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"The Malayalam film industry and the audience has always praised its dynamic and versatile superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal. There was a time when movies were centered on them, but now things have changed drastically. With debut actors and actresses, well-known directors and young directors like Anjaly Menon, Dileesh Pothan, Lijo Jose Pellisery, Ashiq Abu and Amal Neerad are making movies and adding a magical element for the audience," said Aniruth, a short filmmaker.

The people of Kerala share a particular affinity towards their films; their desire and love for the film stand unique from any other industry. This has been proved by the young and old filmmakers of Kerala.