OH TO BE A MALLU AT CANNES!

Kerala is indeed God’s own country and Malayalis are indeed God’s chosen people. Kerala is India’s most educated state and arguably its wealthiest. It’s a land steeped in rich culture and India’s shining symbol of progressivism. Kerala did us proud at the most prestigious Cannes Film Festival. It didn’t have to put up a parade of outlandishly dressed aging divas. All it needed was to showcase its people and their talent.

“Less than 3% of Indians speak Malayalam. But to many who attended the 77th Cannes International Film Festival in the French Riviera this year, Malayalam may have appeared to be India’s lingua franca. Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, the first Indian film ever to win the Grand Prix at the festival, speaks mostly in Malayalam. Praised as lyrical and delicate, the film is about the life and dreams of two young nurses from Kerala in Mumbai. It is also the first film from India to have been selected to compete at the prestigious festival for the Palme d’Or after three decades. The last Indian film that competed for the top prize was Swaham in Malayalam which was made by Shaji N. Karun in 1994. The Malayali’s cup of happiness at Cannes overflowed this year when the ace cinematographer, Santosh Sivan, became the first Asian to receive the Pierre Angénieux Excellens in Cinematography award instituted after the French inventor of the modern zoom lenses. Receiving the honour at the Palais de Festival, Sivan thanked Kerala and Malayalam cinema for everything he achieved.

Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha, the heroines of All We Imagine as Light, and Sivan bring further cheer to the Malayalam film industry at a time when it is on a dream run. Smallest in the South Indian film industry until recently, Malayalam cinema has emerged as the highest-grosser in the country after Hindi and Telugu movies in this year’s first four months. For the first time in Indian cinema’s history, Malayalam films have topped the country in monthly gross revenue in February and March, says Ormax Media, a box office tracking site. Although Malayalam cinema has had a long and glittering tradition in India’s art film circuit, such recurring commercial success has been unprecedented.

Mohan Guruswamy

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Notes of Nagesh

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