A Quiz on those movies made inside the Malayalam movies we watched through the years.

{ Narayan is back with another quiz, on the fictional movie titles that had been a part of the story-line of some of the movies we have watched. Give Google a rest and see how many of these you can identify correctly. }

When Ghosts Come Calling | Re-projecting the Disappeared Muses of Malayalam films

[ Co-authored by Darshana Sreedhar and Vinu Abraham, this originally appeared in the Sarai Reader No 9: Projections. Darshana Sreedhar is a PhD scholar at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her work focuses on the history of Malayalam cinema. Vinu Abraham, journalist, novelist and scenarist, is better known for his novel  Nashtanayika, the fictionlised biography of PK Rosy, which formed the basis for Kamal's Celluloid (2013 ). ]

The Old Malayalam Cinema Blog turns Three.

And, We are three years old.

The operative word is we, and that was exactly the objective when this initiative began, on my own terms, to contribute and put on record online , on whatever I could on the sepia years of Malayalam cinema , solely because, there weren’t any for me to immerse myself in, you see.

The Magic of those Fictional Reads from Malayalam’s Celluloid book shelves.

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter
Read books are great, but those unread are greater.

Movie lovers ! Cinephiles ! It’s time to bring to your attention some books, some classics which redefined the way we watched movies. May I welcome you on a journey across my celluloid shelf ? As I riffle through, the first title that catches my eye is Palunku written by Ravi ¹ in 1969. This book has an interesting history.

At last, a sequel to Nadodikkattu, featuring an exciting guest role.

“ Dasan :  Vijayaa, namukkentha ee budhdhi neerathe thonnaththatu?
Vijayan : Ellathunum athintethaya samayamundu Dasaa”

Those words that reverberate across each Malayalee’s mind are going to make a comeback. In an exclusive interview to Narayan Radhakrishnan for Old Malayalam Cinema, Sreenivasan opens his mind.

Adoor Bhasi | Malayalam cinema’s favorite cross-dresser

Cross-dressing onscreen in Indian cinema isn’t anything new, in fact it has been one of the reliable tools of generating guffaws in an onscreen narrative when the going is tepid or lack-lustre. Same has been the case with Malayalam cinema too, and more so owing to strong, polarised, testosterone-dripping “maleness” that have come to be associated with the onscreen leading personas since the past six decades – ever since we got the “bi-polar successions” of Sathyan – Prem Nazir, Mohanlal – Mammootty and hopefully it would end with the last.

The debate of 1928 vs 1930 | Chelangatt Gopalakrishnan’s meticulous research weighed against a Handbill.

Atleast, for Me !

[ I would like to place on record the inspiring initiative by Adv Narayan, who has been tirelessly following up leads and collecting factual information to set Malayalam Cinema's most debated part of history straight - that of the actual year of release of  The Lost Child / Vigathakumaran, the first film in Malayalam film history, and also to Saju Chelangatt ( son of Chelangatt Gopalakrishnan) who shared invaluable information on the  journalist's quest.  This post, tries to put it all in perspective, so that this also becomes a starting point of further debates, discussions and possibly, as Narayan states, the gateway to laying our hands on actual memorabilia of the film itself - even a reel of it from some corner of the planet would be a possibility. ]

The Kerala government at last wakes up to preserving its movie legacy, plans to start a film archive

Inside the National Film Archives, Pune

83 years after the successful screening of the first Malayalam film, Kerala will at last get a film archive to call its own, if the State government has its way. But it is still in the planning stage According to the press release that I came across, and I believe this was first put across during the recently concluded 17th IFFK in Thiruvananthapuram, the plan is to have “an archive of Malayalam classic films in the wintry environs of Munnar, mobile digital movie theatres, and panchayat-level facilities for mini film festivals”, but it is the “Archive” part that excites and saddens me at the same time.

Another X’mas and a Message that should never be forgotten.

As another Christmas comes knocking on our doors and our lives, here ‘s wishing you all the goodness the Season brings, and hope that it is honored all through the year.