PremiumGhost actor Shivarajkumar is a fan of THIS Malayalam movie and it’s not what you think
During the Mumbai leg of Ghost promotions, Century Star Shivarajkumar spoke about the superior quality of Malayalam cinema, with one film, in particular, his favourite
Last Updated: 04.27 PM, Oct 17, 2023
The team of the upcoming Kannada film Ghost was in Mumbai recently, ahead of its October 19 release, and amid discussions about the action heist thriller directed by MG Srinivas, leading man Shivarajkumar was quizzed about Kannada cinema taking centre stage, following the mega success of movies like KGF 2 and Kantara. The question was posed shortly after his co-star Jayaram had spoken about how the OTT boom opened Malayalam cinema up to viewership across the globe.
Reminiscing about the golden era of south cinema at the time of directors like Puttanna Kanagal, K Balachander, Bharathiraja, etc., whose films had a psychological effect, and that there was a time when Kannada films were remade in Hindi (and not the other way around), Shivarajkumar spoke about how KGF and Kantara stepped it up further. “Kannada cinema was always rich in culture,” he noted, speaking to Zoom. But then, going back to Jayaram’s statement about the reach and popularity of Malayalam cinema, Shivarajkumar said that even though it is only now that people are going ga-ga over it, the quality and kind of cinema produced in the industry has always been miles ahead of the others.
The Century Star called out director Ramu Kariat’s 1965 film Chemmeen as an example. “I don’t think anyone else could have thought of making a film like Chemmeen. Even if it is remade today, it remains relevant. It is a love story, but its making, which revolved around life around the sea is beautiful,” he says, adding that although the industry had a slump for a brief period, it had a brilliant recovery. “Now, they lead. Most of the top-most filmmakers are from the Malayalam industry,” he said.
Chemmeen, based on a novel by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, starred Madhu, Sathyan, Sheela, Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair, Adoor Bhavani, SP Pillai, among many others. The film is available to stream on Eros Now, as well as on YouTube.