Prithviraj Sukumaran: Trade of expertise throughout South and Bollywood was inevitable
From Manjummel Boys and Aavesham to Marco, 2024 noticed a spate of Malayalam movies achieve important success. Whereas Hindi cinema grapples with fluctuating fortunes on the field workplace, south movies have discovered takers throughout the nation. And actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran credit this to the rising trade of expertise between Bollywood and the south.
“There are extra collaborations (between industries) than earlier than. It’s the pure development of how cinema as an artwork kind, and as a enterprise, has developed,” says the filmmaker, who’s gearing up for the discharge of L2: Empuraan, starring Mohanlal.
Probe additional about this overarching shift in perceptions round south cinema, and Prithviraj tells us a couple of decade-old dialog with filmmaker Karan Johar: “In 2011, Karan supplied me a movie in an anthology he was directing. I bear in mind him telling me, ‘We’re going right into a time the place there’s going to be lots of migration of expertise on each side’. We’re getting there now.”
He additionally factors out that this trade and the ensuing recognition has been helped alongside by filmmakers blurring the traces between ‘regional’ and ‘mainstream’ cinema. “Extra filmmakers at the moment are creating movies that resonate with everybody,” he notes.
Talking about Malayalam cinema’s current surge in field workplace success, Prithivraj says he couldn’t be extra thrilled.
“Malayalam cinema goes by way of an ideal section; gifted filmmakers, actors and producers are backing nice content material, which is great. However, I don’t agree with the narrative of ‘Malayalam is the one cinema that’s nice’ — and I feel I’ve the best to say this as a result of I’m from that trade,” the 42-year-old shares, including, “There have been years the place we’ve checked out Hindi cinema and thought, ‘Man, what nice content material is going on in Hindi cinema! How are they capable of pull off such gritty content material?’”
Whereas fast to acknowledge that Tamil, Telugu and Kannada cinema have additionally had unimaginable successes, Prithviraj underscores a helpful lesson that different industries may be taught from the Malayalam trade. “One factor we should perceive and respect about Malayalam cinema is how we deal with our writers,” he asserts.
The filmmaker explains, “Our writers maintain lots of sway. In lots of instances, they’re the pioneers of establishing a venture. Lucifer (the 2019 prequel to L2: Empuraan) occurred when (author) Murali Gopy, got here to me with a thought that he had. He requested me, ‘Would you be keen to direct it?’ He then known as Mohanlal sir and instructed him, ‘Prithviraj wish to direct this. Would you be okay with that?’” He continues, “In different industries, it’s most likely the manufacturing home or administrators who spark a venture. However that is how historically Malayalam cinema has labored and I do suppose it made all of the distinction, particularly since cinema, at its most elementary kind, continues to be a literary craft.”
