Indian Cinema and Dads

Indian Cinema and Dads

Have you ever heard a phrase Matha Pitha Guru Deivam that was used as a part of our life? This means that Parents and Teachers are equal to God. In this Blog, I am going to talk about how Parenting and Cinema go in hand.

When it comes to Indian Cinema, We often think of dads who often sacrifice everything to provide for their kids. Sometimes there are dads who are able to entrust their kids with life lessons and responsibilities and help them out and in return the sons look after them. Sometimes there are dads who are overprotective and toxic towards their kids. The kids retaliate when they are young people as they have had enough. Here are some examples of Healthy and Poor Parenting.

Taare Zameen Par (2007) Hindi

Aamir Khan's Directorial Debut saw Ishaan as a dyslexic child and how his dad thinks that he is just a mischievous person and how an art teacher Ram Shankar Nikhumbh helped the family to realize their mistakes of having treated their own son in a bad way and how the family suddenly saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Father is not at all open to his son's needs for he expects his sons to excel and also while the mother wants to help him but is not equipped with the knowledge. The reason for the father to not understand his son initially could be due to the stigma regarding disabilities.

Santhosh Subramaniyam (2008)

Prakash Raj's character Subramaniyam wants his family to be happy but in the process, he doesn't realise that he is slowly controlling them as if the kids were puppets. When Jayam Ravi's Character Santhosh is in love with Genelia's character Haasini, Subramaiyam is angered as he got his son engaged to someone else. 

After Haasini does some childish things which Santhosh missed, she is sent out of the house because of her mistake in spilling out the details of Santhosh's aspirations which he buried in his heart. Subramaiyan confronts Santhosh who is feeling depressed. 

This sets the stage for a climax in which Santhosh lashes out at his own father for having made his son a slave and telling him what his father wanted which the son disliked. He made his father understand that he has become like a boss to his kids. He had tried to silence himself to not hurt his dad but this moment came when his mother talks about how the family had been micromanaged to such an extent.

Subramainyam realizes that he had been so overprotective and apologizes to the family thus setting things right.

Dhoni (2012) Tamil/Telugu

Prakash Raj's Directorial saw him play a father who is not allowing his son to play cricket and instead forcing him to study. His son tells him face to face that other than cricket, nothing comes to his mind. His father gets maddened to such an extent that he does something that he would later regret. He hits his son who goes into a coma.

This moment changes his life and thus, he questions the education and parenting system in a talk show which makes us realize that he is ready to make amends to become a better father. 

Appa (2016)

There are three fathers who are different in their parenting style. Dayalan is one father that every child would think of having as he is a person who teaches him about life and is a dad who wants his son to enjoy every moment of his life. Singaperumal is one father who brings up his own son in an autocratic way.  Naduneliyan wants his son to be a neutral person. Singaperumal's Authoritarian Parenting results in his son's death.

Gully Boy (2019)

Murad's Dad is shown to be an abusive person who wants his son to hang his head and walk but his son has a hidden passion in Rapping. The climax scene shows how Murad stands up to his father who tries to belittle his passion and emotionally blackmail him.

Don (2022)

Sivakarthikeyan's Latest Release features him as a son whose relationship with his dad is in shambles because his dad forces him to focus on studies while his talent lies somewhere else. Siva 's character Chakravarthi calls out his dad for his controlling attitude. After a lecture from his mother, Chakravarthi realizes that his dad was strict on the outside but was very much loving on the inside only after his dad passed away. This movie ended with a message that told us to celebrate our parents when they are alive. This film was criticized for its glorification of toxic parenting because a parent having love towards his child doesn't justify their negative behaviour towards their kids. 

A Historical Peek a Boo into Malayalam Cinema

A Historical Peek a Boo into Malayalam Cinema

In 1897, Cinema was born as an invention by the Lumiere Brothers, It spread into the Country of India where people used to see some world films at that time. 10 years later in 1907, the first Cinematic Hall was set up in Kerala by Jose Kattookaran in Trissur. 

1927, A silent movie named Vigathakumaran was produced and directed by a young man of 27 years named J.C Daniel. Thus, Malayalam Cinema was born. Before Malayalam Cinema, a lot of Keralites used to see Kutcheris and Kathakali Performances as a part of entertainment. 

In 1931, Balan was the first Malayalam Talkie. Malayalam Cinema later witnessed theatre actors arrive as heroes at that time. Two Production Houses named Navodaya Studios and Merryland Studios were born at that time and there was intense Rivalry between them. 

A Triumvirate of actors came in the 50s,60s and 70s. Prem Nazir was well known for his Romantic Characters, Sathyan was well known as a drama king. Madhu became an amazing actor before he shifted to Character Roles. In the 70s, Mollywood witnessed its entry into the Parallel Cinema Movement via Swayamvaram by Documentary Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Another Action Hero named Jayan dominated Mollywood for just a short span of 8 years before his death from a Stunt went wrong in 1980.

The 80s period witnessed a crop of fresh youngsters who would become thespians in their craft; Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Bharat Gopi, Sreenivasan, Jayaram, Sukumaran, Murali and M.G Soman. The movies were directed by new people like Joshiy, Priyadarshan, Fazil, Sibi Malayil, K Madhu, G.Aravindan, Padmarajan, K.G George and Bharathan.

The 90s came with crassly Mass Movies directed by Shaji Kailas and Joshiy. The movies promoted Misogyny. The 90s marked the coming of actor Dileep who became a comical superstar. It witnessed the arrival of a young actor named Kunchacko Boban who was the Chocolate Box Hero of the 90s. It also saw actresses like Manju Warrier, Kavya Madhavan and Kausalya. It also witnessed a coming of Mollywood stars to form Association of Movie Artists (AMMA)

2000s saw the arrival of 2 new actors named Prithviraj Sukumaran and Jayasurya. It was also a decade of stagnation in terms of content for Mollywood had believed in star worshipping vehicles. Audiences were bored of seeing stars play Larger than Life Heroes. They needed new stories and new concepts. Most Importantly, they needed a change of scenery. 

The Need for Change in Mollywood just happened with Traffic in 2011. Traffic was scripted by Bobby-Sanjay and directed by Rajesh Pillai. This sparked an arrival of a new wave movement.

New Wave Mollywood witnessed a fresh breed of actors like Nivin Pauly and Tovino Thomas along with Star Kids like Dulquer Salmaan and Fahadh Faasil. It witnessed new filmmakers out of the blue like Sameer Thahir, Alphonse Putharan, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aashiq Abu and Anjali Menon.

The Characters of the new wave were shown to be ordinary people of the working class as compared to Larger than Life heroes who are sexist by nature and also twirl their Moustache. The heroines were shown to develop their identity and become on par with men. 

It also witnessed a new association named as Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) formed by Women Technicians as a response to a sexual assault of an actress. This was indeed a change. A lot of movies like Malik, Kumbalangi Nights, Ustad Hotel, Bangalore Days, Moothon, 1983, Hridayam, Thattatin Marayathu.etc. It also witnessed Choclate Box Hero Kuchacko Boban make a comeback to playing roles that challenged him and also saw the arrival of Indie Star of Mollywood named Joju George.

Malayalam Cinema is no doubt the best. I love Mollywood.