It’s been a phenomenal film year without doubt, that saw Mollywood rise up to several fresh talents that came its way, while the hardened stalwarts and the standout film makers got busy doing what they have always been best at – crafting glorious cinematic pieces out of their singular visions and laying them out before the world. Here are five amazing film makers who have astonished us this year with the overwhelming manner in which they have reshaped the medium that is cinema.
It’s been a phenomenal film year without doubt, that saw Mollywood rise up to several fresh talents that came its way, while the hardened stalwarts and the standout film makers got busy doing what they have always been best at – crafting glorious cinematic pieces out of their singular visions and laying them out before the world. Here are five amazing film makers who have astonished us this year with the overwhelming manner in which they have reshaped the medium that is cinema.
Dileesh Pothan
‘Maheshinte Prathikaram’ did seem like a tough cinematic act to follow, and yet Dileesh Pothan did exactly the unimaginable with his ‘Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum’ that had the entire film lover community going cuckoo over it. Pothan drew out the bounds of realism in his film even further without ever letting it pride itself on being so admirably substantive. And not just the living characters, it’s a unique narrative universe that Pothan created in it; one that had its mood, tone and theme rooted in reality, and one that efficiently blew off even the tiniest of speculations that might arise as regards its believability. With ‘‘Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum’ ‘, the statement has been laid out loud and clear, that Pothan is one of the most exciting voices in Mollywood at the moment. Period.
Read the Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum Review!
Aashiq Abu
The very last film that I watched the previous year, also turned out to be one among the very best of the year, and through his dark, singular romance ‘Mayanadhi’, Aashiq Abu reiterates that he’s right at the top of his game. Aashiq has remained a filmmaker, who has forever had an eye for the atypical, the varied or at times even the uncanny, and with ‘Mayanadhi’ he avowed that there is no stopping him from walking those extra miles to pull his markedly dissimilar vision off, all the while refusing to stoop down before commercial demands and constraints. Comparisons with ‘Breathless’ continue to abound, but it still remains that Aashiq deserves that huge pat on his back for gifting us with a gem of a film that took all the chances that it could possibly take, and how!
Read the Mayanadhi Review!
Lijo Jose Pellissery
Never having been one who has been content to take the beaten path, Lijo Jose Pellissery has made it a habit to spring one surprise on us after the other. His offering for the year, ‘Angamaly Diaries’ was no less different, and the ceaseless squabbles for honour, money and might rendered Lijo’s Angamaly a land of almost dystopian proportions, where a terrifyingly realistic tale of subsistence unfurled. A prolific work, whichever way you look at it, ‘Angamaly Diaries’ proclaimed that Lijo is a film maker who often remains unmatched in his tremendous expertise to visualize even the most intricate of scripts.
Read the Angamaly Diaries Review!
Mahesh Narayanan
When the much acclaimed editor decided to craft a film of his own, Mahesh Narayanan very apparently decided to pin his shots on a highly ambitious venture, on a theme that was no less momentous. Mahesh Narayanan’s film ‘Take Off’ was an upsetting and thorny experience, but one without which your film year is bound to remain incomplete. Mahesh has a talent for the narrative that is very apparent in ‘Take Off’ and it’s no wonder that the film has taken both the cinema halls and festival circuits by storm.
Read the Take Off Review!
Arun Kumar Aravind
Arun Kumar Aravind came up with a remarkably composed mise-en-scène for his latest film that reworked a familiar template to magnificent effect. A primitive allure that had been long lost made a revisit through ‘Kaattu’, and it’s a peculiar combo of the dismal and the lyrical that Arun Kumar Aravind came up with in his latest film. There is an intensity to Arun Kumar Aravind’s ‘Kaattu’ that leaves you in rapt attention and the doldrums in his filmography touched a high note yet again, with a film that regrettably had only a brief run in the theatres, and which is poised for much more distinction and approval with the DVD release.
Read the Kaattu Review!