Repetition of titles of films

Feb 12, 2013 (B VIJAYAKUMAR)

A glance at the list of Malayalam films released during 2012 confuses you. Makes you think seriously about the undesirable trend that is attaining more prominence year by year !! Some of the titles are just repetition of titles of films released earlier. There are exceptions for the copying of titles – three repetitions are remakes of the films of same title – “Nidra” (1981) , “Chattakkari” (1974) and “Rasaleela” (1975). 

Films with the same titles released in 2012 are remakes of these films, like “Neelathamara” (2009) and “Rathinirvedam” (2011) during the previous years. But some other films with repeated titles are in no way related with the theme or storyline of earlier releases of same title. For example the 2012 releases - “Asuravithu “ , “Padmavyooham”, and “Simhasanam” bear just the titles of the earlier releases with same titles released in 1968, 1973, and 1979 respectively. Thinking that these films also are remakes just like “Nidra” or “Chattakkari”, and you buy tickets for the shows of the 2012 releases, then you are sure to get disappointed because the stories or the genre of these 2012 releases with the titles of earlier releases are entirely different !! You may not find any common factor in these later releases with that of the earlier ones ! 

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B Vijayakumar is starting a new weekly column with MSI

The first installment of talks about Documenting the history of Indian Cinema and the Music


Feb 5, 2013 (B VIJAYAKUMAR) Indian Cinema – In 2013, we are celebrating the Centenary of this wonderful visual art, the most popular entertainment media of a majority of Indians. Strictly speaking, Indian cinema was born in 1912, even though there is difference of opinion on this point. The first feature film produced in India was the silent movie “Pundalik” which was released on 18th May, 1912. This film, however, is denied the status of being the first Indian film for the technical reason that it was released and shown along with a foreign film “A Dead Man’s Child" (Denmark – 1911) directed by Eduard Schniedler-Sorensen as a single film show. The film was released at Coronation Cinematograph, Bombay. No footage of “Pundalik”, or any still pictures or literature related to the film are available. The advertisement poster is the only available document related to the film.

Details of the artists who acted also are also not available. Difficulty with the documentation of Indian cinema starts with the very first feature film ever produced in India........ 

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