If you ask me which is the greatest film that Malayalam cinema has given in 2024 so far, I would say it is Malaikottai Vaaliban.
Lijo, the most eccentric filmmaker of Mollywood has brought an epic never seen before, something fresh, stylistic and grandiose.
The visuals, score and story, all together are a well-crafted blend of a multitude of cultural elements, specifically from world cinema, brought into a plot that sounds subtly the ethos and elements of Indian mythology.
It contains a plot-line resembling Indian mythology and brings into it a Spaghetti Western-influenced score and setting, A Samurai-like character resembling Kurosawa's samurai films, and even elements of popular Indian cinema, like Sholay. Overall, it is a well-crafted blend.
Mohanlal, one of the greatest of Malayalam and Indian cinema, truly asserted the mythical image and stuns with a magnificent performance.
The only error that came into the writing is Vaaliban's lack of enough brawls. His magnificence and aura are built largely through praises from his companions, if a few more brawls were given, it would have been a perfect construction of his larger-than-life image, such an image, the film did create, but the lack mentioned here created a void, it was more rhetoric and less action.
Overall, the film is a wild wild experiment. Something totally fresh, and never seen before. And that is probably why the film failed commercially. The experiment was too big for the audience to comprehend.
Lijo, the most eccentric filmmaker of Mollywood has brought an epic never seen before, something fresh, stylistic and grandiose.
The visuals, score and story, all together are a well-crafted blend of a multitude of cultural elements, specifically from world cinema, brought into a plot that sounds subtly the ethos and elements of Indian mythology.
It contains a plot-line resembling Indian mythology and brings into it a Spaghetti Western-influenced score and setting, A Samurai-like character resembling Kurosawa's samurai films, and even elements of popular Indian cinema, like Sholay. Overall, it is a well-crafted blend.
Mohanlal, one of the greatest of Malayalam and Indian cinema, truly asserted the mythical image and stuns with a magnificent performance.
The only error that came into the writing is Vaaliban's lack of enough brawls. His magnificence and aura are built largely through praises from his companions, if a few more brawls were given, it would have been a perfect construction of his larger-than-life image, such an image, the film did create, but the lack mentioned here created a void, it was more rhetoric and less action.
Overall, the film is a wild wild experiment. Something totally fresh, and never seen before. And that is probably why the film failed commercially. The experiment was too big for the audience to comprehend.