In the current year, a cursory look at the top grosser movies released so far showcases a list of near-duds. Starting from the superstar Mohanlal starrer Christian Brothers to the small timer with a motley crew of actors in a sports film called Sevenes (don’t ask about the spelling, I am still trying to figure why it’s called that). And the rest of the movies namely Seniors, China Town, Urumi, Traffic, Makeup Man, Rathinirvedam and Teja Bhai and family tried their best to simulate their neighbors.

Christian Brothers is a super stylishly made, multi-storied, multi-starrer flick that seemed to go on forever. One review even called it the case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. But it’s coming of age, you know. Now everything is stylized and looks good, supposedly suiting to the tastes of fans who are used to Tamil and Telugu movies. Everything except the stories. They are nowhere to be seen in the picture (literally and figuratively). Or there are just too many of them, just like Christian Brothers. Shootings are held in foreign locations, actors wear designer outfits and accessories and walk in slo-mo towards the camera, the best of technology is used and screenings are getting bigger. But in the process, Malayalam films have sadly lost their native simplicity. But for the sporadic national award, Malayalam movies are slowly downgrading themselves to claptrap in the name of commercial cinema. They are increasingly becoming shallow and one-dimensional.

It’s not too long since Malayalam movies portrayed non-melodramatic, domestic life in all its glory. There were things to be laughed about without being slapstick, there was love without the brashness of duets in exotic locales, and there were also emotions without the melodrama. But now, entertainment means Mamooty speaking in an alien tongue (Chattambi Naadu), Mohanlal walking slo-mo in his knee length overcoats and Prithviraj trying all his might at tedious comedy.

There were only a few sincere movies in the year so far namely Traffic, City of God, Bombay March 12, Chaappa Kurishu and Veettilekkulla Vazhi. In an industry that looked into itself for stories and inspirations, Malayalam film industry is now mimicking to be something else it need not be.

And about Salt N Pepper, it was promoted as a love story with quirky taglines and brilliant promotional posters. The tagline read ‘Dosa Undakkiya Katha’, meaning the story made by dosa (or the story of making dosa, whichever way you interpret it). But the movie felt like nothing more than a slideshow of beautiful people, nice locations, songs (nice? Not really) and no story to boast about. Lo and behold, it’s among the top 10 grossers so far this year. Go figure!