On 18th December 2013, a fellow Mohanlal fan sent me a private message asking me to write a post to promote DRISHYAM, the Mohanlal film to be released the next day. I asked him to go to hell. I was angry because I didn't like the appearance of the film from the posters and news reports. It seemed to me like a Sathyan Anthikkad model family film with Mohanlal playing a middle aged man leading a peaceful life in a village with his wife and children. I expected a SNEHAVEEDU at most. While I could enjoy such a film occassionally, basically I am still the kid who became a Mohanlal fan after watching him as the machine gun weilding Underworld Don in RAJAVINTE MAKAN. Hence I always want to see him as an action hero under forty and preferably unmarried with no strings to tie him down.
So I was apathetic to the release of DRISHYAM. I expected it to be an average film. I didn't went to watch it FDFS. And I didn't feel any need to know it's fate at box office.
By noon of December 19, I started to feel that something momenteous was in the offing. The facebook updates showed an unprecedented trend of unanimous positive reviews. It was not the handiwork of 'our boys' but everyone who was fortunate to watch the film in its first show started to post enthusiastic positive reviews. By evening I started to get phone calls from Mohanlal fans with whom I had been out of touch for quite some time, asking me if I had seen the film. Those who watched the film appeared to be in a daze.
By then facebook was teeming with posts about DRISHYAM. I realized that Mohanlal had created history again. The atmosphere was reminiscent of the time of release of CHITHRAM, MANICHITHRATHAZHU and NARASIMHAM. I rapped at my head for not watching the film on the first day itself.
The next day I couldn't go as it was a working day. And my brother came after watching the film. He said that he had been sitting at the edge of the seat for most of the second half and people had been clapping for each dialogue. I couldn't wait..
And finally the sunday arrived. I went to the theatre,Angadippuram Central Multiplex for the show at 10:00 A M. There was a good crowd of families to watch the film. I had never watched a film with such an anxious anticipation.
The opening scene showed Antony Perumbavoor travelling in a bus while the credits rolled by. At the end of the sequence he alighted at a bus stop and after a brief chat with a tea shop owner entered the police station. After talking with the policemen he noticed the man sitting on a bench. The man looked to the screen and my heart leaped up. The God of Acting made his appearance in the film. He took over from there. I found myself enthusiastically enjoying the lighter scenes in the first half thanks to the brilliant script and amazing performance by Mohanlal- The Acting Wizard.
The second half kept me at the edge of the seat. I thought the old woman in the row before me would die of a heart attack. When the show was over, I walked out of the theatre with hundreds of people who were too amazed to utter a word. Again I was reminded of the days of MANICHITHRATHAZHU.
The next six months was beyond the wildest dreams of Mohanlal fans. DRISHYAM broke all records of Kerala box office and became the biggest grosser in the history of Malayalam film industry. Reminding us of the golden age of Malayalam cinema housefull boards appeared on 50th day of the film's release. It has been remade into all other major Indian languages.
Even after one year of it's release, DRISHYAM effect lingers in Kerala Box Office. Three more Mohanlal films were released in 2014. All of those got mixed response from the audience. But the collection statistics unequivocally prove one thing. Mohanlal is the undisputed King of Kerala Box Office. You give him a great script, he gives you a record breaking Blockbuster like DRISHYAM. Give him a wretched one like MR FRAUD, he makes it collect 9 crores. Give him a script like PERUCHAZHI which could satisfy only a section of his fans, you can reap 12 crores from the box office.
Unfortunately most of our film makers seem to be out to make a quick buck out of his popularity. I wish every script writer writing a script for Mohanlal worked with the same level of sincerity that Jeethu Joseph displayed while writing DRISHYAM.
There are several projects for Mohanlal in 2015. LAILA O LAILA, PULIMURUGAN, Sathyan Anthikad- Ranjan Pramod film and Shaji Kailas film are some of those. I wish all of those have perfect scripts like DRISHYAM.
Dear Mohanlal, I don't want your advertisements, your public pronouncements on social issues, your blog posts and other language films in which you do character roles. All I want is to watch you creating magic on screen, keeping the audience glued to the big screen in amazed admiration. Because that is what you are born for.
You are the star and your light fills my heart with happiness.
(Courtesy: Swapnesh Mohandas Poovathur)
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