'Mollywood Times' review: Abhinav Sunder Nayak delivers another winner that takes a journalistic peak behind the soiled curtains of showbiz

Abhinav Sunder Nayak continues his unapologetic, fierce streak with "Mollywood Times", his second film after "Mukundan Unni Associates". I don't intend to get into the nitty-gritty of the story here because the film is rich with a lot of details and a strongly cynical bent that it stands apart from the other hopeful stories about aspiring filmmakers, including "Varshangalkku Shesham", directed by Abhinav's senior, Vineeth Sreenivasan. There's a good reason why a pre-release trailer wasn't released. So I'd rather give the reader an impression of what the film is trying to do.

For a major part of "Mollywood Times", the lead character, Vineeth Madhavan (Naslen), a horror film aficionado, is striving to find the elusive factor, the USP, that makes a horror film work. At a certain point, when he cracks the idea, his best friend tells him that this element is so grim it wouldn't appeal to a wide audience because they seek escapism from the daily drudgery of their existence. But Vineeth is strongly convinced.

In a way, "Mollywood Times" endorses its protagonist's philosophy. It serves as a bitter pill in a neatly entertaining package, and didn't bore me even once. I say entertaining, because it appeals to two things I'm passionate about: cinema and journalism. Vineeth may be an aspiring filmmaker, but Abhinav treats "Mollywood Times" as a sort of journalistic exposé of the ugly side of showbiz.

In one scene already revealed in the film's teaser, Vineeth says he is going to save Malayalam cinema. Perhaps he should've said "expose" instead of "save". Anyone who has closely studied Malayalam cinema — wait, Indian cinema as a whole — knows that surviving in this industry requires a thick skin (and a healthy financial backup). The minute the film opened with an interesting storytelling choice, the introduction of another integral character's backstory instead of Vineeth's, I knew "Mollywood Times" wouldn't be another run-of-the-mill enterprise.

There is so much happening, and just like he did in "Mukundan Unni Associates", Abhinav sometimes relies on diagrams, funny cartoons and animation to represent and explain some of the events and the dynamics between several characters. Though the script is credited to Ramu Sunil, the film draws a lot from Abhinav's life: the fascination with DTS sound in his childhood, the love for M. Night Shyamalan's films, Vinayan's "Aakashaganga", and the joy of making films, the uncompromising drive to keep honing one's skills, among other things.

This is a film that requires the viewer to exercise a certain level of detachment, given the largely undramatic way in which every character delivers their lines. They reveal only what they want you to see while keeping their true emotions hidden. The only character who gets a bit dramatic is actually an opportunistic fraud who applies drama to his own life to reap benefits that should've gone to someone more deserving.

Even the protagonist, despite him being the character we are supposed to root for (unlike the protagonist of Abhinav's previous film), doesn't act like he is desperate for sympathy because he is capable of handling himself through even the most devastating moments of his career. I'm not saying he doesn't show any emotion — he does in one scene, in fact — but he doesn't let that deter him. We get the sense that Vineeth doesn't require our sympathy, no matter how many times he gets stabbed in the back.

There is also much mention about individuals wanting to control their own lives, the battle between selfishness and selflessness, and the irony of people doing the exact opposite of what they preach. People expect selflessness from others, but they do everything out of selfish reasons. One film critic character, for example, admonishes Vineeth for an act of sabotage and tells him that "cinema is the bread-and-butter of many individuals", but in an earlier scene, he tells Vineeth that he will "destroy" a movie for something he finds disagreeable.

But despite all this, "Mollywood Times" isn't a depressing film for me. Cynical with a big 'C' where many characters should be called the c-word, but depressing? No. It has enough laugh-out-loud moments courtesy of some cleverly written darkly comical situations. But it's not trying to be an out-and-out laugh riot either.

"Mollywood Times" is, in essence, a film that every aspiring filmmaker should watch before considering making films as the only career option to get an idea of how this industry operates (and maybe read Sidney Lumet's 'Making Movies' too). Some scenes and dialogues are likely to offend some, but these aren’t made up; these are actually valid points, whether someone likes it or not. If you don’t like it, try to deal with it. Why should a filmmaker suppress his/her creativity just to earn the brownie points of a select group?

Take the caste element, for example, which is one of the things addressed during a few crucial moments. Some filmmakers make mediocre-to-terrible films, but they get a pass (along with a couple of awards) simply because of their background. It's a fact! And kudos to Abhinav for including it in the film. I don't see this as a generalisation because we have brilliant filmmakers like Mari Selvaraj, too. But the reality is that not everyone is as gifted. (And we already have so-called “communist” filmmakers who are basically capitalists exploiting their employees.)

Politics alone isn't enough when your movie cannot entertain, which is what a MOVIE is supposed to do. Fortunately, "Mollywood Times" speaks a certain politics and is entertaining as well. It's one of the year's best films.

Film: Mollywood Times
Director: Abhinav Sunder Nayak
Cast: Naslen, Sharafudheen, Prashanth Alexander, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Basil Joseph, Sangeeth Prathap, Jagadish
Rating: 4/5