Mumbai: Malayalam cinema legend Mohanlal, who attended the maiden edition of the WAVES, refuses to draw a categorical boundary between art and mainstream films in Malayalam cinema, as he thinks that the two are closely married in Malayalam cinema.
The veteran actor attended the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit in the BKC area of Mumbai on Thursday where he spoke during a panel discussion with Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, veteran Hindi cinema actress Hema Malini, and Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi.
When Akshay asked the Malayalam megastar if the meaningful and mainstream can ever be united, the latter said that has always been the case with Malayalam cinema.
He said, “We are blessed with great actors, directors. From the very beginning, Malayalam cinema doesn’t have that kind of demarcation, it’s a thin line. It has an art house element and commercial or entertainment structure. It’s closely knitted, it’s very well balanced. I had the chance to work with great directors. That time, they called us art films. But even the art films back then had entertainment value. And even the entertainment, so-called entertainers, have art in it. So, in Malayalam cinema, content-wise, we are very rich”.
Mohanlal’s career spans close to 5 decades in cinema, and has also worked across Hindi, Telugu and Tamil cinema.
“I cannot differentiate. We call movies or cinema. So, there were art films and commercial films in Malayalam long back. Now, content-wise, the new directors, it’s full of art. It’s a piece of art. I cannot call a film a bad film. It’s a beautiful piece of art. So, you cannot compare, especially in Malayalam, art. It’s a thin line. So, it’s still a debate. I cannot give you the proper answer”.
(IANS)
