Twenty 20 – India’s biggest movie ever ???
iView Author: Sethumadhavan (India)
Email: sethumadhavan.n@gmail.com
Welcome to the world of Coens
Well how does one call a movie big? Well it can be due to the budget of the movie or it can depend on the number & names of the stars associated apart from the director etc. For all those who’ve seen & admired SRK’s act of getting a lot of the bollywood celebs in a song for ” Om Shanti Om” , then let me tell you that Malayalam Cinema has pushed the envelope even further. Some time in 2007 it was decided by AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists) that they needed to generate funds for their activities.
Entered Dileep, one of the leading Malayalam actors who suggested that they make a movie with the best of the talent available. Dileep agreed to produce the movie for AMMA & Joshy was roped in as the director. Joshy has been always popular for his racy entertainers like New Delhi, No.20 Madras Mail, Nair Saab, Runway, Lion etc.In terms of acting, almost all the actors being members of AMMA, everyone pledged their services for free.
The condition laid was Dileep was to pay AMMA a sum of Rs.1 crore as the fund raiser & whatever the movie would make (if it did make) over 1 crore as profit, it would go to Dileep.Now for those who are wondering whats the big deal about Rs.1 crore, let me tell you that in Malayalam cinema even the big budgeted movies hardly exceed Rs.5 crore as an overall budget.Hence keeping this in mind this was a good sum of money indeed.Dileep knew he was taking a risk- a calculated risk.
The scripting was entrusted to the dependable duo- Uday Krishna-Sibi K Thomas. And thus the project underwent filming in Dec, 2007.The casting included almost all the well known names of the Malayalam film industry- Mammooty,Mohanlal,Suresh Gopi, Dileep,Jayaram,Mukesh, Prithviraj,Kunjacko Boban, Indrajit,Jayasurya,Bhavana,Gopika,Nayanthara etc & thus began the saga.Of course Joshy knew he had a major task, that of ensuring that the movie has a proper shape and does justice to all the people on board.
Just like any other mega project, this one too faced its own share of hurdles, most of which are mentioned below:-
1. At the very beginning veteran actor Thilakan, claimed that AMMA was ostracizing him & that was why he was not a part of the movie. This did not hamper the movie at all.
2. Meera Jasmine started throwing a lot of tantrums & was not adhering to the schedules & finally producer Dileep couldn’t take it any more & replaced her promptly with Bhavana as the heroine opposite him.
3. Dileep & AMMA wanted to release the movie in a record 120 centres but then they faced objection from the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation ( KFEF) who were not in favour of allowing such wide releases. Eventually KFEF also gave into the industry sentiment.
4. When the first publicity stills were released it created a furore in Kerala. Mohanlal fans felt that their hero was sidelined as Mammooty featured in the centre of the poster which had Mamooty flanked by Mohanlal & Suresh Gopi on either side & Jayaram & Dileep on the extreme corners.Lal’s fans even threatened to boycott the film & finally to pacify the fans, there were special posters brought out before the movie released with Lal featured prominently.
5. The final problem faced was on the day of the release.Exhibitors in places like Ernakulam & Trivandrum hiked up the rates for the movie.There were protests of boycott, but the very next day the rates were back to normal as per the court order.
The movie was released on 5th November,2008 to a thunderous response.And surprisingly has been accepted by all the film enthusiasts in Kerala. Both Mammooty & Mohanlal fans are happy.Joshy has seen to it that their biggest fear that one superstar would gain more prominence over the other, has not materialised. The film is not only a showcase of the continuing power of both Mammooty & Mohanlal at the box office; it also shows that Suresh Gopi can also hold his own provided the script supports him.
At this point of writing this, the 1st week collections are out. The estimates show that from 120 screens, it has grossed a mind blowing Rs 7.54 crore in the first week.Its a record in Kerala across all lanuages.The distributors share of Rs 3.65 crore is the highest ever for a film in its first week.
So a question now for the hindi,tamil & telugu film industries- the 3 big film industries in India- any lessons to be taken from Twenty: 20???
Disclaimer- I am only a lover of cinema & have no connection with Twenty:20 whatsover!!!
Tags: Bhavana, dileep, Gopika, Indrajit, jayaram, Jayasurya, Kunjacko Boban, mammootty, Meera Jasmine, Mohanlal, Mukesh, Nayanthara, Prithviraj, suresh gopi, thilakan, twenty 20
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
good Malayalam cinema was gone ages ago…the golden 80’s and 90’s period was the best…post that good actors became stars…and now most movies only create to the star images..the fans make the story a big ego deal…..Moreover over time many fan associations have popped up…I heard some of them are funded by the stars themselves…Twenty 20 was a gimmick right from the word go… Joshi by no means is a great director..though I enjoyed his New Delhi and Madras mail.. AMMA seems to be focused on building the images of the stars rather than working towards bringing back quality into malayalam cinema….Frankly i have lost respect for most of Malayalam cinema and the audiences because this gimmick worked ….I don’t understand why any audiences would like to see the superstars forced into scripts and roles…just because their association needed money…I wish such projects happen only when the story or script demands such a casting in any industry be it Hollywood/ bollywood/tamil/ malayalam/hindi….
fuckk all .. please all … get all the money out of em citizens by blowing every superstar (and in this case every wannabe stars) ego to make a movie!!!!
UNDAKKKIiii…
@ Manu
I wont disagree with what you stated about the general state of affairs of malayalam cinema.The golden days of 80’s & 90’s are no more.Its all big budget & trying to imitate the tamil,telugu,hindi big budget cinema thats happening these days.
But please understand that the very same Mammooty & Mohanlal also still give a Kaazcha, a Thanmadra, a Vadakumnathan, a Paradesi or an Ore Kadal even now.Yes the numbers have reduced but its not these stars alone to be blamed.Have you seen movies like Gulmohar & Thirakadha?Quality has gone down, but not vanished completely.
And for your kind info Twenty: 20 did not pander to any particular lobby or so.It was a concerted attempt to take up & unite for a common cause.BTW have you seen the movie yet?See it & tell me if there’s anything like what you’ve mentioned.It was never meant to be a path breaking movie.Because the very purpose of making it was to generate money.And what better way of ensuring it apart from making it a pucca entertainer.
And that the movie delivers- big time!!!
Dpac- enda ningalude udheshyam?( what’s your intention?)
@Sethumadhavan
I’ll check out the film …but I honestly doubt the film will be able to satisfy me…you say AMMA made Twenty 20 “a concerted attempt to take up and unite for a common cause”…What activities are these funds going to be used for ?…As a person spending on the film I have the right to know ..Generating funds could have also been done by making a good films/subjects with the same stars with the same directors who handled Thanmatra/Kaazcha/Pardesi..the actors who were craving for creative satisfaction could have excused their fees like the Twenty 20 project..a lot more could have been done….not a forced plot/project to have 50 stars…My point is the whole project appears to be a gimmick…and even more sad is the audience couldn’t see through the gimmick…Especially from an industry that went through the golden era of films… I was expecting something more…
And what’s with the new trend in Malayalam cinema to name the Movie in English?! Twenty20 – LION – CID – Autodriver – FIR – almost all recent Mally movies have English titles – WHY???!!! and most of them are plain stupid.
@ Manu
AMMA is not an NGO or more importantly a Govt organisation for you to say I should know how the funds are to be used.And its not that they have been appealing to the public to come & see the movie & support their cause or something!!!
But no offence meant- I’ve myself admitted that the movie is not a classic.When you make a Thanmadra, Kaazcha or a Paradesi you know that the result cannot be prediscted.The movie may or may not do well at the box office.Here the basic need was to make it a commercial success & hence the project took shape this way.
See the movie & you’ll realise that Joshy has done a decent job of accomodating the people on board though some appearances look forceful.And going back to question of AMMA’s need for the funds- are you aware they actually provide pension to aged actors & also do other welfare measures for actors?
@ Sriram
CID? Autodriver?FIR? come on thats taking it too far.
Arent english titles appearing in other languages? In fact its because the T.N government has decided to give tax subsidy if you have tamil names for tamil films that the the trend has reduced in tamil cineme.
Why do you have a Kidnap,Heroes or a Golmaal” returns” in hindi?Why do you have a Three ( 3) in telugu? So its not just a phenomena restricted to malayalam cinema.
How many of the recent malayalam movies have you watched?But all said & done let me tell you that Twenty:20 the title has nothing to do with the movie.They have just kept it for generating a buzz
@Sethu..
udhesham??”kathikkum kathikkum eee…”
:-)
hadnt heard about this major ‘idea’ film until i read ur post!!
bhayankaram!!!!
@ Sethu
you don’t seem to be convinced with movie yourself ” Joshi has done a decent job/ some appearances look forceful”… exactly my point a forced plot to accommodate all stars appears to be a gimmick….Moreover you have said the “Title is only there to generate buzz”..so what does that prove?. Frankly I am not interested in providing welfare and pension to actors who have saved enough all their lives doing projects that killed good Malayalam cinema..anyways I’ll comment further only after watching the film… as much as you hope Sethu Malayalam cinema comes back to form…it’s these same actors/directors/ associations that can do something…because they are dealing with a 100% literate audience…thats a great advantage compared to any market to explore new themes and subjects…I hope associations like AMMA acted more responsibly with content towards this medium…and by content i mean you can be entertaining without being dark/arty/ and not taking your audiences for granted…
@ Manu
If you’ve noticed, my write-up is only on the concept behind the project & not a review of the movie itself.I could have done that, but did not choose to do so , as I really didnt feel that its a great movie per se.Entertaining yes certainly, but not the malayalam cinema that I like myself.What intrigued me was the whole concept.
And moreover I’ll certainly be the happiest if the golden days of the 80’s & 90’s come back again soon- looking forward to it my friend!!!
Somebody mentioned about 100% literacy. Its like one of these fads that anything you ask about Kerala this literacy flag is waved. Literacy has made Keralites enjoy strikes and harthals – get salary and do private work;
COming to cinema do you know that the Tamil and Telugu films, especially those involving vulgarity, double meaning, eve teasing etc runs like hell. In Malayalam the culture of technicians hasnt stooped low like Tamil or Telugu ones hence the fall. Any frontline Malayalam film can definitely be seen with the family. However the theatres are filled by the useless youth who dont enjoy family films. If the trend was for all films then we could have appreciated the audience. try releasing “Abhiyum Nanum” or “Annamayya” then we will see the theatres will literally be “shooing away the flies”.
Twenty20 was unique in that an actor was able to bring together all the performers in a single stage over 2+ years battling apathy / criticisms and work it in a big way. Twenty20 is for aam junta not for those pseudo-intellectuals who like noir films, reality in the form of smoking / drinking / using expletives AND It worked Big Time. T20-One of the must successful, clever films made def. not intelligent.