Toons, the new buzz in M-Town

When Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan used animation sequences to depict violence in his 2001-release Aalavandhan, the responses to his experiment were not quite rosy. However, acclaimed Hollywood director and the maker of Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Bastards — Quentin Tarantino — confessed that it was Aalavandhan that inspired him to use animation in his Kill Bill series. Soon filmdom here too started seeing animation in a new light. But except in a few films like Hum Tum, animation possibilities were not explored much by our filmmakers.
Of late, however, M-Town feature films seem to be increasingly depending on caricaturing for backstories, connecting plots or even for teasers. Filmmakers commonly justify animation usage citing reasons like the ‘wow factor’, experimentation and situational demand. Let’s scan through the recent films that incorporated cartoon sequences into storylines, teasers and trailers.
Pullipulikalum Attinkuttiyum
The film tells the story of Aadu Gopan, who has three elder brothers with no job but lives off his income. Its title in itself caricatures the four brothers — Gopan as the aattinkutty (the sacrificing lamb) and his brothers as the pullipuli (leopards). The film had a true storybook-style teaser, featuring a lamb and three leopards, representing the film’s leading characters. The colourful teaser was also backed by a cute song, in a kid’s voice.
Gangster
Expectations, disappointments and reviews apart, the Aashiq Abu film stands out for testing unexplored highways of narration, using arguably the best animation techniques employed so far in Mollywood. The film’s animation made heads turn right from its teaser, which models a young Mammootty after his son Dulquer Salmaan! Presented in the style of Japanese animation, it was a new experience for Mallu movie goers. The film also has many animation sequences, starting with a 10-minute narration of the protagonist’s past. The 35 years in his life is put together using cartoon and the makers have apparently used even 2D and 3D techniques in certain junctures. Interestingly, quite a few legendary villainous actors, like the late Balan K Nair and Bob Christo, were also caricatured to show the negative characters in certain scenes. Funnily enough, many viewers liked its cartoon sequences better than the rest, thanks to the high expectation quotient created before the film’s release.
Masala Republic
Debutant G S Visakh’s satirical comedy starts off with an animated title song, Nodi Bhora, a Bengali folk track presenting the story of a migrant labourer. While the film has not gathered many positive responses, the usage of graphics to unfold a tale is an experiment worth mentioning. Kids are the ones who seemed to have appreciated the song as it shows them how migrant labourers reach their state. The film use animation to present its climax as well.
Zackariyayude Garbhinikal
The movie that grabbed four titles at the State Film Awards this year - two of which were clinched by director Aneesh Anwar himself - presents one of its chapters sublimely as a cartoon strip. To tell the story of one of its pregnant women, a teenage girl played by Sanusha, Aneesh uses an animated version of the late filmmaker Padmarajan’s short story, Moovanthi.
The brief graphic sequence about a rapist father, who impregnates his visually-challenged daughter, makes the story juncture of Zackariyayuge Garbhinikal a lot less gory, as compared to how it could have turned out to be if portrayed through real-life actors.
Philips and The Monkey Pen
The naughty Ryan Philip asks his dad why he married his mom, a Muslim. As his dad unfolds the story of how he met Ryan’s mother, the film jumps to the ‘once upon a time mode’ easily, through graphics. Guess the usage of the cutesy toon strips helped the makers save the effort of portraying a younger Jayasurya and Ramya Nambeesan – who play Ryan’s parents.
Its intended viewers, children, were definitely enamoured by the story book presentation of the sequence. The wafting smell of irachi pathiri, vagaries and laughter created by teenage love were all encapsulated well via animation.