Representational imageThe fall of a star is hardly the end of the woes of Malayalam cinema. The role of an omnipresent creator is too hard to resist and younger generations try to fit into the mold in their own ways.
One of the younger stars has already proved his mettle to claim to be the jack of all trades in the industry.
He could claim that he himself had “directed” all his movies that were released in the past two years. Predictably, he refuses to work with established directors. Newcomers are easy to bend.
The project he is currently working on was originally meant to be directed by a master director, who had worked with multiple stars simultaneously. The youngster played his cards deftly and booted out the director from the project.
The script writer has been asked to helm the project, giving the actor sufficient room for backseat driving.
“Every actor wants to be a producer nowadays. They will produce low-budget but promising movies and leave the big-budget movies for us,” a veteran producer said.
“The movies they ask us to produce would have low potential to click at the box office. These projects are ‘experimental’ for them. Worse, they will make sure that the movies are released in the rainy season or exam time.”
In land we trust
The emergence of Kochi as the capital of Malayalam cinema at the expense of Chennai also saw large-scale investments in the city’s realty. The busy superstars assigned their out-of-work co-actors the job to buy property for them.
Murky deals
When superstars turned investors, less fortunate actors made it big as real estate agents. Shady deals warranted a little push from criminal gangs. Realty deals brought the underworld closer to cinema.
A land transaction in Idukki was straight out of a movie script. When a movie star wanted a piece of land in a hot tourism destination, a local political leader appeared on the scene with all the help. The leader saw the deal go through, by lobbying through his driver who was disguised as a broker.
Nobody knew that the property belonged to the star until the police and forest officers nabbed a man who tried to chop a tree from the land. The star eventually fell out with the politician as he suspected that he paid a bomb for the overpriced land.
To add to the drama, the star’s wife grew suspicious about his fidelity after she stumbled on a bill of gold ornaments her husband had bought for a “friend”. A great fight ensued. The actor eventually flocked to politics in the same camp as his former friend.
You must have seen the huge hoardings featuring an actor when you travel anywhere between Alappuzha and Thrissur on the highway. Most of these hoardings and the land in which they are put up actually belong to him, either directly or through friends.
Some of the stars don’t even need to buy a property to strike rich through realty deals. They just have to go by a script made up by the developers. The developers can sell their villas and apartments by advertising that one of them has been booked by a star. There would be nothing on record though.
The developers would be able to convince customers to pay dearly to be in celebrity neighborhood. Part of the profit from the inflated bills will go to the star.
Some of the stars have made it into a steady stream of revenue. They just have to accompany a real estate dealer to a property waiting to be sold. The celebrity interest shoots up the price in no time and the star is rewarded promptly, with hardly any work or investment.
Stars also find the lakes irresistible. If you are a star you have to own a houseboat. Almost all important cinema and serial actors have a houseboat at least. A yesteryear Tamil actress had invested Rs 1.5 crore on a two-bedroom houseboat. She realized her folly only when she tried to sell it after parting ways with her husband. Nobody would buy the overpriced houseboat.
Dileep bought a houseboat as soon as he completed Kochi Rajavu and he promptly named the floating adobe after the movie.
Dirty money
Representational imageThe influx of black money into movie production brought with it a criminal network. Any amount of money could be pumped into a production unit as hawala transactions from abroad.
Some of the stars are never contended. One of them has been accused of robbing a merchant in Kochi. The actor send some money to the merchant of Chinese goods through an acquaintance and tried to rob him midway. Even a movie director and a producer were involved in the case that threatened to reveal the nefarious world of black money in showbiz. But the case received a quiet burial.
If you thought actors hired only goons, you are wrong. A director, who was promised money by a financier in Tamil Nadu, was surprised to see the supplier visiting him with police escort.
Not just Dileep
Dileep can barely claim to be the first celebrity to land in police custody. South Indian actor Suman was a celebrity accused in 1985. The Telugu star was accused by a group of girls of abducting them in his car and shooting objectionable pictures of them. The Telugu cinemadom came to a standstill on May 2, when Suman was arrested. He had committed for about 30 movies. Around 10 of his movies were set to release.
The cinema industry stood by the disgraced actor. Directors and producers testified that Suman was with them elsewhere at the time of the alleged crime, giving him the perfect alibi to escape the case. Suman spent months in jail before the court acquitted him for want of evidence.
The first superstar to don the real-life role of a prisoner was perhaps M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, arguably the first superstar in Tamil cinema. He was convicted for murdering a journalist in Chennai in 1944.
(Concluded)
(Reported by Renji Kuriakose, V.M. Muhammed Rafeeq, R. Krishna Raj and Joji Simon; Compiled by Tony Jose)
Read more: Latest Kerala news | Suni’s gang was at work at Kumarakom to protect Dileep’s land deal
