Modern Malayalam Cinema Has No Mood For Flashbacks Any Longer

In a recent interview, Fahadh Faasil admits to have asked his director Jithu Madhavan if they needed to include a traditional flashback to better explain his character Ranga in Aavesham. For a gangster who is said to have had a very dangerous past, it’s not shocking to imagine a longish flashback in the second half for the audience to be convinced of his ways today. Yet in its entirety, the film didn’t even spend five minutes to fully establish his origins story, how he got here and what he’s been through. But when FaFa asked Jithu for this flashback, the director’s answer was, “Isn’t that the easiest way to communicate his character?”

This filmmaker’s general apathy towards flashbacks is a part of a larger circle of new-age Malayalam filmmakers who try to use it minimally and carefully. Instead, Jithu used just one time-lapse sequence, set across three time periods to connect the young vulnerable Ranga to the lonely beast he has become today. That’s enough for the viewer to know everything there is to know about this man. Without the information being spelt out simply, it’s as though the viewer becomes a co-writer to type out a back story for Ranga, making him more endearing than the film could have. 

This bit of carefully suggesting a past seems to be the way forward for modern Malayalam cinema, feels Devadath Shaji who worked on Kumbalangi Nights (2019) and was the screenwriter of Mammootty’s blockbuster Bheeshma Parvam (2022). In Bheeshma, all we get is one thundering five-second shot to understand Mammootty’s character Michael and the badass he once was. Devadath says, “Personally, I feel the second we cut to a longer “visual” flashback, we lose the impact of what it’s trying to say. It reduces the pace of the narration set in present-time plus we run the risk of repeating information the audience may have already understood. But if there’s no other way around it, the least one can do is to make the flashback concise.”

The sentiments of screenwriter Adarsh Sukumaran, who wrote RDX and Mammootty’s Kaathal: The Core, are different though. In his more commercial outing RDX, we got a long flashback that became one of the film’s highlights. It took us away from the dark, sombre mood of its revenge plot and took us back to the mid-90s where the film comes alive with lip-sync songs, comedy and action blocks. Apart from giving us context about the three lead characters (Robert, Dony and Xavier), this flashback presented a window into a more colourful, lighter film that fit within its larger framework. “Of course we worked extra hard to write the flashback but we were also extra cautious of how the audience would react. This was why we chose to remove an entire song called “Hullaballo” which was to be an intro song for the three characters. We also removed a slow song that was there to portray Robert’s heartbreak. The intention to cut scenes from the flashback is stronger given the viewer's attention span.” 

They both cite examples of Aavesham and Manjummel Boys to study the new-age use of flashbacks. In Manjummel, we learn about the central character Subash’s childhood through vignettes that get interspersed with moments during the rescue operation. A breathtaking match-cut connects the visual of Subash and friends jumping into a lake to that of him falling down the gorge. Even here, the purpose of the flashback is to generate a feeling, a subconscious understanding of Subash’s trauma. “They may have tried such techniques in other industries but I do not remember such a use in Malayalam cinema,” adds Adarsh. “It heightens the emotion we feel for Subash and his friends and this is communicated without taking a lot of time. And they’ve maintained the balance despite the tense situation of the rescue operation.”  

It’s in sync with this thought that we saw in the trailer of last week’s Sureshanteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hrudayahariyaya Pranayakatha. In the trailer, we see the film’s lead Sureshan (Rajesh Madhavan) break the fourth wall to mouth the line, “Konnalum Njan Ende Back Story Parayilla (I won't tell you my back story, even if you kill me)”. Agreeing with the aforementioned points, its writer-director Ratheesh Balakrishna Poduval says, “A flashback has to give the narrative a certain energy to move forward. If it’s just information that we’re trying to tell the viewer, it’s best to not include it all. The future of our characters must be dependent on this flashback. Otherwise, we can now trust the viewers to imagine a back story for themselves to justify the actions in the present time. With that dialogue in the trailer, I wanted to remove any expectations of such a flashback. It is very freeing as a writer.”

Memories In The Age Of Reels 

In contrast, a film like Dileep’s Thankamani used the templated format of the flashback. In this vigilante story, the hero goes into a long thirty-minute sequence to justify his lawless ways. Apart from going back to the 90s, we see how his family was attacked and abused in the past and how that event led to what he is today. And even though the flashback itself was based on real-life events, it failed to connect with the viewer. You can sense the same issues even with a general indifference to Ozler’s long flashback despite the film’s solid setup until then. 

Both Adarsh and Devadath blame the low attention span of the viewer to explain how cautious they’ve become.  “When a reel manages to tell you an entire story in 30 seconds, you have to constantly assume that our screenplay too must operate at that pace. Every scene must give new information and any form of repetition will be rejected," adds Devdutt.

He is wrestling with the idea of including two flashbacks in his new film. But given the trend, he’s trying different ways to write them into his screenplay. “It’s still a very valuable tool that will always remain a part of mainstream cinema. If one requires a visual, we can even consider the other to be fully based on dialogue.” 

Going back to a flashback himself, Devdutt remembers how the trend had slowly started changing back in the 2000s. “In Big B (2007), all we get is one dialogue about Bilal and Eddy to gauge why so many people fear them. “Bilalum, Eddiyum mark cheyatte oru colony pollum illa kochiyil.” Not only do we get a sense of their more violent past but we also understand how Kochi was.” 

His other favourite includes the Uyirin Nadhiye song from Mayanadhi. “That’s all the flashback you need to understand Appu’s love story with Mathen and his slightly dubious ways.” It’s the same with Kumbalangi Nights too. “Instead of a visual flashback, we get two dialogues explaining the dynamics of the brothers, their parents and what happened for them to reach where they are today.”

As for others, it’s more about a personal choice. “A flashback was the way to go for a mass commercial cinema like RDX,” adds Adarsh. But with the more gentle Kaathal, he knew he did not need one. “The beauty of a film like Kaathal was to say little and just trust the viewer. We have to start giving the viewer more credit.”