There was a time when Indian audiences were in love with biopic movies, and it took no time for their love to fade when Bollywood overdid the genre with back-to-back films such as ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, ‘Mary Kom’, and many others.
On the positive side, there seems to be a newfound interest among the South audiences towards biopics, as several movies with good content came out recently, such as ‘Amaran’, ‘Soorarai Pottru’, ‘Lucky Baskhar’ (based on a real-life incident), and even Dulquer Salmaan’s ‘Kurup’.
The rekindled love
There was a time when movies were made to showcase real-life incidents, but with time and reformations in the film industry, movies became a medium of entertainment and less a showcase of documentaries.
People are now drawn to biopics after almost 5 decades as they try to know the history, and the movies are extra special because they offer an intimate look into real lives, helping the audience to feel a deep connection to history, culture, and the unique stories.
Recent success from ‘Aadujeevitham’ to ‘Amaran’
Even though South audiences crave original content rather than remakes or even real-life movies, a recent trend has shown that they have started inclining towards biopics or movies based on real incidents. Coming to the Malayalam film industry, several movies based on real-life incidents such as ‘Manjummel Boys‘ and ‘Kurup’ turned out to be superhits. Prithviraj Sukumaran’s ‘Aadujeevitham’, despite being a slow-paced one, received good traction from the audiences and turned out to be a hit.
Coming to the Tamil film industry, Sivakarthikeyan, who is termed to be the next ‘Vijay’ in the industry, took a bold move by taking part in a biopic film at the peak of his career. The Sivakarthikeyan starrer ‘Amaran’ has received positive reviews from the audiences, and now it has minted Rs 152.75 crores within 11 days, proving that good contents are still liked by the audiences no matter what the genre is.
‘Amaran’ was the film that could break my limitations: Sivakarthikeyan
‘Amaran’ was a film that broke all barriers for Sivakarthikeyan in Kollywood, and from being a young successful hero, his identification as a superhero and his entry into the big leagues with the big stars are marked with this film. Speaking about his choice to work on ‘Amaran’, Sivakarthikeyan mentioned that he saw this film as something that could break all his limitations and noted that apart from just being a war film, ‘Amaran’ focuses on the emotional journey of a soldier, which made him choose this project.
‘Aadujeevitham’ is more than just a film, says Prithviraj Sukumaran.
During a promotional event, Prithviraj Sukumaran, who portrayed the real-life character Najeeb in ‘Aadujeevitham’, said that Blessy’s directorial is more than just a film for them. Highlighting the efforts of the crew, Prithviraj said, “It’s been a long journey and not an easy one; after a decade-long wait, the audience gets to watch the fruit of our hard work and turmoil. From Covid Days to today, The Goat Life has been an unexpected and unforgettable journey.”
Prithviraj Sukumaran further said that it feels like a blessing for him to be a part of veteran filmmaker Blessy’s vision and also to watch the maestro AR Rahman bring music to life.
Prithviraj Sukumaran’s words highlight the fact that South filmmakers are ready to go to any extent to portray a real-life character on-screen, highlighting the fact that there is a demand for such a genre among the audiences.
‘Manjummel Boys’ cannot be placed in other settings. Director Chidambaram
‘Manjummel Boys’ director Chidambaram earlier shared in an interview that the film is based on a real story and cannot be placed in any other settings, indicating that a Bollywood remake is impossible. This highlights how carefully the filmmakers in the South Korean industry look at details while making a movie, especially biopics or movies based on real events.
Not blinded by the huge sum that he would get from Bollywood or other languages if a remake is made of ‘Manjummel Boys’, Chidambaram stands on a firm decision of not sacrificing a movie’s quality for big bucks.
According to The Indian Express, Chidambaram is open for reinterpretations rather than a direct remake of ‘Manjummel Boys’. He also has a clear idea that if the movie turns out to be fictional, it won’t get much acceptance from the audience.
Adding a clever twist to real-life incidents
Dulquer Salmaan’s ‘Kurup’ can be said to be one of those rare films that add a clever twist to a real-life incident and make it appealing to the audiences.
Although there are questionable representations of the notorious Sukumaran Kurup in the movie, the makers have added entertainment value for the movie that will engage the normal audiences and also the DQ fans.
Even in ‘Manjummel Boys’, Chidambaram has added the iconic song ‘Kanmani Anbodu’ from Kamal Haasan’s ‘Gunaa’ that adds a unique touch to this real-life incident movie rather than telling the story straight to the audiences without any improvisations. Such creative freedoms helped the majority of the biopic movies from the South film industry shine bright.
Similarly, Suriya’s ‘Soorarai Pottru’ in Tamil was a major success when it came to biopic films. Directed by Sudha Kongara, the film is the adaptation of Captain GR Gopinath’s life and his struggle to begin his flying company, Deccan Air.
Did not want to look like GR Gopinath in the film. Suriya
Suriya made a comeback into Kollywood with this film in 2020 after a few hits and misses with his previous film. His portrayal as Nedumaaran in the film was completely striving to bring on screen the dream of GR Gopinath. Suriya revealed that he did not want to completely portray GR Gopinath on screen, as then the film would become about the person himself and not bring out the success that he had worked for.
After ‘Soorarai Pottru’, Suriya acted in an other real-life movie, ‘Jai Bhim’, which is based on the life of Justice K. Chandru. Both the films received a huge response and became blockbusters in Tamil for their realism portrayal.
While these films were biographies of people or the motion they set in place in the history of India, something that stands out of this list is ‘Lucky Bhaskar’. The recently released Telugu film is a fictional story based on the bank scam that happened in 1992. The movie’s lead character, Bhaskar, was portrayed flawlessly by Dulquer Salmaan, who played the role of a bank clerk who, by defrauding the bank of money deposits and bank receipts, managed to loot a huge sum of money.
We need to know why and how: Dulquer Salmaan
‘Lucy Bhaskar’ is almost nearing earning Rs 60 crore at the box office, and speaking about the film and its popularity, Dulquer explained that ‘Lucky Bhaskar’ made sure to show how the bank exploitation happened, which many wanted to know about. He noted how people are interested to know how someone broke the rule and committed a crime. He stressed how many people might not want to commit a crime but want to always learn why and how.
The small twist made to these biopics makes it very interesting as it delves into the story without changing the history. These details satisfy the audience’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of a common issue that happened, leaving the audience to ultimately resonate with it.
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