Posts Tagged Kerala

Well, this is not a pressing issue in any case, but a curious look at the changing visual landscape of Kerala, discovered over a year of mundane travel across some districts. As our favourite stars Mammootty and Mohanlal migrated to brand ambassadorships of Kalyan and Malabar groups, more girls have started climbing the hoardings of local jewelery shops, not to speak of pan Kerala – Middle east jewelers!

Other local services such as tailoring, hair cutting and fancy shops resorting to cheaper versions of flex boards as opposed to hand painted hoardings. Both ways, Mollywood and its support for local businesses are in a phase of transformation in its visual form and delivery!

Super (Mega) star Mammotty is definitely existing on the walls and shutters of Kerala, perhaps the numbers and variety are a little lean compared to the diverse roles he has handled!

Rest of the series can be found here and here.

It may be refreshing to remind us the legacy of Architect Laurie Baker every once in a while, at a point of time when we should definitely be re-thinking of  what resources are we left with and how imperative it is to value every grain of sand, every drop of water, every breath of air..and every inch of green! Trivandrum had been extremely fortunate to have him around for so many years…many of his creations are already been pulled down…some are still living through..here are a few of them!

First began shooting Mollywood’s hand painted movie stars couple of years ago for fun! But in the last one year fun turned fad, when happen to see more than 4 – 5 big hand painted hoardings being removed to be replaced by huge flex boards right in front of my eyes. First in this series was a set of pictures of Mohanlal, but there are significant number of other talented heroes and heroines still remaining on our walls and shutters. Here are some of them.

Here’s to the historic women’s bill passed in the upperhouse today! Tribute to one of my favourite characters ‘Pathumma and her goat‘ written in 1959 by Malayalam writer Basheer.

“Basheer’s sister Pathumma, who lived in a dilapidated shack a little distance away, would visit the house everyday with her daughter Khadeeja and with them would come Pathumma’s goat. This goat had absolute freedom in the house. It would eat up anything it could, from fallen leaves before someone came to sweep them, Chaambaykka fruits from the lower branches of the tree Basheer planted, trousers worn by Basheer’s nephew Abi, grass specially gathered for it, food set away for it, even food meant for human inhabitants of the house…to the author’s copy of newest editions of Basheer’s Baalyakaalasakhi, Shabdangal and Vishwavikhyaadamaaya Mookku, fresh out of press.”

If walls and shutters of Kerala could speak their mind, its undisputably this man, Mohanlal.

Times are changing, flex boards are fast invading our towns to replace painted faces of our favourite movie stars. Even before you begin to enjoy their imperfections and faded tones, they’ll be gone forever. Before they do, here is an attempt to document the painted glory!

You may also visit the flickr pool.