A Kerala fantasy movie
Sixteenth century Kerala had remarkably harmonious Hindu-Muslim relations. Here is a movie based on a legend from that time.
Northern Kerala was famous for its martial warriors who practised "Kalari Payattu", an ancient form of martial art that had evolved there. In the sixteenth century many small kingdoms existed, mostly Hindu, but also one Muslim kingdom called Arakkal. Last year, a Kerala film called Urumi which became a box-office hit was released, based on a story of this time.
The story is woven around Kelu Nayanar, a legendary warrior of that time, Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer who landed on the shores of northern Kerala in 1498, and a couple of local kingdoms, one of which being Arakkal. As a side note, I should mention that this landing had interesting after-effects on world history; check out Wikipedia for further details.
The film itself is a "masala movie", a flick with plenty of songs, dances, fights, melodrama, magic, and general confusion. But it is well done as Malayalam movies go. I found this particular song that I came across on YouTube lilting with good lyrics to boot. Listening to the words made me realize again that my native tongue is indeed musical and soft in its texture. The naughty princess in the clip is softly teasing her amour, poor fellow, as the sassy words of the song make it clear. One day I will translate the lyrics and post it here.
The DVD of the film is available now from stores on the internet.
