Blame it on the audiences, including the filmmakers watching more web series during the pandemic era, or on lack of a writer’s confidence, but the year 2024 witnessed several unfinished stories that never had a proper ending, leading it to a sequel that is probably never going to happen. From the Telugu film ‘Devara’ to even the Mammootty starrer ‘Turbo’, the majority of the films had an unfinished ending where the twist came out of nowhere, teasing the audiences with a second part.
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Not all movies are ‘Baahubali’
‘Why Kattappa killed Baahubali’ was one of the prominent questions asked by the audiences back in the year 2015. In one way, the filmmakers got the idea of including a second part to a movie, from the success of the Prabhas starrer. Sadly not all movies are ‘Baahubali’!
In ‘Baahubali’, the visionary director SS Rajamouli had set a perfect storyline that has a proper beginning, elevation sequences, a conflict, a well-made protagonist and antagonist along with a very interesting and emotional storyline. Rajamouli simply didn’t rely on the twist at the end, he gave a perfect ending point to Amarendra Baahubali’ story arc and Kattappa’s last act was something that only opened doors to Mahendra Baahubali’s story, his purpose, and his vision.
Movies with such scope and a perfect vision deserve a second part and the audiences would pay to watch whatever spin-offs or sequels that come out of these characters or universe.
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How it caught the Malayalam industry
Malayalam movies, back in the day, relied on a proper ending where the audiences genuinely felt the need to bring back the characters on-screen with a second part or any other spin-offs. Even in Prithviraj Sukumaran’s directorial, ‘Lucifer’, a proper ending was there, although the movie had opened doors to a sequel, which never felt forced.
The issue started to happen when the audiences noticed that every movie was following the same template of adding an unnecessary twist in the end which has no connection to the story that was told from the very beginning. The most prominent example was the Mammootty starrer ‘Turbo’. The Vysakh’s directorial followed a ‘Kottayam Kunjachan’ template which switched the gears to an investigative thriller, again switched to an action thriller, and ended on a suspense thriller note with an unnecessary death of a character that the audiences never even cared about.
Similarly many other Malayalam movies such as ‘Thalavan’, ‘Idiyan Chandhu’, ‘Hello Mummy’, followed this style of storytelling.
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How ‘Kishkindha Kaandam’, ‘ARM’ delivered the perfect endings
Out of the majority of the 2024 Malayalam movies that had a forced cliffhanger, the superhit films ‘Kishkindha Kaandam’ and ‘ARM’ topped when it comes to giving a good and satisfying ending for the audiences. While ‘Kishkindha Kaandam’ followed an ambiguous ‘Nolan style’ ending, Jithin Laal’s ‘ARM’ relied on a perfect happy ending and both the movies work well, giving a feeling of ‘Completeness’ for the audiences who leave the theatres.
“Bahul Ramesh’ had full cinema in his mind’ – ‘Kishkindha Kaandam actor Vijayaraghavan
Writing a script within a short period and less confidence of a writer, led to the sequel curse that loomed in the Malayalam film industry. Asif Ali’s ‘Kishkindha Kaandam’, being a mystery suspense movie, had all the opportunity to follow the same pattern of providing a cliffhanger ending, with a twist that came out of nowhere, but the writer Bahul Ramesh was surely confident in his script and decided to deliver a strong ending that ties all the questions and mysteries put forward in the movie.
In an interview with Onlookers media, the ‘Kishkindha Kaandam’ actor Vijayaraghavan said, “Director told me that Bahul wrote the script within 8 days, but I am sure that’s not the case, because he had the entire cinema in his mind. Maybe he wrote the script on paper within 8 days, but he had a complete idea about the cinema. After reading the script I understood that Bahul had a clear vision on what to deliver to the audiences. An exceptional script was handled by a talented director, this is surely the reason for ‘Kishkindha Kaandam’s success.”
Likewise, Tovino Thomas’ ‘ARM’ also perfectly builds up its characters, conflicts, elevation sequences and is backed by a well-built climax. The movie’s tail end only expands the scope of the film, rather than completely depending on the cliffhanger.
“Inorder to tell an effective story, you need to breathe life into convincing characters” – Rahul Sadasivan
Convincing characters, a well told storyline, conflict and it’s conclusion, is what makes any movie memorable. Not only in the case of Malayalam films, several other language movies such as ‘Singham Again’, ‘Devara’, ‘Pushpa’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’, ‘Jawan’, and many others (especially in Hindi films), the entire burden is put on the cliffhanger, which shows the underconfidence of a writer who just want to tease the audiences and make them wait for the next part without offering any satisfactory elements in the story.
In an earlier interview with ETimes, the ‘Bramayugam’ director Rahul Sadasivan told us, “I wanted my film to have some quality of realism, even though it’s a fictional story. The journey of these characters and their self discovery itself is the crux of the movie. Inorder to tell an effective story, you need to breathe life into convincing characters, for which you need powerful performances. All these completely relied on the performance, and the setup we created. The treatment that we gave to the narrative was distinct.”
Will the sequel curse continue in 2025?
With major criticism regarding the unfinished storylines in majority of the movies, it seems that the Malayalam filmmakers won’t be relying on cliffhanger style storylines in 2025 and in the upcoming years. Many of the most awaited upcoming films such as ‘Thudarum’, ‘Pravinkoodu Shappu’, ‘Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse’, ‘Kathanar’, ‘Empuraan’, and many others, hold much promise and is expected to elevate storytelling to next level.
