Life was so much simpler in the 80s.
All we Mals had to worry about was Jose Prakash.
Every single movie had Jose Prakash as smuggler.
His interests were restricted to smuggling,
pipes, badly dressed women and welcoming the ubiquitous Mr. Perreira.
What is it with the name?
I don’t have a clue.
In every single Mal film that featured Jose Prakash,
the smuggler from abroad was always a Mr. Perreira.
“HaLLo, Meester Perera!” JP would go.
Accompanied by much rolling in the aisles.
But then, those were simpler days.
All you had to worry about were smugglers.
Not one of which you had ever glimpsed.
One assumed they used the night and sheltered coves.
Later, we had Bhiman Raghu and the gang.
Men who wore tight shirts and tighter pants.
And looked like their villainous masters didn’t pay enough to keep them in clothes that accommodated their bulging physiques.
They would get routinely beaten up by equally corpulent heroes.
“Ninne pinne kandolam”, was their favourite rejoinder.
Whichthe King of Bulge, Arnold, copied in ‘I’ll be back!”.
But today?
Today you have intense looking young men.
Who talk about causes.
With Kalashnikovs and IEDs.
Men who work with blueprints.
And use extremely evolved technology.
(Which in Malayalam cinema means they perpetually open PowerPoint.)
The day before, I heard that Kochi was on high alert.
The newsreader spoke of 'commandos in Jew Street'.
In the 80s, we never heard things like this.
It was so much better.
The most you had to worry about was the college rowdy.
Or the guys with reserved tables in the toddy shop.
(Both of which, fortunately, were very friendly with you.)
It was so much better.
I wish we could have Mr. Perreira back.
With his endearing schemes to disrupt the national economy.
HaLLo, Meester Perera, where are you?
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Another coincidence was that mostly all the bad guys were nasranis.. and secratries too.. Nancy, Mary, micheal, david angine pokunnu list.
ReplyDeleteThese days the heroes cannot keep up with the emerging technologies of the villains. And almost always, the roles have been reversed, the cops are the bad guys and lalettan and mammokka are the heroes running mafia outfits from Dubai.
Qouting from kaaranavanmaar - "Kaalam poya pokkeeee.."
Hold, hold Scribbler.
ReplyDeleteThose were Anglo-Indians!
Who, alongside the 'Shenoys' made up the secretarial pool.
Nasranis appeared more in films with a rural backdrop.
And were picturised as hard-drinking, lecherous men, who denied the working class their just due.
Most often, they came across as fairly stupid.
Say, Janardhanan in his earlier avatar.
'twas simpler, friend.
Unlike today.
Mr. Perrera last spotted in Masinagudi, in all new 'cheruppakaran' packaging.
ReplyDeleteTerror alert in Fort Kochi is shocking! It is a long way from the rowdy era!
ReplyDeleteThat was nice an hilarious.
ReplyDelete