MT – Malayalam’s Talisman

There are extraordinary people in all fields, in all places. They reach heights hitherto not thought possible. They redefine the limits of possibility. They also do this without seeming to break into a sweat.  

Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair, adoringly known as MT, is a bona fide Indian legend. We prefer to keep him as a Malayali one-in-a-lifetime. His literature skills are the stuff legends are made of, receiving the acknowledgement of far and many, including India’s highest honour, the Jnanpith. In this series I want to highlight on what is commonly considered to be one of his lesser achievements – his screenplays.

Sometime during the mid of the last century, the visual medium started its march to the crown of popularity overtaking the written word. Passive viewing would be preferred to active reading. Though MT had to be persuaded to take this route, he took to it like the writer born. As legends are likely to do, MT raised the standard of screenplays for Malayalam movies and inspired a lot of writers to try out the medium. During my youth, a news of a movie scripted by MT would be a cause for much anticipation.

And, of course, I can only pay my homage to a genius in the Malayalam language by writing about his movies, in the English language. Hopefully writing this would encourage me to read more in my mother tongue, something that doesn’t come naturally to me.


Film: Murappennu (The Customary Bride), 1965

Cast: Prem Nazir, Madhu, K P Ummer, P J Anthony, Sharada, Jyothi Lakshmi, Nellikode Bhaskaran, Adoor Bhasi, Sukumari
Director: A. Vincent
(Hotstar, YouTube)

There was a custom among certain castes in Kerala to marry their first cousin. A practice that might be shunned as incestuous nowadays. I am not sure how prevalent it actually was. I do not personally know of a single such case. However, it was extremely common in movies. Possibly because it gave chances for the hero and heroine to be in each other’s presence, something which otherwise would be too much of a stretch in society those days.

MT’s first screenplay was on this practice. It should really have been named in the plural as there are two of them and we do not know with certainty which is the titular one. In fact, debutante Jyothi Lakshmi gets top billing above Sharada. The movie has not aged well and is more or less a by-the-numbers family drama, though there are instances and dialogues when MT tries to go out of the box. He even inserts himself into the dialogue at one point.

Prem Nazir takes on the leading man role with his usual ease and theatrics. He even gets to say ‘Mandipenne!’ Madhu has precious little to do. Ummer avoids that situation. P J Anthony revels in the best role in the movie. IMDb and Wikipedia both wrongly credit Sukumari as having a major role. It is Bharathi Menon. Jyothi Lakshmi is coy and mischievous at the same time. Sharadha should have had a better role, but even then you can recognise the actress who would be known for her natural style of emoting.

Murappennu is directed by Alosius Vincent, father of cinematographers Jayanan and Ajayan. As was probably the case for most films those days, the film was made mostly in Chennai and the technicians are almost all Tamilians.

The screenplay was adapted from a short story Snehathinte Mukhangal. It was heavily redone and other than a few characters and a few plot points bear little similarity to the source material. Other than the P Bhaskaran-penned immortal song “Karayunno puzha chirikkunno” (The river, does it laugh or cry?) there may not be much to recommend for a modern audience. However, it introduced MT to the medium he ruled for decades. That is more than a good enough reason to revisit it.


Film: Pakalkkinavu (Daydream), 1966

Cast: Sathyan, Sharada, Nellikode Bhaskaran, Premji, Adoor Bhasi,
Director: S S Rajan
(YouTube)

You tend to take a double take when the sixties’ Malayalam movie you are watching opens with a shot in front of the Vidhana Soudha! Unfortunately, other than that and the Victoria Hotel, there was pretty much nothing else that I recognised. The Bangalore of half a century ago might as well be a different country altogether.

Babu (Sathyan) is a rich brat who doesn’t know what to do with his life except spent it with a different girl and different bottle each night. Into his life comes Chandran (Bhaskaran), a penniless young man whose morals are his only wealth. He introduces Malathi (Sharada) to Babu and things go as one would expect in debauched Bangalore of the sixties.

My familiarity with Sathyan on screen pretty much began and ended with Chemmeen. I hadn’t seen him in anything else, though I was well aware of his legend. It was pleasantly surprising to see how he took on the rogue role. In fact, he was so good that you lose interest when he starts his inevitable transition into the good guy. Nellikode Bhaskaran has a really plum role. Sharadha is once again under-utilised.  It is nice to see Premji in a small role.

It is scary how much smoking there was in movies those days. Sathyan is rarely not lighting or smoking a cigarette. Also, and this is probably because he was an army officer in the British Indian army, his English is quite good. And he really brings a humour to it sometime. Case in point a dialogue that goes, “Bitch, bhayangara bitch!”

MT was still finding his footing in Malayalam cinema. He was trying to find the right balance with a great story and also something that would bring people to the theatres. Pakalkinavu oscillates between interesting and the well-trodden. Right till the final moments he tries to bring in interesting questions. But then he falls back to familiarity. It could have been a completely forgettable entry in MT’s oeuvre, but for Sathyan’s remarkable turn.


Film: Iruttinte Athmavu (The Soul of Darkness), 1967

Cast: Prem Nazir, Sharada, Thikkurissy, P. J Anthony, Sukumaran Nair, Sankaradi, Philomina
Director: P. Bhaskaran
(YouTube)

Probably the second-best lyricist in Malayalam (after the immortal Vayalar), P Bhaskaran has also donned the attire of a producer and director. When he directs a script from MT, fans are in seventh heaven. Iruttinte Athmavu, which MT adapted from his own short story of the same name, is a landmark film in many ways.

Velayudhan (Nazir) is a simpleton. He possesses the mental capabilities of a child. He lives with his mother (Shantha Devi), uncle Gopalan Nair (P J Anthony) and cousin Ammkutty (Sharada). His existence is a burden for all except Ammukutty. He keeps getting into trouble. Things take a turn decidedly for the worse when the other daughter of the house Meenakshi (Philomina) returns to her house from Singapore along with her husband Madhavan Nair (Thikkurissy) and kids.

MT explores the stigma attached to the mentally challenged and how it was a taken as a sign of madness. Things have not changed all that much now, so one can imagine how progressive this may have been over half a century ago. I sat down to watch the movie for the first time recently and it was only during the iconic climax that I realised I had seen it many years before. Proof that some scenes will always stay with you.

Prem Nazir, the evergreen romantic hero, undergoes a tremendous transformation. Unfortunately, the modern viewer cannot shake away the feeling that the role only serves to highlight his shortcomings in the natural acting department. Sharada does have a good role, as does P J Anthoy. I was struck by how similar the actors’ roles were to Murappennu. Nazir’s mother is Santha Devi, his maternal uncle P J Anthony and his cousin Sharada, Thikkurissy, Sankaradi and Philomina, who we saw as jocular elders in the 80s and 90s, have very serious roles.

P Bhaskaran throws subtlety, that was the hallmark of his songs, out of the window when it came to direction. Every alternate scene is a play in shadows. The songs are a distraction, but probably required by the times. This is a social documentary out and out. It wants to reach a wider audience but refuses to dumb down for them.


Film: Asuravithu (The Demon Seed), 1968

Cast: Prem Nazir, Sharada, P. J Anthony, Sankaradi, Adoor Bhasi
Director: A Vincent
(YouTube)

Asuravithu saw MT really stepping out of his comfort zone. Iruttinte Athmavu was unusual, but it was still restricted to a family. This time he expanded his commentary to society, as a whole. With some unexpected twists and turns. It helped that he had an acclaimed novel to turn to. Note to self – read the novel.

Yet another Nair family. MT likes to stick to the milieu he knows best. The youngest son Govindankutty (Nazir) tries to take care of his mother and elder sister (Kaviyoor Ponnamma) as the times get tougher. His eldest sister Madhavi is married to a rich miser Shekharankutty (Sankaradi). Meenakshi (Sharada), a penniless distant relative, stays with them. Govindankutty’s close friend is Kunjarakkar (Anthony), a Muslim. When the normally stand-offish Shekharankutty comes with a proposal to marry off Govindankutty to Meenakshi, it sets into motion a series of events that sends the village spiralling down into a communal bonfire.

It was with Asuravithu that MT started breaking the shackles of populism. It helped that it was adapted from an ambitious and well-regarded novel. There are many themes running concurrently – the disintegration of a proud family, the atrocities that can be committed against the underprivileged, the sense of entitlement money brings, communal tensions that can be set ablaze at the slightest spark, the deadly equaliser that was cholera, male privilege and the male definition of a woman’s virtue.

I happen to think that Prem Nazir is better in this movie than in Iruttinte Athmavu. He cannot completely throw away his film star persona, but he does bring some subtlety. Sharadha is again wasted in a bit role. When did Malayalam cinema realise the powerhouse that was in their midst? Sankaradi, once again, sparkles in a serious role. Unrecognisable from his comedy turns.

I think it is essential that the present-day audience realise that there once was a force of nature striding through Malayalam movies and his name was P J Anthony. Once again, in a sea of theatrics he brings forth an acting masterclass rooted in realism and without a false note.

There seems to be gaps in the story. Someone who hasn’t read the novel might not get all that is going on. Whether it is poor editing or MT unable to bring all the riches of the novel into a two-hour screenplay is not clear. There are multiple threads that could have meant much more. At the same time, I am pretty sure there was nothing like Asuravithu is theatres. It even has a religious conversion, for god’s sake!

Apparently, Murappennu, Iruttinte Athmavu and Asuravithu are known as MT’s political trilogy. Very strange, considering all three are primarily dealing with social issues. From the little I was able to read on the internet, despite standing apart from the regular Friday releases, people did go to see MT’s movies. Maybe it was a reflection of the educated audience, maybe they were themes that struck a chord, maybe the man’s genius lay in his accessibility. A very long love affair began with the Malayali and MT, that still continues.


Film: Olavum Theeravum (Waves and the Shore), 1970

Cast: Madhu, Ushanandini, Philomina, Jose Prakash, Nellikode Bhaskaran
Director: P. N. Menon
(YouTube)

Olavum Theeravum is widely credited with introducing an art cinema aesthetic to Malayalam movies. We can spend hours debating whether that is a good thing or bad. Instead, let us just stick to the movie.

MT finally gets out of his wheelhouse. Adapted from his short story of the same name, the movie brings us up and close to a Muslim way of life. Bapputty (Madhu), a homeless timber worker, brings the news of his friend Abdu’s (Bhaskaran) passing to the latter’s mother (Philomina) and sister Nabeesa (Usha Nandini). Abdu had not been home for many years.  He had left after he found out that his widowed mother was bringing them up by having gentleman callers. Bapputty’s initial disdain changes as he becomes closer to the family, especially Nabeesa. He goes to the hills to earn some money logging. Unfortunately, this was also the time Kunjali (Prakash), a son of the soil, returned after making his fortune. Will the love story have a happy ending?

Madhu puts in an understated performance. I never bought into the whole Bhavabhinaya Chakravarthy (Emperor of Acting through Emoting) stuff, but he does acquit himself honourably. Usha Nandini proves an able foil, even though her role is rather limited. Philomina excels in the role of the mother. Nellikode Bhaskaran is there for all of five minutes but leaves a lasting impression. After acting in small roles for almost a decade, Jose Prakash started a storied journey as a villain with this film. It also cemented an unfortunate truism in Malayalam movies – if Jose Prakash or Balan K Nair entered the screen, it was a precursor to something bad happening to the heroine.

Olavum Theeravum is not a small budget movie for the time. Almost all scenes are shot outdoors and there is some impressive cinematography by Mankada Ravi Varma. The transport of logs on the river during heavy rain requires special mention. The songs do not detract from the realistic feel as it is mostly in the background.

While the pace is slow, it does not drag. The climactic fight is hilarious until you realise they are going for the opposite of a stunt. If I have a bone to pick it is how the movie ends. While the short story would have made it more convincing, here it sounds false. Or maybe it does to someone in a different generation.

Rank 1/23 || The Avengers

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, Clark Gregg
Director:  Joss Whedon

‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ A line that has been immortalised by Spider-Man and has turned out to be the touchstone phrase of Marvel comics. It was a dream nurtured by Marvel bosses, especially Marvel Studios President Kevin Fiege, that one day, their heroes will come together in a movie. That all the standalone movies will be part of a single canon, like the comics. That they would create and nurture a Marvel Cinematic Universe. After introducing the main characters that would become the Avengers they decided it was time. The great responsibility and the power that came with it was handed over to super-geek Joss Whedon.

The nerds rejoiced. But look at that decision closely. Whedon had directed one – just one – movie. And you are giving him the key to the biggest movie you are making? In any sane universe that would be the definition of ‘With great power comes great stupidity.’ Sure, Whedon had small screen success with Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but let’s get real. What happened after that?

When Marvel hired Joss Whedon as a director, they were really pinning their hopes on Joss Whedon the writer. And he delivered. In spades.

The Tesseract, that cube with unlimited and unexplained powers that we first encountered in Captain America: The First Avenger, started ‘misbehaving’. It opened a portal and onto earth came Loki (Hiddleston). He came with a single purpose: conquer the Earth. Even though the SHIELD headquarters was destroyed, Director Nick Fury (Jackson) decided to call in the reinforcements that he had kept away for a rainy day. The arrogant Iron Man (Downey Jr), the out-of-time Captain America (Evans), the secretive Black Widow (Johansson), the high-and-mighty Thor (Hemsworth) and the reclusive Hulk (Ruffalo) all answer the call, but can they really work as a team?

After a brief skirmish in Berlin, Loki is captured. But is it really a capture when he wants to be held captive?  In the meantime, Hawkeye (Renner) and the scientist Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) have been brainwashed to do Loki’s bidding. Whose bidding is Loki following?

The Avengers don’t want to be together. But we need them to. That is the crux of the story and Whedon deftly weaves a tale that pits unlike forces against each other before bringing them together for a common goal. Sure, there is a big, messy climactic fight. But what people will talk about while exiting the theatre is what happened before that.

Our heroes may have had entries before. But it is in this movie they appear the rawest. Downey Jr plays Iron Man starting off as truly irritating and unlikeable character, who then bats for the common good. The Stark Tower with the name visibly etched on the top, and what happens to it later is exactly what happens to Iron Man. Chris Evans allows himself to be the butt of daddy jokes before assuming the leader role. Thor continues on his earnest Shakespearean avatar. Even his quips are theatrical. Mark Ruffalo firmly imprints himself in our minds as the definitive Hulk. This is the Hulk of yore, who smashes first and then smashes second. It is to Ruffalo’s credit that he makes a personality out of this one-dimensional character.  

Before he was outed as a philandering bastard, Joss Whedon was defined by his strong female characters. Scarlett Johansson stood out more in this movie than anything else she has played Black Widow in. Jeremy Renner has such a strong role and he relishes the complexity. Clark Gregg proves to be the fan favourite as Agent Coulson. Unfair that he didn’t appear in the other Avengers movies, Tahiti or not. Samuel L Jackson shines in an extended role as the multi-faced Fury. Proof why you always hear me say that the MCU could use a lot more Jackson.

In my review, immediately after I saw the movie for the first time, I mentioned that Tom Hiddleston was not a very good villain. He just didn’t arouse any fear. Further viewings changed my mind. I realised that Whedon was looking for a Machiavellian bad guy, not a Thanos type. And that is right up Hiddleston's alley. In fact, Loki is easily immobilised in the climax as his role was everything leading up to that.

The great critic Roger Ebert used to say that every great film should seem new every time you see it. That is the major reason why The Avengers is on top of this list. You can see it umpteen times and still not be bored because you figured something new about it. For instance, it was only two days ago that I realised how much of the total movie takes place on the Helicarrier. 

Joss Whedon was always known for his dialogue and in Robert Downey Jr and Tom Hiddleston he found two perfect vehicles. Everyone else was the straight man for these two to go ballistic. There are so many quotable lines that it is unfair to every other movie. The jokes, compared to the ones in the Russos’ movies, are much deeper and longer-lasting. The fan service never seems thus and the goosebumps creep up without you knowing.

The Avengers humanised the Avengers. That is what brought us closer to these characters. This is the movie that set the bar that has still not been breached. This is the perfect mesh of screenplay and visualisation that Infinity War just missed. To paraphrase Thanos, it was inevitable that The Avengers would end up as the Number One.

Stan Lee cameo: You really have to be alert to catch this. Blink and you miss it.

Post-credits scene: The first one is hands down the best ever. You realise that it is part of the movie. The strange opening sequence suddenly makes sense. The second one, unfortunately, started the trend of silly post-credits sequences. 
Fun Fact: Do you know the state of Kerala once banned the sale of Shawarma?

The Complete List

01. The Avengers
02. Avengers: Infinity War
03. Guardians of the Galaxy
04. Endgame
05. Captain America: Civil War
06. Iron Man
07. Captain America: Winter Soldier
08. Spiderman: Homecoming
09. Captain America
10. Black Panther
11. Thor:Ragnarok
12. Thor
13. Captain Marvel
14. Doctor Strange
15. Ant Man
16. Spiderman: Far From Home
17. Iron Man 3
18. Antman and the Wasp
19. Avengers: Age of Ultron
20. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
21. Iron Man 2
22. Incredible Hulk
23. Thor: Dark World

Rank - 2/23 || Avengers: Infinity War

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd, Karen Gillan, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Chadwick Boseman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Josh Brolin, Paul Bethany, Elisabeth Olsen
Director:  Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

It is Screenplay Lesson One. You cannot have resolution without conflict. No gain without pain. Good exists only in relation to bad. Your hero’s mettle increases in direct proportion to the villain’s competency. If there are a group of heroes, they should either battle a villain team-up or a single villain stronger than each of them.

Ever since The Avengers end credit scene revealed him, Thanos was going to be the ultimate challenge for the Avengers, Credit to the Marvel top brass for teasing us just enough. We kept getting hints, while each of the heroes kept battling lesser evils in their standalone movies. Finally, the time was right to unleash the Mad Titan on the universe. Boy, did he not disappoint!

We start from the end of Thor: Ragnarok, when the Asgardian ship crossed paths with Thanos (Brolin). There is no easing into the story. Thanos wants the six Infinity Stones and he is going to get it, come what may. The mighty Thor (Hemsworth) and the Hulk (Ruffalo) are tossed away like rags. We get to see the sheer strength and single-mindedness of Thanos. You see, he happens to believe that the resources of the Universe are finite and there are too many mouths to feed. He wants to restore the balance by eliminating half the population; albeit randomly.

On earth, Iron Man (Downey Jr), Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch), Spider-Man (Holland) and Hulk meet to make sense of a ring-shaped battleship that just appeared over New York. In Scotland, the Scarlett Witch (Olsen) and the Vision (Bethany) try to fight off some aliens who are trying to get the stone on Vision’s forehead. Luckily, they have help. The gang on the run after Civil War – Captain America (Evans), the Falcon (Mackie) and the Black Widow (Johansson) – come out of the shadows. Before the Avengers get together a few of them decide to take the battle to Thanos in his home planet of Titan. In other space news Thor meets with the Guardians of the Galaxy. There is the small matter of getting Thor a new hammer, the Thanos-killing kind.

Slowly, but surely, Thanos acquires the stones, one by one. Will he be able to get them all? Will he snap his fingers and decimate half of life? The only hindrances in his way are the Avengers, half of them in Titan and the other gathering for the battle of their lives in Wakanda, where the Black Panther (Boseman) and his soldiers make up the numbers.

Along with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the director duo set about crafting a simple hide-and-seek tale. But it is in the details that they excel. Each stone has to be wrenched away. There is a steep price that someone pays. Each stone adds to Thanos’ strength. He is able to get away from situations he otherwise wouldn’t have because he is aware of the new weapon in his arsenal. The fights happening in multiple planets is smartly done in a way as to seem organic. It was literally only while watching Endgame that I became aware that the groups who split in Civil War didn’t completely come together in this movie.

The quips come fast. Some stick and some don’t. But the Russo brothers have been learning from each movie. They have improved by leaps and bounds in the emotional quotient stakes. The Vormir sequence has to be one of the most moving that they have done. The editing gives a fast pace to the story and we don’t pause to question the physics of it all, at all. A decision I will question is the one to keep one of the original Avengers away from this installment. It makes no sense. Of course, they made up for it in Endgame, but still it irks.

The top guns bring in their top game. There is no slacking anywhere with regards to their performance. Robert Downey Jr continues on his conquering run, while being irritated by his young ward Spider-Man, and the new magician who he doesn’t trust. Benedict Cumberbatch takes to playing second fiddle rather too well, but the writers make him an able foil to Iron Man. Josh Brolin is up front and centre and doesn’t disappoint. “I am inevitable,” just made into the cultural lexicon. Chris Evans made more people quote Walt Whitman than ever before in history. Well, they stopped at “Oh Captain, my Captain” after seeing him with a beard, but still…

The action sequences are well-done and induce more than their fair share of goosebumps. The scene where Thor arrives in Wakanda has to be, hands down the most Wow moment in the MCU. Don’t take my word for it, ask the Russos. They watch a video of the euphoric reaction to that in a Mumbai theatre as a pick-me-up. Whatever happened to not shooting videos in a theatre?

But what really sets Infinity War apart is its ability to hook the audience. Pretty much everyone who saw the movie knew that this was just one part of the story. The conclusion would come the next year in Endgame. But right through the movie, that bit of information is the last thing you think of. Especially in the final battle in Wakanda you are waiting for the killing blow (bad pun) that would lay Thanos low. This is the near perfect mesh of screenplay and visualisation in a popular movie. One that leaves you wowed and yet screaming for more. This, probably, will remain the pinnacle of the Russos' career.

Stan Lee cameo: Stan the bus driver who can’t believe that the kids haven’t seen a spaceship before. He probably got this job after being fired from the guard role in the Captain America museum!

Post-credits scene: Fabulous! Well, fabulous marketing for the new character they were bringing to the screen in a few months, it turned out to be. But if post credits sequences were not meant to be just a gag, then this is how you do it. Samuel L Jackson almost uttered his catchphrase in a PG13 movie. Almost. Damn Thanos!

Rank - 3/23 || Guardians of the Galaxy

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, Lee Pace, Karen Gillian

Director: James Gunn

Guardians of the Galaxy is a miracle. What would you say about a popular film that stars a normal Han Solo/Captain Kirk dude, with a green almost-human, a giant with 3D tattoos all over his body, a talking racoon and a tree that just says “I am Groot”? That it shouldn’t exist? I totally agree. It shouldn’t. Yet it does. Miracles happen. And, boy, are we lucky!

Peter Quill (Pratt), as a young boy, was kidnapped by the Ravagers, space pirates who prowl the universe. Calling himself by the code-name/outlaw name Star Lord, he has become an expert thief. But something he steals lands him in bigger trouble than before. After a skirmish on the planet Xandar, he ends up in prison with Gamora (Saldana), daughter of Thanos, Drax the Destroyer (Bautista), a warrior whose family was murdered, Rocket (Cooper) a genetically-engineered fighting machine – sort of Wolverine with brains and looking like a raccoon – and Groot (Diesel), a tree-like being, whose language only Rocket can understand.

They spectacularly break out of prison and go on an inter-galactic run trying to sell the orb Quill found. Chasing them is Ronan (Pace) a violent rebel in the Kree race, Gamora’s sister Nebula (Gillian), Peter’s adoptive father Yondu (Rooker) and even a certain Thanos (Josh Brolin). How do they stay alive?

Chris Pratt wise-cracks himself into leading man status. He has ample comedic chops and revels in self-deprecating humour. He becomes the leader by letting everyone else play the leading role. Let’s just declare Zoe Saldana as the hottest woman on earth. She has gone blue for Avatar and green here and is still smoking. I enjoyed Dave Bautista in the WWE, but thought Marvel was stupid to choose him over Jason Momoa. I am so glad I was proven wrong. Bautista shows pitch-perfect comedic timing and uses his bulk to hilarious effect. Bradley Cooper gets to do a Ryan Reynolds and he enjoys himself. Vin Diesel apparently is the best actor in the group with his vocal prowess. He incants “I am Groot” differently each time. I don’t think I am a cineaste good enough to identify them!

Despite growing up in the 80s, I was hardly into music. The much-lauded soundtrack of this film is 80s gold (or so they say). It is foot-tapping music and one gets into the music without even listening to the lyrics. But the music is not just for effect, it plays a huge role in who Quill is. Yet, nostalgia alone can’t get you success in the box office.

The colours are bright and jokes fresh.  The tone of the movie is James Gunn’s biggest success. It is such a tightrope walk, yet he aces it. There are a few missteps, like the “green whore” bit, but overall, the movie is a delight. It unapologetically dials the fun factor to eleven and stays there. That way, it is probably Marvel’s purest film. An outlier that forms a part of the larger sum without ever seeming so.

This was the single biggest risk Marvel took. And this was the movie that really set them on the course to world domination. They were King Midas. Everything would turn to gold. Not everything did, but Guardians of the Galaxy ensured people would turn up to see if they did.

Stan Lee cameo: This is how not to do an unforgettable cameo. Lee putting on the moves on a Xandarian is definitely not a sight for adoring eyes.

Post-credits scene: Another misstep. When most of your money is coming from oversees, don’t insult them with a meaningless Howard the Duck bit.

Rank 4/23 || Avengers: Endgame

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd, Karen Gillan, Brie Larson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin
Director:  Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Remember Sachin Tendulkar? At one time the biggest cricketer in the world? The one who united a country when he played and also when he wouldn’t stop playing? He ended a storied 24-year career with a home series against West Indies. His many detractors went to town about how he didn’t deserve a farewell series and how he should have retired 25 years earlier. What they misunderstood was this was a series for Sachin’s benefit. No, it wasn’t. Sachin was a great cricketer who had the single biggest influence on cricket in his country and, by extension, the world. He had a fabulous journey. The series was for those who went on that journey with him. It was nostalgic. It was cathartic. It was an end. Avengers: Endgame is a vote of gratitude for Marvel fans. For believing in a dream for over 11 years.

Endgame would not be the Number One for the basic reason that it has to cheat. The Thanos Snap has happened. The world is irrevocably changed. Yet, we need all the Avengers back to fight Thanos. So the Russos had to cheat. This was expected. The only question was how. To their credit they, along screenwriters with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, still managed to surprise. But then they had to take the sheen out of Infinity War to do that.

The success of the MCU meant there were too many heroes over the years. In Thanos (Brolin) they had a villain for the ages. At the same time, for the audience to be truly invested, the number of heroes had to be restricted to just a handful. At the end of Infinity War that handful would turn out to be the original Avengers. We were back to the start, with the people we loved, waiting for an absolution that may never come.

Hawkeye (Renner) and Ant-Man (Rudd) weren’t in Infinity War. So, it was gratifying to note that they had pretty plum roles this time around. As did Nebula (Gillan). Iron Man (Downey Jr), Captain America (Evans), Thor (Hemsworth), Hulk (Ruffalo), Black Widow (Johansson) and Hawkeye (Renner) lead the fightback, with a few pals. But is it enough?

Endgame is divided into two parts. The first one ends in half an hour and we stare at the screen in disbelief. And then the most surprising letters appear on the screen. A sign that the Russos are up to the task of upending our expectations and theories. And that is precisely why this movie goes so high up in this list.

And then begins the fan service. I do not mean it in a derogatory sense, by the way. Fan service, when done right, is the reason fans exist. The plot smartly adds in sequences from various movies over the past eleven years and some new ones also. There are some hilarious dialogues and some really touching homages. America’s ass, anyone? You can’t have an entire movie on nostalgia, so things do go wrong. You do get the feeling that plot points were manufactured rather than formed in someone’s imagination. But you don’t care because it is so much fun.

The final battle is remarkable for being unremarkable. It doesn’t reach Lord of the Rings level, but instead every action is a call to the crowd to cheer. There is a hilariously silly plot point where an important item is being transferred to a part of the battle field. It becomes an excuse to showcase all the heroes. A relay that just doesn’t reach the end. There is a scene where the baton is taken by all the women. While it was fun in Infinity War, here it is actually irritating and proves how misogynistic the Marvel Universe is.

The supporting cast did their job admirably. Especially the ones that were thrown into the limelight like Karen Gillan and Paul Rudd. We have to pause and admire Josh Brolin for once. Despite being mostly CGI and motion capture he still managed to hold his own. We are convinced that the only way to beat him was all the heroes getting together. His voice has such gravitas that it almost needed another credit on its own. 

The movie falls another spot because of too little Samuel L Jackson. Nick Fury is the reason these guys came together. He should have shown up at least in flashback scenes.

At the end it was all about the old guard. Sure, some of them will have sequels coming after this, but nothing like this. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner will be with us, whether we go to Budapest or not. Mark Ruffalo will continue to be the fan favourite Hulk. Chris Hemsworth proves he can charm the living daylights out of anyone, dad bod or not! Endgame misses the third spot because they made Chris Evans shave. It is a truth universally acknowledged since Neanderthal times that a good beard is all the adornment a man needs! And there never will be a doubt that Robert Downey Jr is the living, beating heart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It has only been 11 years since Iron Man came out. But it seems the journey was much longer. Endgame is not the last movie in the MCU. There will be more movies; some better, some worse. But that will be a journey I may or may not take. I wouldn’t want to have lived in an era when Sachin Tendulkar didn’t play cricket. I wouldn’t want to have not have experienced the Marvel journey in real time.

Stan Lee cameo: Thank you Stan, for all the memories. Though not particularly memorable, we get to see a de-aged Lee driving away to the distance, a babe by his side.

Post-credits scene: This is supposed to be the end. How can you have another scene? Well, it invites you to listen and not watch. Brilliant. (PS: Marvel cheated and re-released Endgame just so it could beat Avatar in gross box office. They apparently added a couple of silly scenes. Thankfully, I didn’t see it.)

Rank - 5/23 || Captain America: Civil War

Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland, Paul Rudd, Daniel Bruhl
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Imagine you are a kid. You have a lot of toys and then your friend came over and gave you his favourite toy. And your parents got you one you didn’t know was in the market yet. You just want to play with all of them. But you have only two-and-a-half hours. That, dear Marvel fan, is Civil War. 

The Sukovia incident has happened. Super heroes are not good news. Then an Avengers mission goes bad. Real bad. The US Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) brings an ultimatum to the Avengers: Prepare to be monitored by a UN team or prepare to be enemies of the world. Before the decision is finalised there is an explosion at the UN and King T’Chaka (John Kani) of Wakanda is killed. And the murderer seems to be the Captain America’s (Evans) old pal and the Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). It’s Captain America vs Iron Man and even hell can’t handle something this hot. 

Civil War in the comics is a spectacle that has a lot of after-effects in the Marvel canon. The movie storyline may be different, but both can still be told simplistically as Cap vs Iron Man. The fun is finding out who is on which side. 

Civil War is supposed to be a Captain America movie. But you just can’t pin it down as thus. Not when the Marvel machine is in full flow. Let’s take the gang for a ride. But it should not detract from the Avengers movies coming along. Hence, Thor and Hulk are dropped. Boo! But that doesn’t mean we have a shortage of epic characters. We still have Chris Evans actually being billed ahead of Iron Man (Downey Jr). Black Widow (Johansson) and Hawkeye (Renner) find themselves on opposite sides. As does Scarlet Witch (Olsen) and Vision (Bettany). Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) choose the obvious ones. And why don’t we just add in the latest Marvel superhero, Ant-Man (Rudd)? Damn the list does make your head spin.

For an organisation that made films that were white, whiter, whitest, a major plus point would be the introduction of Black Panther (Boseman). A watershed moment, if you may. Boseman brought the right amount of grace and gravity to the role. The flip side was a villain that was anything but epic. Helmut Zemo (Bruhl) lets down the movie. And this is why the latter half suffers in comparison with the first. Once again, after Winter Soldier, the Russos just cannot hold on in the home stretch.

Emotion is not the Russos’ strong side. Action and spectacle is. As also the wow moments. Where fanboys slip into delirium. There is an airport fight scene that will be long held as the benchmark to be crossed in a Marvel movie. The dialogue is crisp and the effects top of the line. The money shots are there aplenty. This is probably the Marvel movie that you want to live in, as you watch it. 

However, that doesn’t automatically raise it to the top tier of all Marvel movies. That happened on November 24, 2014, when the hacker group Guardians of Peace leaked a bunch of mails and documents from Sony pictures. In it was a series of mails that would have sent any rabid comic fan into the emergency room. They were discussing the possibility of getting Marvel’s biggest superhero, Stan Lee’s greatest legacy, a certain web-slinger, into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We went to see Spider-Man. Tom Holland proved to be an inspired choice and suddenly things were looking okay. For a movie titled Civil War, it was ironic to see the internal cinematic rights of Marvel characters get a peaceful solution. (Update: Of course all that has now gone down the drain!)

Stan Lee cameo: Tony Stank? Well, trust Stan to make such a joke work!

Post-credits scene: We are definitely visiting Wakanda, says the first post credits scene. And Spidey is here to stay, says the second one.

Rank - 6/23 || Iron Man

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terence Howard
Director: Jon Favreau

In the beginning, there was nothing. 

Well, that’s not true. Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, the original X-Men trilogy, the Blade trilogy, two Fantastic Four and two Ghost Rider movies and then some. Movies based on Marvel characters had come out before. But none of them were part of something bigger. Also, I wanted a biblical intro.

My history of reading comics began with Asterix and Tintin and flowered with Indrajal Comics. I was aware of Superman and his ilk, but I probably read them well after I was grown up. I definitely hadn’t heard of Iron Man before the movie came out. Just as well. There is something to going to a movie with zero expectations and being pleasantly surprised that has become extinct in the Internet age.

Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. Together with his father figure Obadiah Stane (Bridges) he has made a million fortunes making weapons. All of it changes when he is kidnapped by a group of Afghan terrorists. Thankfully, Tony didn’t just inherit the money, but also his father’s brains. He hatches a plan to get away from his captors. What we didn’t know was the Marvel honchos were hatching a bigger plan to take our money for years to come.

A lot of the Marvel characteristics were there in this movie. Or, maybe, the success of Iron Man prompted them to repurpose these quirks in all their other films. We see a villain that is just a reflection of the hero. True, that is an action movie trope, but these are extra-ordinary characters. You can go wild with your villain characterisation. Instead, if your hero has a power, you give the villain the same power. In this case, that is an iron suit. No wonder that Jeff Bridger, with all the cigar-chomping swagger he brings to the role, just doesn’t stay in your memory.

Gwyneth Paltrow brings a surprising complexity to the role. One that stands out on re-viewing. She is an able foil. Paul Bettany turns the British stiff upper lip on its head to voice artificial intelligence Jarvis. (Did you know the name stood for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System? No wonder the English think Americans can’t speak the language!) This turned out to be a surprising fan-favourite. Terrence Howard might have been the victim of Marvel’s parsimoniousness, but I would loved to have seen him become the Iron Patriot down the line. He has the physique for it. We also get to see Clark Gregg’s iconic Phil Coulson for the first time.

The special effects still haven’t dated much. The money shots of the suit locking in may have lost its sheen due to its repeated appearance in Iron Man and Avengers movies, but seeing it for the first time made me whistle out loud. The story, while it has its flaws, is not weak. The pacing is quite breezy and Jon Favreau, the director, proves up to the task despite having very little experience other than the Christmas favourite Elf under his belt. 

But then in an alternate universe there would an Iron Man movie made that didn’t star Robert Downey Jr. I wonder how that would have turned out. Downey is the heart and soul of this movie. We are introduced to a very different character. I can only think of Jack Sparrow as someone with this confidence.  Downey shows how thin the line is between histrionics and showboating is, and how adept he is at remaining there. With pitch perfect dialogue delivery, a swagger that is somewhere between a ballerina and a drunk, and charisma that he was born into, Robert Downey Jr. proves to be the single reason Iron Man soars and Marvel hasn’t looked back ever since. When he declares “I am Iron Man”, he actually means “Iron Man is me!”

Stan Lee cameo: This is something very dear to me as I immediately caught the joke. Probably my most favourite cameo.

Post-credits scene: To think I missed this the first time around in the theatre! I had no idea what Avengers meant and had to Google it. You have to admire Marvel’s guts.