Kerala's ‘Marco’ witch hunt: When blockbusters become convenient scapegoats

Kerala society has many matters to be worried about intensely – but ‘Marco’ should not be one of them. That Malayalam movie has been a standout at the box office in rewriting records but has not been able to escape the criticism of glorifying extreme violence.

Sure, there are beheadings, stabbings and all kinds of ways to dispatch the various characters in the film in gorier ways. The director has been particularly successful in delivering an action-packed movie. (With quite a bit of shout-out to 'John Wick' 1-4 and the Bollywood smash hit ‘Animal’. Anyone who has seen these movies, or even just one of them, will get the idea.)

But while Malayalees made Marco a genuine blockbuster – no tweaking of the box-office takings to be seen – many of them don’t seem too pleased.

This explains why there is a blame game going on about how this movie can be allowed to showcase such violence – and how it is actually corrupting young minds to carry out gory murders. (Check out what Afan in Kerala’s capital city Thiruvananthapuram did)

Is it really that simplistic to draw a line from a movie to acts of violence in real life? There are even more sickeningly vile movies that have already seen the light of day in India, or even playing out on OTT channels right now.

Why should ‘Marco’ then get all the blame?

Is it a case that Malayalees - vast numbers of them – are doing so to pull down a successful film, which made a superstar out of its lead actor Unni Mukundan? Would such a movie have received less of a blast from Kerala’s resident intellectuals and YouTube influencers if the lead roles were done by Mohanlal or Mammotty? Would Mohanlal’s upcoming flick, L2: Empuraan, where he does a don’s role show violence in less Technicolor detail?

A similar story was played out when the 2024 release ‘Manjummel Boys’ – far from being a film showing any violence - rewrote collection records. But then India’s Enforcement Directorate decided to take a close look at those box-office collections, and it didn’t take long for Kerala society to throw verbal darts at the film’s makers and lead Soubin Shahir.

If films – it has to be successful ones – are to be raised to the skies only to be pulled down, what do Malayalees get out of it?

Kerala society has far deeper reasons to be concerned about its youth. High jobless rates need to be tackled, but there aren’t any ready cures.

Blaming movies for any issues in wider society is sheer laziness. What it manages to do is cast the film industry itself as being purveyors of filth and violence. And this would be harmful to an industry that employs many, directly or as ancillary service providers. At the very least, the Malayalam film sector is actually creating new jobs – especially from within Kerala’s younger generation.

Police the industry better. Create rules to ensure movies do the right thing for society. But badmouthing actors and filmmakers for the actions of individuals in the larger Kerala society is nothing but lazy oversimplification. In other words, plain stupid.