Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has heaped praise on the Malayalam film Mollywood Times, the recent Naslen-starrer helmed by Abhinav Sunder Nayak. The film hit theatres on June 5 and recently premiered on JioHotstar. Interestingly, the film opened in theatres alongside Anurag Kashyap's own Bandar, which is also set in the film world.
The film is a coming-of-age drama about an aspiring filmmaker. Billed as a “hate letter to cinema”, the film pivots around a youngster who, inspired by Hollywood director Manoj Night Shyamalan, obsessively pursues his dream of becoming the finest maker of horror films in Malayalam cinema and the numerous obstacles he encounters. According to Abhinav, it is the second film in his planned trilogy on ‘success’, with his directorial debut Mukundan Unni Associates being the first.
Sharing his thoughts on Letterboxd, Anurag awarded the film four stars and described it as "a post-Internet/social media cinephile filmmaker's wet dream". Reflecting on the film's themes, he wrote, "A lot of truth and a lot of idealism... The articulation of it all from the filmmaker that Abhinav Sunder Nayak is only going to get sharper with time." He added that while the film presents reality as it is, "the wee bit of romanticism of it all is what we wish," concluding his review with, "Loved the film."
Upon its theatrical release, Mollywood Times opened to largely positive reviews from critics, with many praising Naslen’s performance and Abhinav’s conviction in telling a dreamer’s story from a fresh perspective.
An excerpt from CE's review of the film reads, “unabashedly cynical take on cinematic aspirations that offers an impressively provocative, if overstuffed, examination of how success often depends on far more than talent.”
Written by Rekhachithram co-writer Ramu Sunil, Mollywood Times also stars Sangeeth Prathap, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Sharaf U Dheen, Roshan Shanavas, Basil Joseph, Appunni Sasi, and Gopika Ramesh, among others. It is produced by Ashiq Usman.