{"id":17939,"date":"2026-06-07T11:48:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T06:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/when-salim-kumar-criticised-malayalam-cinemas-shift-towards-violence-and-decline-of-comedy-its-been-long-since-i-watched-a-good-comedy-movie-and-laughed-malayalam-movie-news\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T11:48:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T06:18:49","slug":"when-salim-kumar-criticised-malayalam-cinemas-shift-towards-violence-and-decline-of-comedy-its-been-long-since-i-watched-a-good-comedy-movie-and-laughed-malayalam-movie-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/when-salim-kumar-criticised-malayalam-cinemas-shift-towards-violence-and-decline-of-comedy-its-been-long-since-i-watched-a-good-comedy-movie-and-laughed-malayalam-movie-news\/","title":{"rendered":"When Salim Kumar criticised Malayalam cinema&#8217;s shift towards violence and decline of comedy: &#8216;It&#8217;s been long since I watched a good comedy movie and laughed&#8217; | Malayalam Movie News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-131562747,imgsize-105106,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/screenshot-2026-06-07-113752.jpg\" alt=\"When Salim Kumar criticised Malayalam cinema's shift towards violence and decline of comedy: 'It's been long since I watched a good comedy movie and laughed'\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Before his passing, veteran Malayalam actor <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/salim-kumar\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Salim Kumar<\/a> had sparked a discussion among cinephiles with his candid views on the changing landscape of Malayalam cinema. Known for his impeccable comic timing in films such as &#8216;Pulival Kalyanam&#8217;, &#8216;Thenkasipattanam&#8217;, and &#8216;Kunjikoonan&#8217;, the actor had expressed concern over the industry&#8217;s growing fascination with violent narratives and the apparent shortage of genuinely funny comedy films.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"5\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>Salim Kumar on the missing comedy wave<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>During an interaction at a Malayala Manorama event, Salim Kumar reflected on how comedy films had evolved over the years. While several action-driven movies were dominating the box office, he felt that Malayalam cinema was struggling to produce comedies that could leave audiences laughing the way older films once did.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>&#8220;Name one good comedy film that happened recently. I will definitely say that the answer is no. There were numerous good comedy films back in the day, now the industry lacks good comedy films that really make you laugh.&#8221; <!-- -->His remarks quickly caught attention online, with many viewers debating whether Malayalam cinema had indeed moved away from its rich comedic legacy.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>Salim Kumar&#8217;s take on recent popular entertainers<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>The actor was also asked about successful recent releases such as &#8216;Premalu&#8217; and &#8216;Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil&#8217;. While acknowledging their popularity among audiences, Salim Kumar maintained that the humour in contemporary films did not have the same freshness and impact as the comedies of previous decades.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/>&#8220;It&#8217;s been long since I watched a good comedy movie and laughed. There may be several counter-arguments to this, but I stand on my opinion that these new movies are just rehashing old comedies.&#8221; According to him, many filmmakers were revisiting familiar comic tropes instead of creating a distinct new style of humour.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"19\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>Salim Kumar&#8217;s concerns over the rise of violent films<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>At a time when films like &#8216;Marco&#8217;, &#8216;Rifle Club&#8217;, and &#8216;Pani&#8217; were performing well commercially, Salim Kumar also voiced his concerns about the increasing use of violence in mainstream cinema. <!-- -->He argued that several filmmakers appeared to rely heavily on graphic action sequences in the name of entertainment. Comparing some of these films to a &#8220;butcher shop,&#8221; the actor suggested that excessive violence was becoming a dominant storytelling tool.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>Salim Kumar further observed that while many young actors excelled in action-oriented roles, comedy remained one of the most challenging genres to master. His comments resonated with a section of movie lovers who felt Malayalam cinema&#8217;s golden era of comedy had become increasingly rare.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"27\"\/>The remarks triggered a wide-ranging debate on social media, with some agreeing wholeheartedly and others defending the industry&#8217;s newer storytelling trends. Years later, the discussion remains relevant, serving as a reminder of Salim Kumar&#8217;s fearless opinions and his deep understanding of Malayalam cinema beyond the screen.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"29\"\/>His observations continue to be revisited by fans who admired not only his performances but also his willingness to speak openly about the direction of the film industry.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/entertainment\/malayalam\/when-salim-kumar-criticised-malayalam-cinemas-shift-towards-violence-and-decline-of-comedy-its-been-long-since-i-watched-a-good-comedy-movie-and-laughed\/articleshow\/131562732.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before his passing, veteran Malayalam actor Salim Kumar had sparked a discussion among cinephiles with his candid views on the changing landscape of Malayalam cinema. Known for his impeccable comic timing in films such as &#8216;Pulival Kalyanam&#8217;, &#8216;Thenkasipattanam&#8217;, and &#8216;Kunjikoonan&#8217;, the actor had expressed concern over the industry&#8217;s growing fascination with violent narratives and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}