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Mollywood (no, not Bollywood) movies get screen time in Nova Scotia

Mollywood (no, not Bollywood) movies get screen time in Nova Scotia

A Halifax man is screening Mollywood — not Bollywood — films in Wolfville to bring together people in the community who speak a language unique to a specific region of India.

Malayalam cinema, or Mollywood cinema, is a sector of the Indian film industry. John Ignatious Pereira, 30, is helping to bring it to local screens and to the Malayalam-speaking community in the province.

"I'm proud that we are making some of the best movies in India," said Pereira, who grew up in Trivandrum, the capital of the Kerala region of India.

People 'start dancing' at screenings

Malayalam-language films from the area are recognized for their technical skill and craftsmanship, though Pereira said "people only know about Bollywood movies."

Those Hindi-language films from Mumbai may be better known, but Pereira said screening regional films allows the city's Malayalam speakers to come together.

"When the songs are happening on the screen, people start dancing," said Pereira, who began the monthly film night last November. "We enjoy the movies. Everybody is happy, everybody is shouting.... We cannot just sit and watch the movie, we need to feel every scene."

Influx of Malayalam speakers

There are 600 Malayalam speakers in Halifax, according to John Puthiakunnel, chairman of the local Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

"The number of people who speak it is very limited," said Puthiakunnel.

He's lived in Halifax for nearly 30 years and says there's been an influx in Malayalam speakers in the last five years.

Pereira said about 100 people from Halifax travelled to the last screening at Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville, an independent theatre run by Acadia Cinema Cooperative.

This Saturday's film is Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol, which translates to When the Grapevines Sprout.