One of my favorite films used to be the early 90's Malayalam movies. They used to be simple stories that the majority of Keralites could relate to in real life told with Humor.
are priyadarshan's hindi films remake of these kerala films you refer to... his or of others??
i saw one quite serious malayali film on doordarshan ( with subtitles ) many years back... about a lady who loves someone but has to marry a wrestler... tragic ending it has.
Even though I criticise the industry for employing out of shape actors, in my opinion, it still makes the best films in south india. And quite grounded in terms of execution in the part of India known for huge leaps and complete lack of logic in their films haha
i agree, especially on the your second para... the horror that is the modern telugu film... so loud and with unnecessary stunts that defy common sense... i remember a chiranjeevi stunt scene... he riding a horse through city roads, at high speed... he has to reach a wedding hall where his beloved is about to be forcibly married off to someone else... for strange reasons, he cannot show his hero-giri after the garlands have been exchanged... so, chiranjeevi has to reach the place fast... on his horse... he sees a big sixteen-wheel truck in front of him... he makes the horse to fall, like they do with motorcycles... horse and chiranjeevi skid under the truck... come clean to the other side... horse easily lifts himself, chiranjeevi still on back... off they gallop again...
kannada films seem generally about promoting kannada and auto drivers... most kannada films seem to have very crass dialogue.
but ram gopal varma made good films... shiva is a good one... i saw the hindi version.
Early Bengali films and malayalam films excelled in portraying the human struggle.
true... of bengali films i remember the natural dialogue and setting... but these were 90's fillums and older.
Bollywood is far too escapist for me.
true... i don't see the need for films like phata poster nikla hero, and all those tamil-films-inspired ones like singham, and krish etc.
but even recently there have been good films like "ek chaalis ki last local", and the latest, "happy ending" ( which levina seems not to like...
).
For escapism I rely on Hollywood, which executes escapism in the form of fantasy and science fiction quite well.
blade runner and gattaca were two of the best films i have seen... and strictly not hollywood... twenty four weeks later, sunshine and "love, actually" were fine british films.