A new ‘golden’ age harking back to another one. For surely, that is what this age of Malayalam cinema is. There is a lot of nostalgia for the era defining cinema from Kerala in the 1980’s and early 90’s but right now is also pretty much a great place to be. Moonwalk, directed by AK Vinod and produced by that maverick Lijo Jose Pelliserry is a brilliant composition of nostalgia, breakdance and growing up in a bygone era that amazes with its attention to detailing and its resonant emotional beats from a cast of newcomers.


The theme, as anyone worth his or her salt from that time would know, is the obsession and expression of an artform inspired by the King of Pop himself, Micheal Jackson. The furore that playing his record breaking hit Thriller causes in a sleepy part of Trivandrum in the mid-eighties inspires a group of youngsters to learn breakdance through unconventional means, what with the lack of instructors around. They form a group, The Moonwalkers, and start capturing the fancy of the city with their unique style sense and energetic dancing.
Based on various stories of breakdancing troupes in Kerala in the 80’s, perhaps the most striking resemblance is with the actual Trivandrum group of the time called Footloosers. After the movies release, the now elderly and still dancing Footloosers brothers captured the attention of the online crowd with their video of shaking a leg at a traffic intersection in the city recently.


This is a wonderful ode to a time long gone and an artform which has evolved over the decades. A world  where snatches from video cassettes and tape recorders were used to learn by earnest amateurs and where love and life had to be conducted by the whims of the STD telephone booth operators and wardens taking the calls. But perhaps there are somethings that don’t change and which make cinema like this always relatable. The joy of expression and learning something new and the joy of experiencing another’s passion in their chosen skill.


There have been some woefully bad dance films from the Indian industry and it’s usually a genre which I wouldn’t go anywhere near, but this is something of a masterpiece. This is a coming of age, rites of passage film disguised as a dance film. Another great one in a crowded pantheon for the Malayalam industry; crowded enough by now that some get overlooked. Moonwalk shouldnt be one of those. This needs to be seen by everyone with an inkling of interest in revisiting a time and a place; an ode to the King and the magic he inspired in corners of the world he may have never heard of. The climactic dance sequence especially is one helluva ride, both predictable and yet fresh in its denouement.

Watch this and relive the magic an erstwhile age.