History MediaNotes / TheOtherwoods

Roughly 1,000 movies are produced in UsefulNotes/{{India}} every year. Of these, around 200 films are produced by UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} each year. Of course, few people outside of India are aware of this, and many foreigners [[SpotlightStealingSquad assume that]] ''[[SpotlightStealingSquad all]]'' [[SpotlightStealingSquad of Indian cinema is Bollywood]]. Contrary to popular opinion, "Bollywood" only refers to [[UsefulNotes/IndianLanguages Hindi]] films. So where do the other 800 movies come from?

Not to be confused with the [[UsefulNotes/MormonCinema Mormon film industry]], or LDS Cinema, also known as Mollywood.

* "{{Bramayugam}} (2024) - A black and white look at a story set in the dark ages of Kerala.

* "Film/Bramayugam" (2024) - A black and white look at a story set in the dark ages of Kerala.

* "Bramayugam" (2024) - A black and white look at a story set in the dark ages of Kerala.

* "Film/{{Bramayugam}}" (2024) - A black and white look at a story set in the dark ages of Kerala.

* "Film/Bramayugam" (2024) - A black and white look at a story set in the dark ages of Kerala.

* ''Film/Trance2020'' (2020) - Unrelated to ''Film/{{Trance}}'', a psychological drama where Viju Prasad, a motivational coach, is hired to be the head of a megachurch who can perform miracles.

* ''Film/MinnalMurali'' (2021) - Widely regarded as Malayalam's first superhero movie

* Film/{{Indian}} (1996): A vigilante movie with a distinctly Indian version of the NinetiesAntiHero.

* Film/BenkiyaBale - a TearJerker of a romantic tale, based on a bestselling Carnatic novel.

Yet, the cultural fallout of these movies transcends their obscurity. Many South Indian movies became massive commercial or critical hits, went on to be dubbed in several other Indian languages, and then became hits in those languages also. Mani Ratnam's 1992 ''Roja'', an influential film beloved all over India, was first a Tamil movie, though its origin is often glossed over. This film also debuted the composer AR Rahman, who went on to win awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song at the 81st Oscars. But before he did ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'' and before he worked in Bollywood, he spent a decade composing music for Tamil movies and still does so to this day. This not a rare scenario: it is easier for a no-name talent to debut in South India than it is in Bollywood. Many iconic Hindi film stars, from Aishwariya Rai to Kajol to Katrina Kaif, started their careers down south.

South Indian films borrow much from the Tamil dramatic traditions, such as exaggerated speech and action, formulaic plots, characters and tropes, and an abundance of music and dance. These films are today thought of as the LargeHam, even by Bollywood standards. They are unabashedly escapist. The heroes are generally unapologetic Stus of the highest order. The LoveInterest (called a "heroine", even if she never does anything heroic) is usually a straight-up DamselInDistress. Every film will have copious amounts of intrusive comic relief[[note]]Comedic actors in South India are popular figures and appear in almost every film .[[/note]] as most films attempt to stuff in as much action, romance, music, and comedy as possible. This all-in-one genre combination is familiar to Indian movie buffs as 'masala', but is more commonly called 'mass' in Telugu lingo. Even movies with a serious subject matter (politics, horror, history, mythology) may follow the same pattern. Combine all of that with the low quality special effects and you get an industry of Narmy, SoBadItsGood movies.

* ''[[Film/{{ArjunReddy}} Arjun Reddy]]'', where a brilliant medical student starts going down a self-destructive path after his girlfriend is forced to marry another man.

* ''[[Film/Karnan2021 Karnan]]'' (2021): A film about a lower caste village fighting oppression, and trying to be seen with dignity and to get their own bus stop.

* ''Film/MinnalMurali''(2021) - Widely regarded as Malayalam's first superhero movie

Sandalwood is the nickname given to the Kannada film industry, based in Bangalore. The name is derived from the sandalwood trees, that are ubiquitous in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka. They are in these times considered the [[AndZoidberg Zoidberg]] of South Indian film industries, owing to their movies being generally of lower production quality and having horrible plots. The truth is that this industry is a WhiteDwarfStarlet, which once produced movies equal in quality and commercial success to the other South Indian "woods", but have been in a prolonged AudienceAlienatingEra since the early nineties.

The nineties were not kind to this industry, seeing it JumpTheShark multiple times. While {{Fanservice}}, stereotype based humor, MartyStu leads and PlotTumor has always been present in all movies, these aspects were turned up in many films of this era at the cost of a good compelling story. As a result, these movies catered primarily to a rural and often [[ViewersAreMorons uneducated audience]]. This resulted in just sufficient revenue to offset production costs, but not enough cash to pay good screenwriters, good directors, good production crews, good score composers etc. Therefore, the industry seems to be mired in this AudienceAlienatingEra with little to no hope of recovery.

The reasons for why this industry suffered decay, while others flourished, has to do with other major events that occurred in the early nineties. A major factor is the makeup of Bengaluru. While Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi were large South Indian cities, with Chennai being larger than Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka was always more cosmopolitan, with people from all over India residing there. This was initially due to many people retiring there, owing to Bengaluru's slightly cooler temperatures, but also due to many important research institutions for UsefulNotes/IndiansWithIglas being based there. The founding and subsequent explosive growth of the software industry in Bengaluru, turned it into a BoomTown that attracted a ''lot'' of people across India. A lot of these people wanted to see movies made in their own language, or alternatively more Hollywood movies and foreign films. As a result, Sandalwood's movies suddenly faced stiff competition in Bengaluru. Unable to penetrate the non Carnatic speaking residents of Bengaluru, the industry focused instead on pandering to their rural audience. Other "woods" also avoided this problem by arm twisting theatre owners and local governments to be more protectionist and screen only their films.

South Indian films borrow much from the Tamil dramatic traditions, such as exaggerated speech and action, formulaic plots, characters and tropes, and an abundance of music and dance. These films are today thought of as the LargeHam, even by Bollywood standards. They are unabashedly escapist. The heroes are generally unapologetic Stus of the highest order. The LoveInterest (called a "heroine", even if she never does anything heroic) is usually a straight-up DistressedDamsel. Every film will have copious amounts of intrusive comic relief[[note]]Comedic actors in South India are popular figures and appear in almost every film .[[/note]] as most films attempt to stuff in as much action, romance, music, and comedy as possible. This all-in-one genre combination is familiar to Indian movie buffs as 'masala', but is more commonly called 'mass' in Telugu lingo. Even movies with a serious subject matter (politics, horror, history, mythology) may follow the same pattern. Combine all of that with the low quality special effects and you get an industry of Narmy, SoBadItsGood movies.