What does the new Malayalam superhero film Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra have in common with indie gems The Man from Earth and Spring? If you know, you know — we can’t spoil the twist.
The toast of the season, Lokah, which just crossed 200 crore, is a modern retelling of timeless tales from folklore and pop culture. Malayalam cinema is having its moment — ruling big screens with Lokah and streaming platforms with The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang. Meanwhile, the “documentary crew” from The Office has reappeared in a new spin-off, The Paper. Three titles, one theme: how stories reinvent themselves.
Driven by folklore
Every time you think pop culture has abandoned scripts for vibes, Malayalam cinema pulls you back. Unlike Coolie, which revealed everything before release, Lokah (by director and screenwriter Dominic Arun with dramaturgy by Santhy Balachandran) plays its cards close. Folklore-driven world-building keeps us hooked, every scene teasing the reveal.
I loved the slacker-trio-and-cat subplot — it nails the “save the cat” trope, building investment and anticipation. And when the superhero reveal comes, it lands with whistles: strength and vulnerability in one punch. Kalyani Priyadarshan shines in a role that never undermines gender politics.
She slaps the entitled “good guy” male saviour at the end of a crowd pleasing star cameo.
This franchise knows what it’s doing. And yes, do hunt down The Man from Earth and Spring to see possible echoes.
Four men and a dwarf
The “4.5 gang” has four men and a dwarf. As a ghostwriter listens to a gangster narrating his life, he tries to rationalise the name — maybe the gangster’s father was part of a similar gang? “No,” says the gangster, “he only had three accomplices.” “Let’s add a dog then,” the ghostwriter suggests. “Are you comparing a short person with a dog?” “Do you want politically correct art or entertainment?” comes the retort.
A still from Chronicles of 4.5 Gang Still
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That exchange sums up the show. The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang (from Krishand) is hilarious because it acknowledges the gangster-story clichés — romanticising crime, whitewashing villains — and weaponises them for comedy. The gangster brags about small-time scams, like skimming off milk trucks or controlling sale and supply of flowers, while the ghostwriter keeps reframing them for “larger” appeal.
It becomes a show about storytelling itself. Revisionism, exaggeration, the push-and-pull between truth and myth. Familiar tropes — the father-son conflict, the descent into crime — are constantly undercut by absurd details and self-aware commentary. The tension between fact and fiction fuels both, laughs and the narrative.
And the kicker: Santhy Balachandran, who co-wrote Lokah, plays the gangster’s love interest here. If you enjoyed Lokah, that alone should make you dive into this joyous, self-reflexive series — the best on OTT right now.
Post-truth world
Comedian and actor Ricky Gervais must love American sitcom The Office — it keeps him rich. Its latest spin-off, The Paper, makes one of the smartest pivots in pop culture: moving focus from backdrop (The Office) to subject (paper).
Dunder Mifflin is acquired by a conglomerate that sells both toilet rolls and newspaper The Toledo Truth Teller. For the owners, it’s all the same — just paper.
A still from The Paper
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The opening credits set the tone — newspapers as food wrappers, trash, recycling — making it clear that the pivot is political.
The series plays as satire on journalism’s decline. High school bloggers draw more readers than professionals. The managing editor is a publicity hungry aspiring actor who hijacks the In Memoriam at the local press awards, turning it into a cringeworthy song, ‘Sad Dead Journalists’. It’s absurd, but the laughter catches in your throat because it’s too close to reality.
That’s the brilliance of The Paper. Like The Office, it’s exaggerated workplace comedy. But now it skewers how little society cares about journalism in a post-truth world, where truth itself feels disposable. Just another feed we scroll past.
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Published – September 22, 2025 03:06 pm IST