From Hollywood to Kollywood cinemas, we have seen films with conflicting screenplays before and after. I call this Linear Narrative. From Tamil cinema directors like Parthiban, Ram, Mani Ratnam, Bala, Selvaragavan to Kannada director Upendra, I have made films in linear storytelling style. Hollywood director Christopher Nolan, who is famous for experimenting, has scripted in this style in his 2000 year old film Memento.
In Tamil, the screenplays of many films such as Aaytha Chyho, Katthu Tamil, Rocky etc. will be arranged in this way. Director Upendra will be using such a strategy in ‘Om’, which is considered to be a breakthrough film in Kannada cinema, starring Sivarajkumar. The story takes place in Bangalore in the 90s, when the shadowy fathers dominated, and the hero’s story is told in contradictions.
If you watch such films at least twice, you will understand the story. Such a challenging style of story-telling will keep the fans extremely interested. The plot is like a math puzzle with many twists and flashbacks from time to time.
What many people don’t know is that this non-linear style of storytelling actually started with short stories and novels. Even in our Indian epic Mahabharata, there are some flashbacks in the middle of the story.
A number of short stories and novels, including the children’s short story collection Arabian Nights, City of Brass, and The Three Apples, feature back-and-forth narrative style. This style was experimented with by Hollywood directors around the time films started talking.
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While the climax twist stories were well-received on the one hand, the linear stories swept many of the awards. Even today many new directors in Tamil cinema follow the linear method of scripting and this style is considered to be the recognition of this style.
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