Kerala Cafe
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| Kerala Cafe | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lal Jose Shaji Kailas Revathi Shyamaprasad Anwar Rasheed B. Unnikrishnan Anjali Menon M. Padmakumar Shankar Ramakrishnan Uday Ananthan |
| Produced by | Renjith |
| Starring | Mammootty Suresh Gopi Dileep Jyothirmayi Prithviraj Jagathy Sreekumar Thilakan Rahman Navya Nair Rima Kallingal Jyothirmayi Meera Nandan Nithya Menon Dhanya Mary Varghese |
| Cinematography | Manoj Pillai Sujith Vasudev Vijay Ulaganathan Shamdat Suresh Rajan Azhgappan Anil Nair Madhu Ambat S. Kumar M. J. Radhakrishnan Hari Nair Prakash Kutty |
| Edited by | Ranjan Abraham Samjith Mahd Manoj Vivek Harshan John Kutty V. T. Sreejith Rajalakshmi Mahesh Narayanan B. Lenin Vijay Shankar |
| Music by | 10 Music Directors |
| Distributed by | Backwater Media & Entertainment Private Ltd. |
Release dates | 9 October 2009 (Abu Dhabi) 29 October 2009 (Kerala, India) |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
Kerala Cafe is a Malayalam anthology film produced by Renjith and directed by a team of 10 directors including Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakumar, Shankar Ramakrishnan, and Uday Ananthan. This is for the first time in the history of malayalam cinema one film is conceived by a team of 10 directors. 10 cinematographers, musicians, editors, art directors and almost all the top Malayalam film actors excluding Mohanlal and Jayaram are joining this unique venture. The cast includes Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Dileep, Prithviraj, Rahman, Anoop Menon, Thilakan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Jayasurya, Salim Kumar, Rima Kallingal, Nithya Menon and Dhanya Mary Varghese.[1]
Backwater Media & Entertainment Private Limited is distributing the film. The film was released on 29 October 2009.
Theme
On a common theme of journeys, each filmmaker presents their cinematic impression of contemporary times in Kerala. The independent narratives integrate when, during these journeys, their characters pass through KERALA CAFE - a quaint railway cafeteria; thereby creating a joint mosaic of issues and impressions; in a symbiotic space and time.[2]
Kerala cafe preview show was held on 9 October 2009 in Dubai.
Songs
The only song featured in the movie is "Kathayamama, Kathayamama, Kathakalathisadaram..", an ode to Thunchath Ezhuthachan's famous verse, shown when the final credits roll. Lyrics of this song is by Rafeeq Ahmed and Music by Bijibal.
Other Main features
The project involves ten different cinematographers from the industry. The project features ten different stories from different settings in Kerala providing ample scope for a diverse bouquet of looks in films.
10+1 Short films
There is an eleventh element in the project which will be the integration of the ten stories. The story happens in a Railway cafeteria called “Kerala Café” where there is an interaction among the characters of the different stories. This will be collectively shot by the participating Directors and the cinematography of this portion will be done by Prakash Kutty. Ranjith is the compiler and the producer of the project.
List of short films [3]
| Short Film | Director | Cinematographer | Editor | Actors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerala Cafe | Renjith | Manoj Pillai | Vijay Shankar | |
| Nostalgia | M.Padmakumar | Anil Nair | V.T.Sreejith | Dileep, Navya Nair, Sudheesh |
| Island Express | Shankar Ramakrishnan | S.Kumar | Mahesh Nrayanan | Prithviraj, Rahman, Jayasurya, Kani, Geethu Christie |
| Lalitham Hiranmayam | Shaji Kailas | Sujith Vasudev | Samjith Mhd | Suresh Gopi, Jyothirmayi, Dhanya Mary Varghese |
| Mrityunjayam | Uday Ananthan | Hari Nair | Samjith Mhd | Fahadh Faasil, Rima kallingal, Meera Nandan, Anoop Menon and Thilakan |
| Happy Journey | Anjali Menon | M.J.Radhakrishnan | B.Lenin | Jagathy Sreekumar, Nithya Menon, Mukundan |
| Aviraamam | B. Unnikrishnan | Shamdat | Manoj | Siddique, Shweta Menon |
| Bridge | Anwar Rasheed | Suresh Rajan | Vivek Harshan | Salim Kumar, Kalpana, Kozhikode Shanthadevi |
| Off-season | Shyamaprasad | Azhgappan | John Kutty | Suraj Venjaramood, Vindhyan |
| Makal | Revathy | Madhu Ambat | Rajalakshmi | Sona Nair, Augustin, Srinath, Sreelakshmi, Archana |
| Puram Kazchakal | Lal Jose | Vijay Ulaganathan | Ranjan Abraham | Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Sreelekha |
Release
The movie was premiered in Abudhabi on 9 October 2009[4].The movie was released in theaters on October 29. Critics has given favourable reviews for the movie. Giving it Three stars out of five, Nowrunning.com comments: "Open up this box of assorted candies, and you see them all laid out on a salver, quite uneven in manner and matter, posture and perspective and yet it all builds into something quite incredible that makes this ambitious enterprise a fascinating filmic feast."[1] Paresh Palicha of Rediff.com, known for his stingy ratings, said "Mrityunjayam, Uday Ananthan's horror story which supposedly deals with the recklessness of youth, cannot find any link with the other stories," but praised the attempt, saying "on the whole, Kerala Cafe proves to be a worthwhile experiment deserving a dekko."[2]. However, vernacular media panned the film, branding it an audacious attempt to force individual perspectives on the viewer. Stories that garnered universal praise were Anwar Rasheed's Bridge and Anjali Menon's Happy Journey.
Box Office
Despite positive reviews from the critics, Kerala Cafe turned out to be just an average grosser in the box office. [3]