The main plot of the movie revolves around a restaurant named Kerala Cafe in a railway station where different people from different phases of life meet and the story progresses through the various situations in their lives.
The ten short films and the directors are as follows
In the following order
Short Film Director Cinematographer Editor Actors
Kerala Cafe Renjith Manoj Pillai Vijay Shankar
Lalitham hiranmayam Shaji Kailas Sujith Vasudev Samjith Mhd Suresh Gopi, Jyothirmayi, Dhanya Mary George
Puram Kazchakal Lal Jose Vijay Ulaganathan Ranjan Abraham Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Sreelekha
Aviraamam B. Unnikrishnan Shamdat Manoj Siddique, Shweta Menon
The Bridge Anwer Rasheed Suresh Rajan Vivek Harshan Salim Kumar, Kalpana, Kozhikode Shanthadevi
Off-season Shyamaprasad Azhgappan John Kutty Suraj Venjaramood, Vindhyan
Nostalgia M.Padmakumar Anil Nair V.T.Sreejith Dileep, Navya Nair, Sudheesh
Makal Revathy Madhu Ambat Rajalakshmi Sona Nair, Augustin, Srinath, Sreelakshmi, Archana
Island Express Shankar Ramakrishnan S.Kumar Mahesh Nrayanan Prithviraj, Rahman, Jayasurya, Geethu Christie
Happy Journey Anjali Menon M.J.Radhakrishnan B.Lenin Jagathy Sreekumar, Nithya Menon, Mukundan
Mrityunjayam Uday Ananthan Hari Nair Fahadh Faasil, Rima Kallungal, Meera Nandan, Anoop Menon and Thilakan
All the films are a treat to watch but the effort to incorporate with each other into a common platform could have been better.
The movie Kerala Cafe starts with the film Nostalgia by M. Padmakumar, starring Dileep, Sudheesh, Navya Nair. Dileep is an NRI from Dubai, who always likes to talk of his village in Kerala and relished the nostalgic feeling around it. However when he returns to his native land he has only compalints about the land, the roads, and the people. The nostalgic man comes to his native place only to sell off his 'tharavadu', dispose his parents, puts his children to boarding school and returns back.
The second film Island express by Shankar Ramakrishnan, is presented in a not so familiar mood for the normal viewers, but gets huge applause towards the end for the theme. Prithviraj emphasises himself as a style icon in this too. A different treatment altogether with good cinematography, editing.
The third film is Lalitham Hiranmayam directed by Shaji Kailas which deals with the husband portrayed by Suresh Gopi being caught between his loving wife Lalitha (Jyothirmayi) and his love Hiranmaya (Dhanya Mary). The movie deals with extra marital love which makes the spectator bored at some times but the climax in which the character portrayed by Suresh Gopi dies makes the viewer happy.
The next one 'Happy Journey' by Anjali Menon is the pick of the ten films when dealing with entertainment value. The movie is an instant hit among women viewers. Jagathy Sreekumar has exceled in his role of a womanizer. One of the best attempts in the bunch of ten movies. Mrityunjayam directed by Uday Ananthan is a horror flick which even makes the viewer engulfed in mystery. The movie is notable for its good makeup, romantic scenes by Fahad Fasil (son of Fasil who had earlier acted in the movie Kaiethum Dooratthu) and Reema Kallingal. The film has good star cast with Anoop Menon, Meera Nandan, Thilakan etc. However the film lacks the sound effects of a horror movie.
Aviraamam, directed by B. Unnikrishnan, tells the story of the family of a businessman (Siddique) affected by recession, his wife (Swetha menon) and children has nothing in it, no good theme, script, casting. Just a failed venture.
The Bridge is the film which got standing innovation from the crowd when I saw the movie in Savitha theatres, Ernakulam. Eventhough the story is simple, it touches the heart of viewers of all class. The film sets high standards in its cinematography (by Suresh Rajan). Kudos to Anwar Rasheed, after much hated attempts like Rajamanikyam and Chotta Mumbai.Off-season had huge expectations, because it was from one of my favourite directors Shyamaprasad. The movie is a full length humour subject with 'recession' as the theme and Suraj Venjaramoodu in the lead. Eventhough the story was good, it lacked punch in dialogues with the highlight of Suraj's 'Trivandrum accent'. The film could have made better in some other way.
Makal by Revathi had the same old theme of child prostitution. Nothing more to say about it. Boring narration and missing sequences in between. (One thing to say about this movie: All movies have their names displayed in the screen after their start. The movie Makal started with a 'Nagercoil' badge before its name, which made several viewers think that it was the name, however it meant to denote the location of the story; this should have been avoided if the director had showed some sign boards or so.)
Puram Kazhcakal - Mammootty, Srinivasan, Lal Jos.. It has it all.. but the film has nothing to make us remember except the beauty of Malakkapara and Vettilapara ranges.Altogether the 'movie' Kerala Cafe is a must watch for its unique and novel treatment and for some brilliant short films.
My personal favourites are 'Happy Journey', 'The Bridge' and 'Mrityunjayam'
If I am asked to give awards for these 10 movies it will be as follows
Best film: The Bridge
Second film: Happy Journey
Best Director: Anwer Rasheed (The Bridge)
Best Story: Nostalgia
Best Screenplay: Mrityunjayam
Best Dialogues: Happy Journey
Best Actor: Jagathy Sreekumar (Happy Journey)
Best Actress: Jyothirmayi (Lalitham Hiranmayam)
Best Cinematographer: Suresh Rajan (The bridge)
Viewers favourite moments of the movie (based on audience response)
1. Could you marry me - By Fahd to Reema (Mrityunjayam)
2. Manasa Maine Remix - Off Season
3. Jagathy Sreekumar making phone call to wife - Happy Journey
4. Death of Suresh Gopi - Lalitham Hiranmayam
5. Mammootty blowing the horn - Puram Kazhchakal
6. The cause for the get together - Island Express
7. Photo and credits of Revathi
2 comments:
Not sure how you missed on the climax of puram kaazhchakal when you said that "the movie has nothing to make us remember except the beauty of Malakkappara". :(
Well for me the climax was predictable
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