Film: KERALA CAFE
Rating: 3.5/5
Banners: Capitol Theatre, Studio Nine Pvt Ltd
Cast: Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Sreenivasan, Dileep, Prithviraj, Jayasuriya, Raguman, Manian Pilla Raju,Sreejith Ravi, Sukumari, Kani, Shelly, Geethu Christie, Jyothirmayee
Producer: Renjith
Release Date: October 30, 2009
Story:
An excellent assortment of ten different short stories by different directors, the common point for all the stories happens to be travel. The series begins with 'Bridge' about a street boy and how he is compelled to leave his ill mother on the streets. There is also a parallel track on a boy who finds a pet kitten from the street. Then, there is 'Happy Journey' which is about a middle aged insurance surveyor who tries to make an advance towards a pretty girl during a bus journey. How she outsmarts him forms the essence. Then there is Puzham Kazhchakal with a mix of surprise and slow performances. 'Island Express' revolves around the Perumon tragedy that took place in the year 1988 leaving 100 people dead. 'Aviraamam' deals with the recession and how that affects the life of a software professional. A tale of infidelity runs briskly in the film 'Lalitham Hairanmayim' and a comedy treat is offered in the form of 'Off Season'. There is also 'Nostalgia' about an NRI rich man who misses his homeland followed by 'Nattuvazhikal' and 'Makal' which run on similar story lines. Lastly, there is the horror treat 'Mrityunjayam' which revolves around a tv crew trying to investigate the happenings at a haunted house.
Presentation:
The directors have come up with an excellent range of genres ranging from comedy to sentiment to melodrama to social message. But the maximum response was given to those that revolved around social issues and created a strong impact. The presentation of the concepts was good but four stories were not upto the mark in terms of narrative. Dialogues were well written, cinematography and music did justice, editing was also neat, costumes and other departments were upto the mark. The performances from various actors including the likes of Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Dileep etc to the youngsters like Fahad Fazil, Dhanya Mary, Rima etc was good. Though the concept was travel, the protagonists of each tale don't actually cross each other but there is a connectivity maintained.
Conclusion:
The producer must be appreciated for coming up with this idea and it has once again proved that the Mollywood movie makers are efficient in narratives. The assortment of ten different series into one movie was a good attempt and this is perhaps one of those rare collections which would see works from celebrated directors packed into one film. There is a huge starcast of rich and experienced actors and given the various genres, there is not much idle time. This is a new experience for the audience in the theatres who are used to watching one subject for a dragging two plus hours.
Bharatstudent Verdict: Don't miss it!! |
