I watched Kerala cafe twice.The first time, alone on a rainy night, when I took a detour while driving back home from the hospital; and the second time when the whole M6 unit in the hospital decided they really needed a break from hospital life. I’d been avoiding the movie for such a long time, and the sole reason I chose Sree-Padmanabha over sleep, was because EVERYBODY was talking about the movie. From doctors at the operation table, to patients at the waiting room!
I went in, steaming Nescafe in hand completely expecting a weak Paris,je t'aime impersonation, or an attempt at the same. But boy! was i wrong.
But the film begins shakily, with a completely redundant prologue by Sathyan anthikad, who escapes from the scene after fulfilling his sole purpose- making you uncertain of the films content.
Here Goes :
NOSTALGIA
Director :M. Padmakumar,
Cast : Dileep, Navya Nair, Babu Namboothiri, Sreelatha and Sudheesh
Cinematography :Anil Nair
Kerala café begins with M. Padmakumar’s average venture, which is a satire on the supposed nostalgia that all NRI’s feel during the time they’re away from the homeland. It begins with Johny (Dileep) the central character wallowing in nostalgic memories about his homeland while socializing with his circle of friends, on the eve of his flight to kerala. But the self centred, money minded nature of the protagonist is slowly revealed as the movie unfolds; when we find that the sole intent of him returning is to sign a deal selling his ancestral mansion. The character then shifts to a different individual who gripes at virtually everything that comes his way: potholes on the road, traffic and the general public. He finishes the deal and flies back ‘home’, back to singing nostalgic songs again. It doesn’t take too much effort to understand that the trip was one of the last he’d ever make when he doesn’t answer phone calls of his disadvantaged friend back home.
Nostalgia doesn’t have anything unconventional nor experimental as when compared to the anthology of which it is a part of ; possibly why the film fails to make an impact. Personally it made me doubtful of the rest of the movies in the anthology.
ISLAND EXPRESS
Director: Shankar Ramakrishnan (used to work as an assistant director to Ranjith)
Cast: Prithviraj, Jayasuriya,Rahman, Maniyanpillai Raju and Sukumari.
Cinematography : S Kumar
Debutant director Shankar Ramakrishnan's film looks into the real-life Perumon tragedy of 1988. The movie at first seems as a very bad movie adaptation of a short story. Dialogues of the dashing Prithviraj (Jesus, Frankenstein and Mangalassery Neelakantan- his idol trio, the 'editor-publisher bitch' etc) seem pseudo intellectual too.The movie deals with the survivors of a train accident, all distinctly different from each other (perhaps a little too much), but sharing an impromptu sense of solidarity after being united by the accident. “The film is about life and death- death giving a new meaning to life itself and life going on despite death taking away near and dear ones”. Despite the average screenplay, the film does stir emotions towards the end, especially by the character of the ill fated train driver played brilliantly by Maniampillai raju.LALITHAM HIRANMAYAM
Director: Shaji Kailas
Cast: Suresh Gopi, Jyothirmayee, Dhanya Mary,
Shaji kailas deals with the sensitive topic of infidelity. Ramesh (suresh gopi) is caught between his wife Lalitha (jyotirmoyi) and his mistress Mayi (Dhanya).The film deals with the emotional crisis that Ramesh goes through when he’s caught between the two woman- a surprisingly complacent yet indecisive Lalitha, and the younger discontented Mayi. The emotional conflict in Ramesh’s mind stays on screen, within the numerous cigarette butts he has on the floor, and not even once do we feel for the character. The character seems weak and we even wonder how on earth did he even manage to seduce the two women. Bad dialogues add to the travesty, and finally when the camera zooms in on Ramesh’s framed photograph and a wooden sandal showpiece depicting lord Krishna by its side, I couldn’t help laughing. Despite the good background score overall a poor effort.. maybe Shaji Kailas should stick to what he does best- guns and mohanlal..
MRITYUNJAYAM
Director: Uday Ananthan
Cast :Thilakan, Fahadh Fazil,Rima Kallingal
Cinematography :Hari Nair
This is a movie that has it quite easy. The film is completely different from the rest, not due to what it offers, but because of the genre itself. Uday anathan’s bold Mrithyunjayam’, is about a charming young media journalist (Fahad Fazil- Director Fazil’s son who makes a comeback) who sets out to unearth the mysteries surrounding an old, deserted house that’s ill-omened and from where no one has come back alive. Other characters include Rima kallingal whose character comes out as eccentric either due to bad acting or the futile attempts of the director to set a hazy background to the story-We’ll never know. Her face looks overmade and most of the time you are left staring at her big lips and wondering if they are beautiful or plain old African. Thilakan, though playing the ‘thirumeni’ character for the umpteenth time still impresses. The horror is clichéd and relies on close-ups of gory images along with sound effects, and doesn’t attempt anything different. But Mrityunjayam still holds on, possibly due to the well crafted plot and climax.
HAPPY JOURNEY
Director: Anjali Menon
Cast: Jagathy Sreekumar, Nithya Menon
Cinematography : M.J Radhakrishnan
Happy journey is a crowd favourite partly due to the great on screen chemistry between Jagathy sreekumar and Nithya and partly due to the great direction. In fact I was pretty disappointed when I couldn’t find a wiki page of Anjali Menon, who is supposedly the first female director in Malayalam cinema and winner of last years IFFK award for best Malayalam movie. The film offers nothing new- takes on something we see everyday: A middle aged man who frequently delights himself with ‘innocent’ flirtatious overtures, tries the same with a much younger girl he meets in the bus, whom he perceives as harmless. But the movie is smartly scripted, and the transition of the female lead (nithya) from the visibly uncomfortable girl to the calm, composed terrorist stuns the man and the audience alike. One of the shortest movies of the lot, I would’nt be surprised if most of the audience rates this movie as the best.
AVIRAMAM
Director: B Unnikrishnan
Cast: Siddique, Shwetha Menon
Cinematography: Sham datt
Aviramam talks of life that goes on, in spite of efforts to end it all. A family wakes up to a doting husband/father who uncharacteristically makes bed-coffee for his wife, and bathes his children and gets them all ready for a vacation of three days, which he cant go for. Talks of recession, loans and the protagonists perturbed face prepare us beforehand for the noose which he has planned. But the family comes back in time to save him. This seemingly weak story would not have delivered at all, but for the convincing and and honest performances of Siddique and Shwetha menon.
OFF SEASON
Director: Shayamaprasad
Cast: Suraj Venjarammood, Vindhyan, 2 foreign tourists from kovalam.
Cinematography:Azhagappan
Off Season is one of the biggest disappointments of kerala café. The beginning 5 seconds of it with a stray dog sniffing around a yoga practicing foreigner is the
BRIDGE
Director : Anwar Rasheed
Cast: Salim Kumar,Kalpana, Santhadevi
Cinematography: Suresh Rajan
Music: Rex Vijayan (Guitarist Of Avial)
One word : Fantastic! In fact I would pay to watch this movie alone.
Anwar rasheed strikes a home run with this gem of a movie. The film literally blew me off. It has succeeded in all its elements-excelling in visual imagery, casting and especially storyline- 2 different tales as different from each other as they can get.; but yet so much in sync with each other. The pains of separation are the same, the grounds different. The actors have done a fantastic job, the first scene when Santhadevi stands by the side of the field with the loose skin and fat of her arms shaking in the wind is one of the best scenes in the whole anthology. There’s not an actor I would replace in this movie if I had a chance. The one part that strikes me as odd is the single shot sequence after Salim kumar deserts his mom in the theatre. The camera-shakes in the scene, if intentional, tend to distract the viewer from the sheer brilliance of Salim kumar’s acting. I would have preferred a straight forward sequence to show the turmoil in his mind, especially so with that gem of an acting! The last scene when the 2 deserted souls bond with each other is brilliant. The minority opinion that the story line’s clichéd couldn’t be further from the truth with the immense complexity of narration that the film holds.
MAKAL
Director: Revathy
Cast: Sona Nair, Sreenath
Cinematography:Madhu Ambat
Makal is a movie that takes on poverty, adoption and the flesh trade- three subjects the movie deals with in that order. The adoption part of the movie seems familiar from movies of former times like Aakashadoothu. There are clichéd but acceptable elements like a peacock’s feather that’s the only link with the family, which finally falls off the drugged child. But yet the film had all the female movie watchers in my group suddenly search for their hankies. The adoption part of the movie is least expected, and hence strikes you to the core; especially when the acromegalic agent carries the child away from kerala cafe. The role of the child’s mother is played superbly by Sreelekshmi.(?) I still cant figure out where I’ve seen her before. The music is good too.
PURAM KAZHCHAKAL
Director: Lal Jose
Cast: Mammootty, Sreenivasan
Cinematography: Vijay Ulakanathan
Lal Jose’s Puram kazchakal narrates a bus journey where people of different ages, purposes and mindsets share life for a while. A nameless mysteriously-obnoxious character enters the scene, who all travelers take on with a sudden sense of camaraderie. The narrator (Sreenivasan) though confused, gives in to peer pressure and enjoys it, when the youth make fun of the man. But the shocker of a last scene which is arguably one of the best in this anthology, brings in regret and self remorse into the group. When you journey back in time after the last scene which you definitely will, all subtleties make sense; which is definitely why the movie ranks among the top movies in this anthology. Mammooty visibly different, didn’t have to try too hard to get into the character at all. He plays the role splendidly with ease.
I wouldn’t know Ranjith’s role in the whole project, but full marks to him for concept and bringing together all of the directors, their respective styles, and giving them complete creative freedom to experiment on their own. In fact, some of the directors completely surprise you when they deviate from their signature style. Despite the shimmering star cast the film boasts of, there isn’t a single film that relies entirely on an actor or actors to get its message across.
The popular interpretation that the movie is based on the common theme of “journey” is rather vague. A lot of the movies deviated from it. Attempting to assign a common theme is unnecessary. In fact the movie deals with a variety of themes, some are there to just cover a particular genre like Mrityunjayam. . I felt the movie plainly portrayed a cross section of kerala society. But the brilliant way in which atleast one of the characters passes through the quaint old kerala café and how each story culminates in it is brilliant. The film signs off with the one song of the movie which is an ode to Thunchath Ezhuthachan's famous verse " Kathaya mama, Kathaya mama, Kathakalathisadaram..." You can hear the song here.
That’s about it.
Verdict : What are you waiting for? This is as much of a welcome break from bad Malayalam movies as it can get. Definitely a watch!
