Kerala Cafe - An Anthology from Malayalam Cinema

                           

Movie: Kerala Cafe
Language: Malayalam
Release: 2009
Director(s): Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakumar, Shankar Ramakrishnan, and Uday Ananthan

It's really unbelievable what Malayalam Cinema can give you. It surprises you and keeps growing on you. One of that kind is Director Ranjith's venture where he brings together 10 famous/famous-to-be directors of Malayalam cinema to direct 10 shorts, woven together. It starts with a prologue from Sathyan Anthikad where he says that these are 'not just 10 just shorts, they are 10 realizations

 

Each of them is unique in their making stlye and almost different genre but all of them get connected under the theme of Journey and a place called Kerala Café (a café at a Kozhikode railway station)

The film starts with introduction of the place Kerala Café to us and then goes on to the shorts.

Nostalgia

Director :M. Padmakumar,

Cast : Dileep, Navya Nair, Babu Namboothiri, Sreelatha and Sudheesh

As the name suggests, it’s about the people who speaks about their villages, its greeneries and its people and eventually goes back to making money by selling their lands and keeps complaining. So, it’s just about people who do nothing but just talk

Island Express

Director: Shankar Ramakrishnan

Cast: Prithviraj, Jayasuriya,Rahman, Maniyanpillai Raju and Sukumari

A guy who writes a book (Leon’s Diary) and travels to Kerala with his girlfriend to publish it

An Amma who goes to see her husband

A guy working in Railways

A guy looking for his lost Love

An Army man who goes to deliver the body of a deceased doctor

All these might seem random. But, all of them have a common thing and how they are connected is a heart-warming tale of sorrows which teaches us about letting go and move on

Lalitham Hiranmayam (Lalitha and Hirmayi)

Director: Shaji Kailas

Cast: Suresh Gopi, Jyothirmayee, Dhanya Mary

 A guy has an extra-marital affair and confesses it his wife. He then gets mentally disturbed on whom to choose and as a result dies in an accident. What happens between the two women after that is the contemporary rest

 

MRITYUNJAYAM (Beyond Death)

Director: Uday Ananthan

Cast :Thilakan, Fahadh Fazil,Rima Kallingal

Totally different genre for a short film. It’s about a house which is surrounded by a mystery and a journalist comes there to solve it. What happens to him forms the plot?

Happy Journey

Director: Anjali Menon

Cast: Jagathy Sreekumar, Nithya Menon

An Ordinary weekend

An Ordinary Kerala state bus

Some Ordinary people

An Ordinary journey

It was supposed to be like that. And it was like that except for one. A married flirt going home for weekend tries his chance on a girl and what he gets in return makes that journey an extra-ordinary for him.

We can guess the climax right from the time the girl starts talking. But, the skill of director made us wait till the end to see that ‘one look’ on that flirt’s face.

Aviramam (Endless)

Director: B Unnikrishnan

Cast: Siddique, Shwetha Menon

A perfect family of a guy gets tested due to IT recession. So, he decides to take the extreme step. But, will he do it?

Off Season

Director: Shayamaprasad

Cast: Suraj Venjarammood, Vindhyan, 2 foreign tourists from kovalam.

A light hearted comedy – when a tourist guide in Kovalam beach meets a Portuguese couple.

What happens when you expect something from someone but it turns out the someone expects that same from you badly? :P

Bridge

Director : Anwar Rasheed

Cast: Salim Kumar,Kalpana, Santhadevi

When two souls are lost by their loved ones knowingly/unknowingly..there comes a bridge in between them?

What is it?

To know that, watch this heart touching tale from Anwar Rasheed

Even without seeing the other 2 shorts, I can tell this will be my best pick among all <3     

Anwar Rasheed occupies you with his frames right from the start and never leaves you even after the short gets over (the little boy running towards camera swaying the Love dollar, the kitten in the scooter and all frames in the interior Kerala with lake/river in the backdrop)

Makal (meaning Daughter in Tamil (Tirunalveli Slang))

Director: Revathy

Cast: Sona Nair, Sreenath

The story of a girl from Tirunelveli (Tamilnadu) who is forced to get adopted by a Malayali couple due to her family's poverty. But, what happens next is a tragedy but a hard reality happening silently in our country. The ironic part of the short is that the film is told by the brother of the girl who works as a tea boy (the girl was forced into adoption saying her family will prosper and her brother will get a good education)

Puram Kazhchakal (Passing Views)

Director: Lal Jose

Cast: Mammootty, Sreenivasan

As the name says, we pass around many people every day. At home. At bus stop. At railway station. At market. At School/College. At working place. Etc

For every single people we create our own impression about him/her and start judging them. We greet them or talk to them with that same impression. It may be a good one or a bad one. But, what we don’t know is ‘The face’ which gave you that impression is not real. There lies a real face behind which we forget to see

Lal Jose short tries to show you that face. It is set on a bus going uphill with a random man (Mamotty) where the fellow passengers starts judging him.

Note: Watch out for the final scene where all of them are connected together. It makes you understand that 'Every single person out there before you in this world has a story or a story themselves'. But, the point is 'Are we ready to seek the story?'