Kerala Cafe --- Directors Special

Was a bit confused on whether i should be wacthing Swa Le or go ahead with the plan of watching Ranjiths Kerala Cafe.The overall mood for the day was forcing me to go for a movie with a lighter subject but somehow i ended up watching Kerala Cafe.
2009 has already seen a landmark Movie in Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja well this is another landmark in the sense that it is the first attempt of the kind in malayalam cinema.Ten different stories each crafted by different directors,this makes Kerala Cafe a Directors special movie.Kerala cafe exhibits the expressions of the Man behind the ............. screen .Each of the movie enacted by actors ranging from the veteran Mammootty to shanu(fazils son) is about ten minutes of dialy life situations depicted at the directors freedom.

Will give a breif review on each of the 10 Movies....

1. Padmakumar's Nostalgia starring Dileep,Navya Nair - Somebody who talks about nostalgia,love,care etc but whose all moves are on monetary intrests.Not much of a gripping 1st ten minutes i should say.Still this movie is Ok.

2. Island Express - Here the director reminds us of the victims of the Perumon Tragedy.Prithvi looks different and cool in his role.Some of his dialogues does take root on you.For the way the movie is narrated and the subject this was good in its own way.


3.Shaji Kailas's Lalitham hiranmayam- A husband,a father (Suresh Gopi) who falls in for another lady.Shaji kailas has put in decent efforts to show his different side of direction but ends up with a crowd response that was very similar in his recent movies.It was one movie where i thought i should have preffered Swa Le.

4. Mruthyunjayam starring Shanu (Fazil's son), Rima, Thilakan,anoop menon, Meera Nandan- A horror based plot.Most of the viewers doesnt recognize the hero in this plot, Shanu....well that is because he looks to have grown up as an actor from his first attempt in Kai ethum Dhoorathu.The director was able to create and maintain the horror mood well enough.That was a pretty good recovery from Lalitham Hiranmayam.

5. Anjali Menon's Happy Journey starring Jagathy and Nitya- A competor for the top spot of the ten movies,this for me was the most entertaining of the Ten plots.Jagathi and Nithya really gave some real boost to the audience.Happy Journey is an excellent work!!!!


6. B.Unnikrishnan's Aviramam starring Siddique, Swetha Menon- Based on recession,something to which i could relate myselves to.May be thats why this did move me ....especially the last scene.Good one from Unnikrishnan.

7. ShyamaPrasad's Season starring Suraj- This brings to you kuttappayi ,someone who is trying make a living at the mercy of the foreign tourists at Kovalam.Though some typical Suraj slang comedy follows ,the plot has nothing worthy to boast about.Wont bore you.

8. Anwar rasheed's Bridge starring Salim Kumar, kalpana- This showcases you the other face of a director who has been brand labelled as a mass masala craftsmen. Anwar Rasheed....Brilliant camera frames and locations!!! The movie deals with the situation where mortals tend to dispose relations as forced by their lives.
Wowwww!!!!

9. Revathy's Makal - This deals with sex rackets and children beng drawn in to it.Pretty ok creation from Revathy.The lady as the girl's mother, did a good job.

10. Lal Jose's Puram Kazhchakal starring Mammootty, Sreenivasan- It was this plot which saw the theatre go the wildest as finally they get to see Mammootty in the screen.The plot revolves around the travellers in a bus including Mammootty and Sreenivaasan.Mammootys character remains on screen for about 4-5 mins only but leaves ,slightly stirring you up......

As will be evident from the above short reviews my rating goes like this
1.Bridge
2.Happy Journey
3.Puram Kaazchakal
4.Aviramam
5.Mruthyunjayam
6.Island Express
7.Makal
8.Season
9.Nostalgia
10.Lalitham hiranmayam

It was a true and first of the kind experience in malayalam cinema.Hats off to Renjith in having shown the courage to come up with such a project.He reminds us that a movie is actually a directors craftswork.

Final Verdict:Its an attempt that should be backed up.A movie like Thirakadha went down in th BO here.That attitude does concern in the case of Kerala Cafe too.

Watch it to feeel the differnce.