Kerala Cafe - Movie Review

Probably inspired from the 'Dus Kahaniyan' in Hindi but better executed, Kerala cafe is a set of 10 short films set in different backgrounds.

The movies:

Nostalgia :
A movie about an NRI who goes into nostalgic mood when he hears an old song sitting in his apartment but starts complaining about everything from the moment he lands in his hometown. This story represents every upper middle class Indian who is settled outside the country, who is in a hurry to make money, who sends his/her children to the boarding in an International school, who wants to get his parents moved to a old age home so that he can turn his old house in the village to a resort. Meaningful. But too many dialogues.

Island Express :
A tribute to the ones who lost their life in a train accident in Kollam. The dear ones of the people who died come together on that same day at the river side to pay tribute. Makes one realize about how fast time heals but still we hold the memories of the loved ones whom we lost in the journey of our life.

Lalitham Hiranmayam :
From the director of action movies, one is surprised to see a different take from him. The story speaks about betrayal.Emotions of the actors was the only plus point. The story seemed inspired from the malayalam serials of today.

Mritunjayam :
A short horror flick with interesting plot and fine acting. The audience in left to think about 'what actually could have happened in the end?'. Movie is about a daring attempt by a journalist to stay overnight in a spooky home to make a documentary on it.The movie itself was a daring attempt!!

Aviramam :
This one is about how the recession affected an MD of a IT firm. It tells us success is not permanent, you can lose everything with a single full stop, but a winner is one who takes failure as a stepping stone. Though quite predictable, it shows
you to be humble when you win and accept when you lose.

Makal :
With most of its dialogues in tamil this movie is an eye opener to the people who believe India is shining. It shows the intensity of relationship between a mother and a child, a brother and a sister. Tells us that poverty is the root cause for all the problems in the country. Could have been better.

Happy Journey :
This journey was interesting and engaging. It shows about the problem faced by a female traveller during a evening bus journey and how she overcomes it.
A middle-aged man sitting next to her intrudes into her privacy with his camera mobile and tries to flirt with the young lady with nonsense talk. But there is a turn of events happening here leading to a intelligent climax which stuns both the viewer and the man sitting next to her.


OffSeason:
can be well described as 'Millionaire Slumdog'. We consider every foreign tourist we see to be millionaires. But in reality some turn out out to be the poorest in their countries. Shot in the beautiful location of Kovalam beach, this one was a feel good movie with the climax having a diffrent style of rendering the evergreen song 'Manasa maine varoo' of 'Chemmeen'.

Bridge:
My favorite of the lot. This has all that we expect from a short film. The cinematography, the dialogues, the acting, the direction and the climax. Two stories combine to give a common climax. Watch it even if you have to buy the original dvd.
You'll never regret it. For aspiring short film-makers this one is the best reference i say.

Puramkazchakal:
This one also qualifies as a clear winner with beautiful visuals and a script with a surprise element. Though the viewer finds a little difficulty in connecting a flashback being shown in the beginning and the climax which has almost no relation to it, the surprise element makes you feel you have to rewind and watch it again
to feel what the character in the movie went through. I would say it leaves a message like,"Never judge a person on meeting him for 1st time, You have no idea what the other person is going though."

Overall, it was a refreshing change in malayalam cinema due to the effort of 10 creative directors and the man who brought them together. Thanks for the movie Ranjith & friends.