IT’S the coming together of representatives from both commercial and offbeat cinema. Kerala Cafe features celebrated directors and outstanding actors from the Malayalam film industry bringing together styles, genres and talent from Kerala. The ten segments of the film are bound together by the single concept of a journey.
Behind the scenes is a committed team of technical talent from the industry that includes ten cinematographers, musicians, editors and art directors.
Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Suresh Gopi, Dileep, Navya Nair, Jyothimayee, Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Swetha Menon, Saleem Kumar, Kozhikode Santhadevi, Kalpana, Suraj Venjaramood, Jagathy Sreekumar, Nithya Menon, Thilakan and Reema Kallingal are some among the exceptional array of actors who are part of the film.
On the common theme of journey each filmmaker presents his or her cinematic impression of contemporary times in Kerala. The independent narratives integrate when during their journeys the characters pass through Kerala Cafe - a quaint railway cafeteria; thereby creating a joint mosaic of issues and impressions in a symbiotic space and time. Kerala Cafe has a signature song which brings together the behind-the-scenes making of the different films using the footage of the crew. The song is an ode to Thunchath Ezhuthachan’s famous verse “Kathaya mama, Kathaya mama, Kathakalathisadaram… The eleventh element of the film will be a common wrap to the ten segments which will be collectively shot by the ten directors and designed by Ranjith.
The team of directors includes popular names in the industry along with some new talent. The idea was to include filmmakers from all genres of cinema, says Ranjith, the chief architect of the film. “That’s how Anjali Menon whose film won two awards at the International Film Festival of Kerala and Revathy who is known to Malayalam audience only as an actress came into the picture,” he adds.
The ten directors include Shaji Kailas, Lal Jose, B Unnikrishnan, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, M Padmakumar, Revathy, Anjali Menon, Uday Ananthan and Shankar Ramakrishnan.
Backwater Media & Entertainment Private Limited, the new media company based at Kochi has released Kerala Cafe, their first home production.