The promos seem brimming with verve - a blast of flamboyance and unstrained sweetness. Coming from Anjali Menon with a dream team on board, no wonder Bangalore Days is outstretching all the norms of pre-release buzz. A nostalgic concoction of youngsters coming to terms with love and life, the film is all set to hit the marquee this weekend. “It’s a very simple theme. It’s about a generation who leaves home for the first time, to embrace life outside the familiar. It’s a coming of age film where one goes through a spate of experiences,” says Anjali.
To put it in simpler terms Bangalore Days is woven around three cousins - their quirky camaraderie and sentimental adventures. The film brings back the fragrance of a time everyone cherishes, of edgy enchantment and unbridled exuberance. “There are three main characters, cousins played by Dulquar, Nivin and Nazriya. As children they have spent time together and now as adults they start another journey. Along with their individual adventures this is also a group affair,” she adds.
Apart from the lead trio, Fahad Fazil, Isha Talwar, Parvathy Menon, Nithya Menon, Kalpana, Vijayaraghavan, Maniyanpilla Raju and Praveena are also part of the cast.
Bangalore Days boasts of many ingredients that make it a warm and charming kaleidoscope. The film features all biggies in the Mollywood youth brigade with the most-sought-after names in the lead. “One highlight of the film is certainly these wonderful actors who could easily lose themselves to the characters,” she says. But, though the film pulsates with youthful ebullience, it’s not meant for any particular section of audience. “It’s a kind of film all of us can easily relate to. It’s a phase everybody goes through and you can very well connect with the characters. Either you have been there and done that or you have known someone like them,” says Anjali.
Be it Manjadikkuru, her critically acclaimed debut, or Ustad Hotel for which she turned the scenarist, Anjali’s films are marked by a lingering feel of nostalgia. The one-film-old filmmaker says Bangalore Days might make no exception, “It’s just a part of me. But in Bangalore Days I have tried to experiment with a whole lot of things other than this.”
Think Bangalore and what pops up in the mind of most Malayalis is an air of unrestrained self-abandon. Anjali says the bustling Bangalore cityscape is as much part of the film as its array of stars. “At the same time the film is not all about Bangalore, but a concept that’s more magical than the city itself. In the film Bangalore is not just a city, it’s much more in terms of relationships and self discovery,” she says.
Another highlight of the film will be its visual finesse with Sameer Thahir cranking the camera.
Produced by Anwar Rasheed, Banglore Days also has a brilliant crew and Anjali says: “The biggest task was to bring all elements together and boil them down to the right consistence.”
As her first mainstream venture is all set to hit the screens Anjali says, “I throw myself completely into my films and now I am looking forward to the audience response. I want to know how they recognise themselves in the film,” she winds up.
