Devayani turns a cabbie not by choice. And, the heroine of She Taxi rides a rickety Ambassador, not one from the sleek-and-hi-tech fleet through the winding roads of Wayanad. “She is not any staff of the female cab service, but a girl who hesitantly takes over her father’s car when he dies and they are left with no other livelihood,” says Saji Surendran about his film starring Kavya Madhavan and Anoop Menon in the lead. Devayani’s ride has a history. The President of India had travelled in the car during a Kerala visit and she loses no chance to boast about it. “She has a photo of her father and the President which she uses as a trump card at many occasions including police checking,” says the director.
She Taxi, which basically fits into the format of a road movie, follows Devayani and her three passengers as they set out for Coorg. “Three girls, who are doing a documentary on the Tibetan settlement near Coorg, hire the taxi and the film chronicles the funny incidents that make their trip,” he says.
Anoop Menon plays Joe Joseph, a broke businessman who is fleeing with his cronies. “They had to run because Joe owes large sums of money and the creditors are on the lookout for him. The group is followed by some others too,” he adds. All the three groups bump into each other on the way and what follows forms the crux of the storyline. Along with the lead actors Suraj Venjaramood, Tini Tom, Noby, Sheelu Abraham, Ansiba Hassan, Ambika and Krishnaprabha are also part of the cast. “Another interesting role is played by Ganesh Kumar as Singham Shivan, a nitwit police officer who worships Tamil actor Surya,” he adds. The seventh outing of Saji Surendran-Krishna Poojapura team, The film promises oodles of fun with its bustling plot and interesting cast. “Like all our previous films this too is conceived as a complete entertainer,” he says about the film which has been shot in the scenic locales of Coorg, Mysore and Shimla. He adds that music is another highlight of the film which features three songs composed by Bijibal.
Saji Surendran says She Taxi must be the first Malayalam film that zooms into the life of a female taxi driver. “Kavya, who is back to the screen after a short hiatus, accepted this role because of the freshness of the subject,” he says. The actress, who last touched the steering long back, had to brush up her driving skills for the film. “In hill stations the roads are marked by repeated turns and bends which left us a little apprehensive. The film also had some slightly-risky chase scenes, but, surprisingly she pulled off all the difficult sequences very well,” he says. She Taxi produced by Abraham Mathew and T M Rafeek will hit the screens on May 1.