KOCHI: Fort Kochi became favoured locale for many films thanks to the abundance and variety of its scenic locales. The colonial bungalows, abandoned go-downs, vast beaches, chinese fishing nets and narrow alleys of the Mattancherry market have played backdrop to many movies.
The diversity and contrast of the Fort Kochi and Mattancherry landscape from the rest of the locales in Kerala gave it unique appeal.The major shooting locations in the locality include St Thomas Church, the Pepper House, godowns near Mattanchery Wharf, the Dutch cemetery, the Bolghatty Palace and the streets lined with multi-coloured houses.
It was not until the base of Malayalam cinema shifted to Kochi by the late 2000s that filmgoers started seeing Fort Kochi and Mattanchery on the silver screen more often. As the facilities for studios, shooting floors, post production facilities in the city improved, it made financial sense to shoot the movies in Kochi, says a person in the movie business.
Many movies also had Fort Kochi and Mattancherry as the narrative backdrop and thus unavoidable. In Kamal’s Orkkapurathu, Anwar Rasheed’s Chotta Mumbai and Rajeev Ravi’s Annayum Rasoolum the locales and its people are as much part of the narrative as the characters.