The country’s entertainment capital has already tried this novelty — Mumbai Cutting has one more story to tell than what a set of Malayalam directors has done in a similar joint venture down south. Only that, the Bombay work is yet to release, while Mollywood has come out with the work.
Kerala Café, which hit the slender state’s theatres late last month, is a first for Malayalam cinema. Ten directors have come together, pooling their script and cinematic sensibilities to conjure up a movie, spanning reels of 10 to 20 minutes each. Some are busy filmmakers who are already brand names — such as Shaji Kailas, Shyama Prasad, Lal Jose and Anwar Rashid. Then, you also have the young maverick in Shankar Ramakrishnan and two lady directors: Revathy and Anjali Menon. Plus, M Padmakumar, Uday Ananthan and B Unnikrishnan. And, for young director Ranjith, the man behind this unique venture, it’s just his way of “promoting good cinema”.
“I took a leaf from French cinema and Mumbai Cutting (a yet-to-be-released Hindi film with 11 stories). But Kerala Café has a common link: journey,” he says. “The railway cafeteria was my inspiration. So many people from varied backgrounds camp there, each having different goals and aspirations. That was the basic blueprint.” He then went for a smart mix: strung up varied genres, roped in female directors and two faces too — one of them a debutante.
Wasn’t there a conflict of interests? “Well, initially the directors were apprehensive about casting superstars. But they were able to work without worrying about the commercial success.” With a shoestring budget, Ranjith gave them a free hand with casting. And writing scripts — a first-time experience for some. Is this a venture to rescue Mollywood from a quandary it’s facing of late? Ranjith is not amused “Why gloat about the golden era? The problem is we don’t experiment with new subjects, instead we try to duplicate Tamil films. Result: soaring production costs.”
Ranjith’s association with Mammootty and Mohanlal is hoary. He’s often been accused of adding heroism and super-humanism to their characters on screen. Be it Mammootty in Valyettan or Mohanlal in Narasimham, Ranjith’s male protagonists have a touch of villainy — they play mind games, say tongue twisters and often turn avenging angels. So what should superstars do from now? “Take the initiative and show some discretion regarding their choice of movies.”
As a believer in “good, clean cinema”, Ranjith is clear about what the film industry wants. “Honest, clean screenplays. It’s better not to go blindly according to the audience tastes. We should show them what good cinema is.” For now, he is buoyant over the response Kerala Café has been receiving.
—neelkmenon@gmail.com
