'Kerala Cafe' to have world premiere at Abu Dhabi film fest

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 7 (IANS) "Kerala Cafe", a new experiment by Malayalam filmmakers where 10 directors have come together to make 10 different short films with a common theme, will be premiered at the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi that begins Thursday.

Addressing reporters here late Tuesday, director Renjith who conceptualised and executed the whole project, said that it is going to be a new visual experience for filmgoers.

"This film showcases the expression of 10 different filmmakers, but it would not be an intellectual exercise for the audiences. This is for the average filmbuffs and there is nothing complicated at all," said Renjith.

It this 135-minute long film, 10 stories are packed together and each one is about 10 to 15 minutes long. The common thread that runs through all the stories is 'yatra' (journey) and it is set against the backdrop of a railways station cafe.

"This is not a big budget film and 80 percent of the stars worked for free," said Renjith.

The 10 directors are Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakumar, Shankar Ramakrishnan and Uday Ananthan.

Award winning director Shyamaprasad says working for the project was a great experience.

"Not every film needs to have a length of 150 minutes. Barring a few, this film has virtually most of the actors and actress in the industry," he said.

Except Mohanlal and Dileep, most of the well-known names like Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, Prithviraj, Rahman, Kalabhavan Mani, Jagathy, Jayasurya, Meera Nandan, Swetha Menon, Jyothirmayi and Dhanya Mary Varghese feature in it.

Backwater Media and Entertainment, a newly formed company, has invested in the film and will distribute it as well. Mohanlal P. Menon, director of the company, is excited.

"Renjith approached us with this novel idea and we felt it was a great one. We decided take a plunge into the film world with the film because we were waiting to make a debut with something special. So, we decided to extend financial support for this project.

"The film will be released at the end of this month in 70 centres in the state," said Menon, who is also a management consultant.

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Kerala Cafe