''Monsoon Mangoes'' is a 2016
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
film written and directed by
Abi Varghese
Abi Varghese is an Indian-American writer-director-producer who most recently directed season 2 of Eros Now's '' Metro Park''.
He is best known for his Netflix series ''Brown Nation.'' He is also the co-director of ''Akkara Kazhchakal'' a Mal ...
. The film stars
Fahadh Faasil
Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Natio ...
in the lead, with
Iswarya Menon
Iswarya Menon is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the Tamil and Telugu films.
Early life and education
Iswarya Menon's family hails from Chendamangalam, Kerala, but she was born and brought up in Erode, Tamil Nadu.She completed ...
,
Vinay Forrt
Vinay Kumar, professionally credited as Vinay Forrt is an Indian film and stage actor. He hails from Fort Kochi, Kerala and is a theatre activist with more than a decade's worth of experience in the theatrical field as well as a postgraduate in ...
, and
Vijay Raaz
Vijay Raaz (born 5 June 1963) is an Indian actor, film director and narrator, who predominantly appears in Hindi films. He debuted with ''Bhopal Express'' (1999) and since worked in more than 90 films. His breakthrough came when he played the ...
in supporting roles. The movie was produced by
Thampy Antony
Antony Thekkek, also known as Thampy Antony, is an Indian-American film actor, writer, activist and producer. As a writer he has published books in Malayalam and English. He is the author of the books ''Koonampara County'', ''Life of Ouso'', ''L ...
. The film was released on 15 January 2016.
The film was originally intended to have the title ''Bourbon Street'', which was later changed to ''Njan D P Pallikkal'' and finally to ''Monsoon Mangoes''.
Plot
In a sleepy suburb of
, D.P 'Daveed' Pallikkal, an ambitious young man in his early 30s, wishes to be a film director. He attempts to make a film named ''Monsoon Mangoes'' after producing some unsuccessful short films. For this venture Daveed ropes in an old Bollywood actor who was a hero in a few films, who now lives to make ends meet. His attempts to create a ''
The Seventh Seal
''The Seventh Seal'' ( sv, Det sjunde inseglet) is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and a game of ch ...
'' sort of art film result in failure. He returns to a regular job. He finally attempts to re-edit the film with clippings from the lead actor's personal items. He tries to re-invent the actor's own life experience and stories for his ''Monsoon Mangoes''. For this he uses a clip which he recorded before the actor's death as the centerpiece and material from his original film. The clip is a monologue of the actor expressing, "Cinema is not above a life and there are three types of people. Firstly, those who consider having a job and family is everything. Secondly, those find what they do is not enough and expands there horizons and makes contributions to the society and thirdly there are people who tries to expand there horizons and fails, but pursue them and fall in the journey before reaching the destination." Daveed orchestrates a public viewing for his film and a lot of people attend and appreciates it. This makes Daveed happy in realizing his dream.
Cast
*
Fahadh Faasil
Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Natio ...
as D.P 'Daveed' Pallikkal
*
Vijay Raaz
Vijay Raaz (born 5 June 1963) is an Indian actor, film director and narrator, who predominantly appears in Hindi films. He debuted with ''Bhopal Express'' (1999) and since worked in more than 90 films. His breakthrough came when he played the ...
as Prem Kumar
*
Vinay Forrt
Vinay Kumar, professionally credited as Vinay Forrt is an Indian film and stage actor. He hails from Fort Kochi, Kerala and is a theatre activist with more than a decade's worth of experience in the theatrical field as well as a postgraduate in ...
as Miguel
*
Tovino Thomas
Tovino Thomas (born 21 January 1989) is an Indian actor and film producer who prominently works in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2012 with the film ''Prabhuvinte Makkal''. His breakthrough roles were in the films ''ABCD'' (2013), '' 7t ...
as Sanjay
*
Nandhu
Nandalal Krishnamoorthy better known by his stage name Nandu is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam films. Although he has been in the industry for more than 30 years, he is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal' s ''Spirit'', dir ...
as D. Paulose
*
Sanju Sivram
Sanju Sivram is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam cinema, who made his debut in 2013 movie Nee Ko Njaa Cha.
He is best known for his roles in ''Nee Ko Njaa Cha'' (2013), 1983 (2014), ''Hello Namasthe'' (2016). He made his ...
as Koshy
*
Iswarya Menon
Iswarya Menon is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the Tamil and Telugu films.
Early life and education
Iswarya Menon's family hails from Chendamangalam, Kerala, but she was born and brought up in Erode, Tamil Nadu.She completed ...
as Rekha
*
Alencier Ley Lopez as Bombay Pathrose
*
Thampy Antony
Antony Thekkek, also known as Thampy Antony, is an Indian-American film actor, writer, activist and producer. As a writer he has published books in Malayalam and English. He is the author of the books ''Koonampara County'', ''Life of Ouso'', ''L ...
as Shashankan Mutholi
* Josukutty as Daveed's uncle
* Sajini Sachariah as Daveed's mother
* Nick Blady as Carlos
* Beatrice Bindu
Music
The songs composed by Jakes Bejoy were released by
Muzik 247
Muzik 247 based out of Chennai, acquires music rights for South Indian Cinema films, mainly Tamil, Malayalam and Tulu. The company was founded in 2012 by Naveen Bhandari, and has achieved a large market share of the Malayalam film music.
About ...
on 6 January 2016. There are four tracks on the soundtrack album, sung by
Shreya Ghoshal
Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer and television personality. One of the highest-paid and most well-established playback singers of Indian cinema, she has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awar ...
,
Vijay Yesudas
Vijay Yesudas (born 23 March 1979) is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of ...
, Rakesh Kishore, Jakes Bejoy, Udith, Muhammed Aslam, Jagdish, Abhishek, Mame Khan, and The Elfa Choir. The lyrics were penned by Jelu Jayaraj, Manoj Kuroor, and Raqeeb Alam.
Reception
A critic from
''Deccan Chronicle'' wrote that "Monsoon Mangoes is an enjoyable two-and-a-half-hours, if you won’t analyse it hard and try to figure out a deeper meaning. It’s just a nice little movie, like the nice little town it’s set in.".Paresh C Palicha critic of ''
Rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
'' gave 1.5 stars out of 5 and stated that "Well, we just hope that this film does not have the same fate."
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 5320522
2016 films
Indian comedy films
Films about Indian Americans
2010s Malayalam-language films
Films scored by Jakes Bejoy