''Salt Mango Tree'' is a 2015 Indian

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 ...

-language

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by Rajesh Mohanan, starring

Biju Menon Biju Menon (born 9 September 1970) is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, and also has a few Tamil cinema, Tamil and Telugu cinema, Telugu film credits. He made his debut in the 1994 Malayalam film ''Puthran''. In a car ...

Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli is a National award winning Indian actress who predominantly works in Tamil and Malayalam films. A post graduate in human resource management from Madras School of Social Work, she joined the English theatre company ...

and

Suhasini Maniratnam Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

. The film is a remake of the 2014

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film ''

Ramdhanu ''Ramdhanu'' ( en, The Rainbow) is a 2014 Bengali family drama film, adapted from Suchitra Bhattacharya's short story, Ramdhanu Rawng and directed by Nandita Roy & Shiboprosad Mukherjee, the directors of Icche, Muktodhara, Accident and Alik Suk ...

'' and the title is taken from the

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...

starrer ''

Doore Doore Oru Koodu Koottam ''Doore Doore Oru Koodu Koottam'' () is a 1986 Indian Malayalam-language satirical comedy drama film directed by Sibi Malayil, written by Sreenivasan and produced by M. Mani. It stars Mohanlal, Menaka, Jagathy Sreekumar, Nedumudi Venu, Mamukkoya ...

'' (1986). The film released on 6 November 2015.

Plot

It is a hearty family entertainment story of a couple running the

rat race A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain. It may also refer to a competitive struggle to get ahead financially or routinely. The term is ...

for better schools for their one and only child. The backbone of the story relies on resilience and values that a family can and provides. It critically asks bigger questions like whether

right to education The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, compulsory primary education for ...

is anymore accessible and affordable as one wishes. Aravindan and Priya are the couple fighting with the education system to find a place for their son Ashwin. Deepika Mme, comes as a guiding hand for the family. Ultimately the family ends with a realization that happiness and love inside the family is more important than anything and it is not something to be bartered.

Cast

as Aravind *

as Priya Aravind *Aswin Varkachaan as Manu *

Hareesh Perumanna Hareesh Perumanna , known by his stage name Hareesh Kanaran, is an Indian comedian and film actor who appears in Malayalam films. He is best known for his stock character Jaliyan Kanaran which first appeared in ''Comedy Festival'', a comedy rea ...

as Shafeeque *

as Deepika *

Saiju Kurup Saiju Kurup (born 12 March 1979) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. He is credited as Anirudh in Tamil movies. He debuted in ''Mayookham'' (2005) by Hariharan. As of June 2021, he h ...

as Praveen *

Paris Laxmi Myriam Sophia Lakshmi Quinio (born 16 July 1991), known professionally as Paris Laxmi is a dancer and actress born in France and settled in Kerala, India. With her husband Kathakali dancer Pallippuram Sunil, she runs the Kalashakti School of Arts ...

as Angela Praveen *

Indrans Indrans is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films.His mentor was Shiyas M S, a law college student. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the ...

as Pavithran *Babu Swamy as Menon *Jayaprakash Kuloor as Appooppan *

Sarayu The Sarayu is a river that originates at a ridge south of Nanda Kot mountain in Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand, India. It flows through Kapkot, Bageshwar, and Seraghat towns before discharging into the Sharda River at Pancheshwar at the Ind ...

as Meenakshi Mohan Kumar *Manju Satheesh as Treesa Chacko *

Sudheer Karamana Sudheer Karamana (born 24 May 1971) is an Indian actor who appears mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the son of veteran actor Karamana Janardanan Nair. Personal life He is the eldest son to actor Karamana Janardanan Nair and Jaya, at Karamana, ...

as Mohan Kumar *Elizabath as Ammoomma *

Sunil Sukhada Sunil Sukhada is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He debuted in a small role in the film '' Best Actor''. His first full length role was as the supermarket manager in '' Chappa Kurishu'' (2011). He won a special mention in the Kerala state ...

as Kumar *Raghavan as Swami *

Vijay Menon Vijay Menon is an Indian actor, editor, director and dubbing artist in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in more than 100 films in South Indian languages. He mainly handles in character roles and supporting roles. He has won Kerala State Film Awa ...

as Vice Principal *

Pradeep Kottayam Pradeep K. R. (1961 – 17 February 2022), professionally credited as Pradeep Kottayam, was an Indian actor who primarily worked in Malayalam films and some Tamil films. He is best known for his comedic roles. His role in the 2010 Tamil film '' ...

as Sameer *Kottayam Purushan as Biju *Saiju Panikkar as Chacko *Lakshmi Menon as Teena *Bindhu Ramakrishnan *Giri Shankar as Alwin *Binoy as Satheesan *Sreedharan Bhattdhari as Peter *

Baiju Ezhupunna Baiju is an Indian film Producer/Actor, who has worked predominantly in Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by t ...

as Ajith *Manjith *Praveen Shankaranaryanan as Medical rep *Ramji *Umeshan * Manjushaa-Manjusha *Noora-Sreevidhya *Jeni-Swapana *Milu-Meghana *Teacher-Parvathy Menon *Principal-Jennifer *Principal-

Ambika Mohan Ambika Mohan is an Indian actress known for her work in Malayalam cinema and television series mostly in supporting roles. She made her debut in the film, ''Meghamalhar ''Meghamalhar'' is a 2001 Indian Malayalam-language romance film writ ...

*Doly-Riya *Lisy-Raji *Pushpa ervantVarsha Abhay *Darshan D Nair as Abhi- Meenakshi's and Mohan kumar's son

Soundtrack

#"Kaathilaaro" :

Sithara Krishnakumar Sithara Krishnakumar (born 1 July 1986) is an Indian playback singer, composerlyricist classical dancer and an occasional actor. She predominantly works in Malayalam cinema in addition to Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Sithara is a well k ...

, Lyrics :

Rafeeq Ahamed Rafeeq Ahmed (born 17 December 1961) is a Malayalam poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a five-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs in his cr ...

, Music :Hesham Abdul Wahab #"Kaattummel Anchaaru" : Hesham Abdul Wahab, Lyrics :Aslam, Music : Hesham Abdul Wahab #"Kanavil Kanavil" : Hesham Abdul Wahab, Lyrics:

Madhu Vasudevan Madhu Vasudevan is an Indian author, poet, lyricist and music critic who writes predominantly in Malayalam, English and Hindi. He was honored in the 45th Kerala State Film Awards, 64th Filmfare Awards South and 61st Filmfare Awards South for ...

, Music Hesham Abdul Wahab

Reception

Critical reception was mostly positive. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the movie 2.5 stars, claiming its script and writing lacks a usual happy ending or something that can deftly hold it all together. However, the review stay back with film's good humour quotient.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5180478, Salt Mango Tree 2015 films Indian comedy films Films scored by Hesham Abdul Wahab Films scored by Bijibal Malayalam remakes of Bengali films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films directed by Rajesh Nair