Kerala Cafe to premiere in Abu Dhabi fest

Kerala Cafe, an amalgamation of 10 short films directed by a team of 10 directors�(Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakumar, Shankar Ramakrishnan and Uday Ananthan), will be premiered at the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, starting on Thursday.

Addressing reporters in Thiruvanthapuram on Tuesday, director Renjith, who conceptualized and executed the whole project, said that it would be a new visual experience for filmgoers. In the 135-minute film, 10 stories are packed; the common thread that runs through the stories is ‘yatra’ (journey) and it is set against the backdrop of a railway station cafe, he said.

"This is not a big-budget film and 80% of the stars worked for free," he said. Award-winning director Shyamaprasad, who was present on the occasion, said working for the project was a great experience. 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.