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Trivandrum Lodge
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Wikipedia article
'Trivandrum Lodge' (2012) is a Malayalam black comedy film written by Anoop Menon and directed by V. K. Prakash. The film is produced by P. A. Sebastian under the banner of Time Ads Entertainment and features music composed by M. Jayachandran, whilst cinematography is handled by Pradeep Nair and the film is edited by Mahesh Narayanan. The film stars Jayasurya, Honey Rose and Anoop Menon in the lead roles, and features writer P. Balachandran and playback singers P. Jayachandran and Nikhil in supporting roles.
'Trivandrum Lodge' combines elements from various film genres such as romance, drama, thriller, black comedy and off-color humor. It follows the lives of the residents in a lodge and their relationships. According to the director, "it is a tale of love, lust and longing set in a lodge." It has a very unconventional screenplay which unfolds through these peculiar characters, their experiences and transformations rather than sticking to the usual beginning, middle and end format.
The film released on 20 September. It received notably positive to mixed reviews from critics with some critics praising the film for its bold plot and unconventional way of characterisation while others criticising it for being offensive and for frequently crossing the limit of decency under the guise of bold experiments. The changing sexual mores depicted in the film also received wide criticism from the cultural and literary circles of Kerala. The film was however well received at the box office.
Plot
Trivandrum Lodge, situated in Kochi and its inmates form the backdrop of the film. Abdu (Jayasurya) is a man who does odd jobs for living including being masseur at a spa and being the driver of a wealthy businessman. He is also obsessed about sex, being sex-starved. Shibu Vellayani (Saiju Kurup) is a cinema reporter who works with a not-so-well-known film magazine, and persuades women to sleep with him for roles in films. Kora (P. Balachandran) is a retired clerk from the secretariat who boasts about having had sex with 999 women in his life and who wishes to have a policewoman as his 1000th. Satheeshan (Arun), wants to be an actor. Shibu promises to help him and has even given Satheeshan a new name, Sagar. Arthur Relton (Janardhanan) and Peggy Aunty (Sukumari) are the oldest inmates. Relton teaches piano and lives in the world of music while Peggy Aunty runs a canteen inside the lodge.
The owner of the lodge is Ravisankar (Anoop Menon), a rich widower who has a son Arjun (Master Dhananjay). Ravisankar's mother was a concubine to many rich men and all his wealth basically comes from her earnings. This caused Ravisankar's father Narayanan (P. Jayachandran) to move away from the family years before. He runs a small hotel, away from his son's world.
It is into this world of Ravi, Narayanan and all the inmates of Trivandrum Lodge that Dhwani (Honey Rose) makes her entry. She is divorced, wants to be free, eat good food and as she herself says, "fornicate with abandon". Dhwani comes to stay at Trivandrum Lodge, aiming to write a novel with Kochi as the backdrop. Her intentions not so honourable, the sexually-repressed souls of Trivandrum lodge go into a tizzy. Then on Dhwani and Abdu have a deep affectionate love, after she pays Abdu to act as her lover in a hotel room to stop her husband from asking her to take him back.
The film also discusses in detail the adolescent romance between Arjun and his classmate Amala, the unconditional romance between Ravisankar and his wife Malavika, who has died. Dhwani is fascinated by his ability to stay true to one woman even after she passes away and the broken love story of Relton and Peggy.
Cast
* Jayasurya as Abdu, a poor man without self-confidence and does any job for a living
* Honey Rose as Dhwani Nambiar, a writer
* Anoop Menon as Ravisankar, owner of the Trivandrum Lodge
* Dhananjay as Arjun, Ravisankar's son
* Nayanthara Chakravarthy as Amala, Arjun's classmate and his love interest
* Thesni Khan as Nithya Menon, a prostitute
* P. Balachandran as Korah, an inmate in the lodge
* Saiju Kurup as Shibu Vellayini, a local film magazine editor
* Arun as Satheesan, an inmate in the lodge
* Janardhanan as Arthur Gopal Relton, a piano percussionist
* Sukumari as Peggy, an inmate in the lodge
* Jayachandran as Narayanan Nair, Ravisankar's father
* Bhavana as Malavika, Ravisankar's wife (cameo)
* Devi Ajith as Zarina, a close friend of Dhwani
* Joju George as Althas, Zarina's husband, less educated but a rich wholesale fish trader
* Kochu Preman as Sadanandan
* Krishna Praba as Roslin
* Nandhu as Kannappan, School teacher
* Nikhil as Vivek, Dhwani's husband
* Ponnamma Babu as the principal of Anjun's school
* Babu Namboothiri as Thangal (cameo), a professional pimp; he reprises the same role from 'Thoovanathumbikal'
* V. K. Prakash (cameo) as a drunken guestShiba Kurian (11 November 2012). [https://web.archive.org/web/20121218023603/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-11/news-and-interviews/35033317_1_aashiq-abu-mollywood-duel-role "Mwood directors are bitten by the acting bug"]. 'The Times of India'. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
Production
After the bumper success of the movie 'Beautiful', director V. K. Prakash wanted to meet the audience with another feel good movie. 'Trivandrum Lodge' brings together the key names behind 'Beautiful' once again. While Anoop Menon was in charge of the scripts and was to play a pivotal role, Jayasurya came up in the lead role.
Casting
Jayasurya was chosen to be play the character without further remarks, initially Padmapriya was chosen to play the female lead, but opted out after some changes in the script because she believed there was very little scope for her to perform.Rumours said that the role was later given to Meghana Raj, but the role was actually given to Honey Rose who came through with a different character as Dhwani by the film.
The film marked a comeback of sorts for veteran singer Jayachandran who had previously acted in 80s films such as 'Nakhakshathangal' and 'Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback'. Writer P. Balachandran and singer Nikhil also appear in major supporting roles. Bhavana was cast to play a very small cameo role as the wife of the Anoop Menon's character in the film, and that the actress had agreed to do it readily. Devi Ajith was cast after a big break to play Zarina, a close friend of Dhwani. Thesni Khan plays Kanyaka, a role she herself enacted in V. K. Prakash's 2011 film 'Beautiful'. Babu Namboothiri plays Thangal, a professional pimp, reprising the famous role he played in Padmarajan's cult classic 'Thoovanathumbikal', which was acclaimed by viewers.
Filming
The film began its shoot and held its pooja or launch on 22 April 2012 in Fort Kochi, while other locations are Mattancherry and Thiruvananthapuram. Cinematography was done by Pradeep Narayanan to mark this first in Malayalam cinema, while Aravind operates the helicam. The film was the first ever film to have scenes shot by the helicam, which is a mix of the two: a remote controlled mini-helicopter captures aerial shots with the help of a video camera.Critical reception
The film opened to mixed to positive responses from critics. Sujit Chandra Kumar stated in his review for 'Deccan Chronicle': "While the director-scriptwriter duo succeeds in creating lively and well-developed characters, the plot fails to be gripping as it enters the most dramatic phase." Rating the film , the critic was all praise for the film's cinematography, music and the lead performances. Unni R. Nair of Kerala9.com rated the film and concluded his review calling the film, "Different, bold, well-scripted, well-directed and with good performances." Sify.com gave a verdict of "below average" and went on to tell "A disturbingly offensive film, which frequently crosses every limit of decency under the guise of bold experiments". Paresh C. Palicha of Rediff.com rated the film and said, "'Trivandrum Lodge' is a frank retelling of people's cravings and desires and if not entirely successful, it does have something going for it." Aswin J. Kumar of 'The Times of India' rated the film and concluded his review saying, "'Trivandrum Lodge' commands interest not because it displays bluntness with regard to love and lust, but remains honest in its narrative." Nowrunning.com and Indiaglitz.com also gave the film average reviews.
Box office
The film collected 1,887 from the UK box office.
Awards
;2nd South Indian International Movie Awards
* SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Thesni Khan
; Asiavision Movie Awards 2012[http://gulftoday.ae/portal/f3754c79-d7b7-4b23-84ba-efe67894c301.aspx "South Indian movie stars honoured in run-up to awards ceremony "] . 'The Gulf Today'. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
* Second Best Actor - Jayasurya
* Trendsetter of the Year - Anoop Menon
* Popular Media awards - Trivanrum Lodge
* Master Dhananjay - Best Child Artist Asianet film award 2013
* Master Dhananjay - Best Child Artist Amritha TV award 2013
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack features songs composed by M. Jayachandran. The audio release of the film was held on 5 September 2012. All the lead actors in film including Jayasurya, Honey Rose, Anoop Menon and other actors such as Dulquer Salmaan, Babu Antony, Aju Varghese, Bhagath Manuel, Gauthami Nair, as well as director Joshi attended the function and released the audio. The background score of the film is composed by Bijibal.
See also
* Off-color humor
References
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