Mohanlal begins 2015 with Rasam , a film that celebrates his real-life persona of a foodie and restaurateur who makes no bones about him being a gourmet. Helmed by veteran Rajeev Nath, Rasam has the star playing Mohanlal on screen too. He appears as the good friend of an industrialist Shekar Menon, enacted by Devan, who wants to celebrate his daughter’s wedding in Doha, Qatar without foregoing any of the traditional flavours of a big fat Malayali wedding.
“Although I began shooting the film in January last in Qatar, I was able to complete it only now because it was in the midst of the work on the film that I was chosen as chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. Scripted by Sudip Kumar, the dialogues are written by Nedumudi Venu and myself. We had done the same for my movie Kaveri too. Rasam captures the flavours and essence of Malayali food and is spicy and sweet with a fair share of surprises,” says Rajeev.
Nedumudi Venu enacts the role of a celebrity chef Valliyottu Thirumeni who is much in demand for his delicious sadyas. As Menon will not settle for anything less than the best for his daughter’s wedding, the elderly Thirumeni is flown to Qatar with his family to prepare the food for the wedding. Indrajith is Balu, the Thirumeni’s son, who does not think much of his father’s profession. “However Balu, an engineer, finds himself in a soup when his father falls ill. He is forced to step into his father’s shoes and that is when he discovers his innate talent as a culinary artiste,” says Rajeev.
Mohanlal narrates what happens when Balu finds the ingredients of success in his father’s skills and learns to serve it to a new generation with flair.
Shot in Dubai, Qatar, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Ottappalam, among other places, Rasam is touted as a rom-com that blends in the scenes behind a wedding with a dash of romance and dollops of fun. Varuna Shetty, who has mainly acted in Tamil and Telugu films, essays Janaki, Menon’s daughter. Jagadish, Nandu and Mythili are some of the actors in the cast of Rasam.
Job Kurien composes the songs written by Kavalam Narayana Panicker. The songs have been sung by Job, Kavalam Srikumar and K.S. Chitra.
