Mohanlal, Mammootty and Fahadh star in Netflix’s anthology on MT Vasudevan Nair’s stories, here’s all we know

Mollywood has had several anthologies over the years with some such as Kerala Café and Solo being both critically and commercially acclaimed. But the upcoming Netflix anthology series, which is based on renowned writer MT Vasudevan Nair’s short stories, could be the mother of all anthologies with a star cast featuring Mohanlal, Mammootty and Fahadh Faasil along with filmmakers such as Priyadarshan, Jayaraj, Mahesh Narayanan and Santosh Sivan.

While the release date and the title of the anthology is yet to be announced, director Santosh Sivan had earlier told OTTplay that the series will have about 10 segments – all of which will be helmed by directors who have not worked on Nair’s scripts earlier. Each episode, much like Netflix’s Navarasa, will be 30-40 minutes in length.

Here’s all we know about the various episodes in the upcoming anthology:

Shilalikhithangal

Cast: Biju Menon, Shanthi Krishna

Director: Priyadarshan

The segment is based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s acclaimed short story of the same name is set in a hamlet and has Biju Menon teaming up with Priyadarshan. The segment had completed shooting last year in Pattambi.

Swargam Thurakunna Neram

Cast: Indrans, Renji Panicker, Nedumudi Venu and Surabhi Lakshmi

Director: Jayaraj

This featurette was one of the last works of Nedumudi Venu, who played the character of Madhavan mash. Jayaraj had earlier told us that the film is about the ailing Madhavan mash’s children coming to visit him.

Kadugannawa Oru Yathra

Cast: Mammootty

Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery

The segment is based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s memoir about a trip to Sri Lanka where he had attended an international conference as a journalist. Mammootty plays a character inspired by the writer, who tries to trace the roots of a Sinhalese girl he had met when he was young.

Sherlock

Cast: Fahadh Faasil

Director: Mahesh Narayanan

The CU Soon and Malik duo will team up again for this featurette, based on MT’s short story Sherlock that draws the remarkable differences in life in urban and rural milieus.

Santosh Sivan’s untitled segment

Cast: Siddique

Director: Santosh Sivan

The filmmaker, who was the first to complete shooting his segment, told OTTplay, “Out of all the stories, mine is the only one that is a bit abstract and poetic. The others are a bit verbose and are filled with dialogues. My segment is about a guy who returns to his roots. Visually, it has a lot of layers too.”

Olavum Theeravum

Cast: Mohanlal

Director: Priyadarshan

The featurette marks Priyadarshan’s second episode in the anthology. It’s based on MT’s award-winning story of the same name. Mohanlal will play a timber seller in the segment. Incidentally, Madhu had starred in a film directed by PN Menon that was based on the story in 1970. The segment is planned as a tribute to the makers of the film.

Vilpana

Cast: Asif Ali, Madhoo

Director: Ashwathy Vasudevan Nair

The segment marks Yodha actress Madhoo’s comeback to Malayalam after a gap, since Dulquer Salmaan’s Samsaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram in 2014. The shooting of the episode began and concluded in October 2020.

Kadalkaattu

Cast: Indrajith Sukumaran, Ann Augustine and Aparna Balamurali

Director: Rathish Ambat

Kammarasambhavam and Theerpu filmmaker’s segment marks the comeback of actress Ann Augustine in Mollywood. This is the second time Indrajith is acting in a script written by MT Vasudevan Nair, after Hariharan’s Ezhaamathe Varavu.

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