The Mango People

The Mango People is a 2015 Malayalam satirical comedy-drama short film written and directed by Saketh Sreemohan starring Savithri Sreedharan, Vishal Shiv Prabhu, and Nithya Sri in the lead. The movie is about "the ordinary lives of three extraordinary characters" and the relationship between them. Mango People is the extraordinary, new-generation way of calling the ordinary people (or Aam Aadmi in Hindi. Aam also means Mango). This is the idea behind the title, The Mango People, which is an ordinary tale of some extraordinary people.

Cast

• Savithri Sreedharan as Sarojini Nair
• Vishal Shiv Prabhu as Rajan
• Nithya Sri as Latha
• Amar Ramesh as Sarojini Nair’s son
• Rajasekharan as The Manager

Production

The story was conceived two years before the actual shooting for the movie began. Screenwriting started in October 2013 was completed in January 2014. The first draft of the script was actually meant for a two-hour-long feature film which was then cut-short to fit the 30 minute time frame. The lead actors were confirmed one month before the shooting. Savithri Sreedharan (acting as the title role, Sarojini Nair) is a drama-artist from Kozhikode, Kerala who has won many awards (including the State Award) for her performances. Vishal Shiv Prabhu is the director of short films such as Sharikal Mathram, Daivam, Oru Valiya Sathyam, and Puthiya Thudakkam

Principal photography began on 28 February 2014 in and around Kozhikode city and went on for 10 days. The number of people in the crew was kept to a minimum and the shoot was planned extensively to prevent delays. A promo song, made entirely of Jagathy Sreekumar’s dialogues was composed by Vishal Shiv Prabhu while shooting. Nithya Sri completed all her scenes in the first schedule which was wrapped up in four days. But one particular scene had to be re-shot and the climax was changed during the second schedule shoot which delayed the movie a little bit. Post-production started mid-March and was completed by April first week. The movie faced some serious technical troubles in the following months and had to undergo a second round of editing and colour correction which delayed the release. The official YouTube is scheduled for 2 May 2015 . Posters and a ^[2] Facebook page was launched on 10 February 2015. A teaser trailer was launched online on 12 April 2015.

Reception

The film was released on 2 May 2015 directly on YouTube and met with widespread critical acclaim. With over 40,000 views in two weeks it was featured in Mathrubhumi paper's "YouTubed" column as the "Most Watched Short Film Of The Week". The performances of the three lead actors and the screenplay of the movie were highly appreciated.

References