Trivandrum Lodge (2012) is a Malayalam drama film written by Anoop Menon and directed by V. K. Prakash. It stars Jayasurya,Honey Rose and Anoop Menon in the lead roles. 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 is edited by Mahesh Narayanan.
The film released on 20 September. It received notably mixed reviews from critics with some critics praising the film for its bold plot, 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.
Story
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. 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". Herein she gets in touch with Zarina { Devi Ajith } her best friend who guides her to the Lodge. { Devi Ajith } is portrayed as the wife of a less educated Sea food magnate, a life she chose. 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, the story develops based on all this. The film also discusses in detail the adolescent romance between Arjun and his classmate Amala, the unconditional romance between Ravisankar and his wife Malavika, and the broken love story of Relton and Peggy.
Hit Songs
"Kanninullil Nee Kanmani"
BoxOffice Result
The film opened to mixed to positive responses from the critics.
- Deccan Chronicle Rated 3\5 and said "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."
- 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 "average" and went on to tell "A disturbingly offensive film, which frequently crosses every limit of decency under the guise of bold experiments"
- Theaterbalcony gave 85% and said that "Movie is boosted with a good performance, screenplay an execution though adult dialogues could have been avoided".
Verdict : GOOD
