Manjadikuru

Manjadikuru
Directed by	Anjali Menon
Written by	Anjali Menon Paliyath Aparna Menon
Starring	Prithviraj Rahman Thilakan Kaviyoor Ponnamma Murali Sindhu Menon
Music by	Ramesh Narayanan Kavalam Narayana Panikkar (lyrics)
Cinematography	Pietro Zuercher
Editing by	B. Lenin
Studio	Little Films
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Manjadikuru (Malayalam: മഞ്ചാടിക്കുരു, English: Lucky Red Seeds) is a Malayalam film written and directed by Anjali Menon. The film was premiered at the 2008 International Film Festival of Kerala, and won the FIPRESCI Award for best Malayalam film and Hassankutty award for Best Debutant Indian director, in 2009, it swept the awards at South Asian International Film Festival at New York, winning five Grand Jury Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer and Best Emerging Talent. ^[1][2][3][4]

Plot

Manjadikuru is a story of homecoming from late 1970s, when 10 year old Vicky arrives at his grandparents home in rural Kerala to attend his grandfather's funeral. The disjointed family gathers together for the sixteen day long funeral period. During this period, Vicky discovers more about himself, his family and culture than he had expected to. The journey is narrated through the memories of an adult Vicky who returns to the same house to recount the experience. After some years the boy returns as a young man (Prithviraj), to visit old grounds, and find the 'Lucky little seeds' scattered away.^[5]

Cast

• The kids: Sidharth, Vyjayanthi, Rijosh & Arathi Sasikumar
• The family: Prithviraj, Thilakan, Kaviyoor Ponamma, Murali, Rahman, Bindu Panickar, Urvasi, Praveena, Sindhu Menon, Sreedevika, Jagathi Sreekumar, Sagar Shiyaz, Harisanth, Poojapura Ravi, Trissur Chandran
• Special Appearance : Padmapriya
• Debutantes : Julia George, Firoz Mohan

Awards

• 13th IFFK awards - Hassankutty Award for Best Debut film ^[6]
• 13th IFFK awards - FIPRESCI Prize for Best malayalam film in Malayalam Cinema Today section ^{[7] [8]}

References

1. ^ "Malayalam film wins big at New York festival". Sify.com. 11 November 2009. http://sify.com/movies/fullstory.php?id=14919199. 
2. ^ "Seeds of a success story: Award-winning director Anjali Menon talks about her feature film, ‘Manjadikurru,’ and her love for cinema.". The Hindu, Thiruvananthapuram. 26 December 2008. http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/12/26/stories/2008122650990400.htm. 
3. ^ Manjadikuru, Lucky Red Seeds cinemaofmalayalam.net.
4. ^ "Mistress of composure". Express Buss, Indian Express. 28 May 2009. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Mistress+of+composure&artid=dFgDQMy743Q=&SectionID=sPqk7hE5Bqg=&MainSectionID=sPqk7hE5Bqg=&SEO=Lal+Jose,+Shaji+Kailas,+Anwar+Rasheed,+B+Unnikrish&SectionName=qREFy151z8Q5CNV7tjhyLw==. 
5. ^ Manjadikuru Summary South Asian International Film Festival, New York.
6. ^ http://www.iffk.keralafilm.com/hassankutti.htm
7. ^ http://www.fipresci.org/awards/awards/awards_2008.htm
8. ^ http://www.fipresci.org/festivals/archive/2008/kerala/lucky_red_seeds_chfujiwara.htm

External links

• Manjadikuru at the Internet Movie Database
• Manjadikuru - Official website
• Anjali Menon's Manjadikuru