''Cousins'' is a 2014 Indian

Malayalam language Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

romantic comedy film Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Romantic comedy e ...

directed by

Vysakh Ebbey Abraham (born 1 June 1980), better known by his stage name Vysakh, is an Indian film director who works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films and is known for several commercially successful films like ''Pokkiri Raja (2010 film), Pokkiri R ...

and scripted by Sethu. The film stars

Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in the Malayalam film industry. He is referred to as Chackochan, and during the early 2000s, he was called "chocolate boy" because of his romantic image. He ...

Indrajith Sukumaran Indrajith Sukumaran (born 17 December 1979) is an Indian actor and playback singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Indrajith was born to the actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran and is the elder brother of actor Prithviraj Sukum ...

Suraj Venjaramoodu Suraj Vasudevan (born 30 June 1976), professionally credited as Suraj Venjaramoodu, is an Indian actor, comedian, impressionist, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films, television and stage plays. He has acted in more than ...

and

Joju George Joseph "Joju" George (born 22 October 1977) is an Indian actor, playback singer, director, writer and producer who primarily works in Malayalam cinema along with Tamil, and Telugu cinemas. In 2015, he won the Kerala State Film Award � ...

in the title roles.

Vedhika Vedhika Kumar, known mononymously as Vedhika, is an Indian actress and model who primarily works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. Vedhika is a recipient of an Asiavision Award and two Edison Awards, along with nominations for t ...

and Nisha Aggarwal play the female leads, while Pradeep Rawat,

Kalabhavan Shajon Shaji John, professionally credited by his stage name Kalabhavan Shajohn is an Indian actor, director and comedian who works primarily in Malayalam cinema. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan, Kochi. Making his debut in 199 ...

Kailash Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; ; ; , ) is a mountain in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the Kailash Range (Gangdisê Mountains) of the Transhimalaya, in the western part of ...

, Miya George,

Shiju Shiju Abdul Rasheed (born 4 August 1974), known as Shiju AR, is an Indian actor who works mainly in Malayalam and Telugu films. He is also known by stage name Devi Shiju in Telugu films as he played a lead role in Kodi Ramakrishna's '' Devi''. ...

and

Renji Panicker Renji Panicker (born 23 September 1960) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, film producer, and journalist known for his works in Malayalam films. He made his debut as a director with '' Bharatchandran IPS'' in 2005. Early life He di ...

feature in supporting roles in the film. The story revolves around four cousins who undertake a journey with an intention, and followed by the issues they come across in between them. The film released on 19 December 2014. Cousins is produced by Vysakh Rajan under the banner of Vyshakha Cinemas, Music is by M. Jayachandran for the lines of Murugan Kattakada and Rafeeq Ahamed. Bangalore, Pollachi and Kodaikanal are the main outside Kerala locations of this comedy movie. This movie was a failure at the box office.

Plot

Sam is stuck somewhere in the past, courtesy a mishap that occurred six years back, that'd almost cost him his life. His psychiatrist suggests that he goes on a trip to Manipal where he was when the tragedy took place to try and recover his memories. Sam's fun loving cousins, Georgy, Pauly and Tony all join him on the fabulous road trip back to one of Sam's old, comforting places. Throughout the movie, the cousins meet Sam's girlfriend Aarathi (almost-wife)'s sister Mallika, and finds about their love story. Georgy already knows this and tells it to Pauly and Tony. He also tells them that when Sam and Aarathi tries to elope, her brother's men captured Sam but they didn't save Aarathi. Georgy comes to a conclusion that someone wants to kill Aarathi, so he decides to save her and makes her stay in their house. Georgy, Pauly and Tony decides to find the culprit who wants to kill Aarathi with Mallika's help.

Cast

as Sam, Arathi's love interest turned husband *

as Georgy, Malli's love interest *

as Pauly *

as Tony *

as Arathi, Sam's love interest turned wife *

Nisha Agarwal Nisha Aggarwal is a former Indian actress and a model who appeared in Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. She is the younger sister of actress Kajal Aggarwal. Early life Aggarwal was born and brought up in a Punjabi Hindu family settled in Mumba ...

as Mallika/Malli, Georgy's love interest * Pradeep Rawat as Nagarajan Adiga, (Voice over by

Shobi Thilakan Shobi Thilakan is an Indian actor and voice-over artist who works prominently in Malayalam films and television. He is the son of late actor Thilakan. Shobi has won the Kerala State Film Award for the best dubbing artist in 2021. Early life an ...

) *

as Veerappa Gounder *

P. Balachandran Padmanabhan Balachandran Nair (2 February 1952 – 5 April 2021) was an Indian writer, playwright, scenarist, director, and actor. He was known for his work in Malayalam literature and Malayalam cinema. Career Balachandran is best known fo ...

as Guruji *

as Chandrarajan * Santhosh as Devarajan * Vijayakumar as Rajarajan * Abu Salim as Itty, restaurant manager *

Sreedevi Unni Sreedevi Unni is an Indian Mohiniyattam, Mohiniyattam dancer and actress best known for her work in the Malayalam cinema and TV serials. She is the mother of Monisha Unni. She came into the industry after the death of her only daughter Monisha. ...

as Arathi's and Mallika's grandmother *

Vinaya Prasad Vinaya Prakash ( Bhat), (22 November 1967) also credited as Vinaya Prasad, is an Indian actress known for her work in Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu films, as well as television serials. Career Vinaya Prasad hails from Udupi district of Karna ...

as Threasa, Sam's and Georgy's mother *

Sunil Sukhada Sunil Sukhada is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He debuted in a small role in the film '' Best Actor''. His first full length role was as the supermarket manager in '' Chappa Kurishu'' (2011). He won a special mention in the Kerala state t ...

as Pauly's and Tony's father *

Ponnamma Babu Ponnamma Babu is an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She has acted in more than 300 films, TV serials and comedy shows. She made her debut in ''Padanayakan'' in 1996. Personal life Ponnamma was born to Mathai and ...

as Pauly's and Tony's mother *

Kamalinee Mukherjee Kamalinee Mukherjee is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as a few Malayalam and Tamil films. After graduating with a degree in English literature, she completed a workshop on theatre in Mumbai. She made he ...

in a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

* Miya as Ann, Sam's ex-girlfriend (cameo) * Ranji Panicker as Doctor Kuruvila (cameo) *

Balachandran Chullikkadu Balachandran Chullikkad (born 30 July 1957) is an Indian poet, orator, lyricist and actor in Malayalam-language media. Early life Balachandran was born in Paravur, Ernakulam, Kerala, India. He completed his graduation in English literature fr ...

as Varkey Master (cameo) *

as Peter (cameo)

Production

was signed to portray

's love interest and

Bhavana ''Bhāvanā'' (Pali;Rhys Davids & Stede (1921–25), p. 503, entry for "Bhāvanā," retrieved 9 December 2008 from "U. Chicago" a Sanskrit: भावना, also ''bhāvanā''Monier-Williams (1899), p. 755, see "Bhāvana" and "Bhāvanā", retri ...

's love interest. But she was later replaced with

as the team felt that somebody who is not a complete

Malayali The Malayali people (; also spelt Malayalee and sometimes known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala and Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India, occupying its south ...

would be apt for the role. Filming locations include

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

Pollachi Pollachi is a town and municipality in Coimbatore district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Pollachi taluk. It is situated near the center of the South Indian Peninsula, surrounded by Western Gha ...

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () (English: ) is a municipality and hill station in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated at an altitude of in the Palani hills of the Western Ghats. Kodaikanal was established in 1845 to serve as a r ...

and Athirapilly. The filming started on 10 August 2014 at

Bangalore Palace Bengaluru Palace is a 19th-century royal palace located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, built in an area that was owned by the Rev. John Garrett, the first principal of the Central High School in Bangalore. The palace was commissioned for the ...

, where a majority of filming took place over the next weeks. Around 600 artists, including a cultural troupe from Bangalore and nearly 80 horses were part of a song sequence, which was a five-day-long shoot and costed over . Kamalini Mukherjee did an item number for the movie."Kamalini Mukherjee does an item number in Cousins"
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Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 5 songs, all composed by M. Jayachandran. Lyrics by Murukan Kattakkada,

Rafeeq Ahamed Rafeeq Ahamed (born 17 December 1961) is an Indian poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a six-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs to his cr ...

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics and audience alike.

References

External links

* {{Vysakh 2014 films Films scored by M. Jayachandran Indian romantic comedy films Films shot in Bengaluru Films shot in Kodaikanal Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Coimbatore Films shot in Pollachi Films shot in Chalakudy Films shot in Thrissur Films directed by Vysakh 2010s Malayalam-language films 2010s Indian films