''Rasam'' () is a 2015 Indian

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

-language film based on food, tastes, restaurants and catering services. The film was directed and co-written by

Rajeev Nath Rajeevnath is a National Award-winning Malayalam film director. Career Rajeevnath ventured into filmmaking with a short film shot in 16mm camera after finishing his university course. He debuted as a director of feature films with ''Thanal'' (1 ...

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in M ...

, Rajeev Nath and Sudip Kumar co-written the screenplay of the story written by Sudip. It stars

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

and

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 ...

in lead alongside Nedumudi Venu, Devan and

Varuna Shetty Varuna Shetty is an Indian actress who has done Malayalam- and Tamil-language films. She has been launched by Ranjith Bajpe in his first directional venture Tulu movie, Nirel. Later she worked under Oru Thalai Ragam Shankar in his UAE based t ...

in supporting roles. The

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

commenced on 8 January 2014 at

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. Filming underway at the locations in Doha,

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

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 ...

Ottapalam Ottapalam (also spelled Ottappalam) is a town, taluk, and municipality in the Palakkad District of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ottapalam taluk and is located approximately 34 km (21 mi) from the Palakkad (district ...

and

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

. ''Rasam'' released on 23 January 2015 and failed to impress the critics.

Plot summary

The film takes place in

where Shekhar Menon, a business tycoon arranges his daughter's wedding to be done in a traditional

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

style feast. Actor

invites Valliyottu Thirumeni to take up the catering for the wedding reception of the star's close friend Shekhar Menon's daughter Janaki. Vasudevan, Balu and team fly to Doha. But circumstances force Balu to take over from his father. As the name suggests, food forms the central character in the film.

Cast

as Himself (extended cameo appearance) *

as Bala Shankar *

as Valliyottu Thirumeni *

as Janaki Menon * Devan as Shekhar Menon *

Jagadish P. V. Jagadish Kumar, Born On (12 June 1955) mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, and television presenter. He has starred in over 400 Malayalam films and two Hindi films. He is best known for his comic and character rol ...

as Abdu *

Nandhu Nandalal Krishnamoorthy, better known by his stage name Nandu, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Malayalam films. He has worked in the industry for more than 30 years and is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal's ''Spirit (2012 fil ...

as Govindan Nair *

Mythili Brighty Balachandran, better known by her stage name Mythili, is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films. She made her debut in the 2009 Malayalam film '' Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha'' which stars Mammootty in ...

as Shahida *

Ambika Mohan Ambika Mohan is an Indian actress known for her work in Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam language ...

as Bala's mother and Thirumeni's wife * Rajesh Rajan as Job * Dileep Shankar as Jacob Tharakan * Albert Alex as Josemon * Satheesh Menon as Family Doctor * Nihal Pillai as Manu * Bindu K Menon as Menon's wife and Janaki's mother

Casting

was signed in a cameo role as himself. In the film, he appeared as the friend of a leading businessman in Dubai. "Mohanlal has a pivotal role in ''Rasam'' as he is the one who mentors Indrajith in his work at the wedding in Dubai", says Rajeev. Indrajith plays Balu, a Namboothiri cook who runs a restaurant in

. Balu is a B. Tech and

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

degree holder. He follows his father, a popular cook who is invited to Doha to do catering service for a marriage ceremony.

was cast as the heroine, her debut film in Malayalam. She does the role of Janaki, daughter of a Dubai-based businessman. It is her wedding which centres the main plot in the film. Her father calls renowned chefs from Kerala to make a traditional Sadya for her wedding.

is the other female lead in the film. Nihal Pillai is playing a villain role in the film.

Filming

The

began on 8 January 2014 at

. The shooting was held in the restaurant ''Spice Boat'', which is indeed the hotel owned by Indrajith's mother

Mallika Sukumaran Mohamallika Pillai (born 4 November 1954), better known as Mallika Sukumaran is an Indian actress and businesswoman, known for her works in Malayalam cinema. She debuted in 1974 with the Malayalam film ''Utharayanam'' by G. Aravindan. Since th ...

. The crew returned from Doha only by 13 January. The rest of the shoot progressed in

Ottappalam Ottapalam (also spelled Ottappalam) is a town, taluk, and municipality in the Palakkad District of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ottapalam taluk and is located approximately 34 km (21 mi) from the Palakkad (district ...

. A

Thiruvathirakkali Thiruvathirakali is a unique group dance of women in Kerala. The dance is performed by women in small groups, both as part of and apart from religious rituals. Generally on Onam and Thiruvathira day in the month of Dhanumas, women perform this ar ...

of 300 artists was shot in

. The film was shot in and around the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

regions. The shooting in Dubai was wrapped in two weeks and return to shoot in Ottapalam. In May, the film completed its shoot in Doha, Dubai,

, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Music

The soundtrack consists of 3 songs composed by

Job Kurian Job Kurian (born 29 July 1982) is an Indian singer and composer who works in both indie music and in Malayalam films. He won the South Indian International Movie Award for Best Male Playback Singer in Malayalam in 2023. Early life and educ ...

and sung by

K. S. Chithra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963) is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning around five decades, she has recorded over 25,000 Songs in various Indian languages languages such as Tamil, Kann ...

Kavalam Sreekumar Kavalam Srikumar is a classical musician, Malayalam film singer and music composer from Kerala, India. His recitation of Ramayana is also famous. He has also rendered more than 200 famous Malayalam poems. He is the son of the noted Malayalam po ...

and Job Kurian himself. Lyrics are penned by

Kavalam Narayana Panicker Kavalam Narayana Panikkar (1 May 1928 – 26 June 2016) was an Indian dramatist, theatre director, and poet. He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare, notably Kalidasa's ''Vikramorvasiy ...

. ''Rasam'' makes the debut of musician turned composer Job Kurian. Previously he had co-composed the background score of a Kannada film. K. S. Chithra had sung a traditional Thiruvathira song and Kavalam Sreekumar sung a fun song on the occasion of a feast. Job Kurian's is a travel track in the drum and base genre with Indian elements.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4384456 2010s Malayalam-language films 2015 films Kerala cuisine Films shot in Qatar Films shot in Dubai Films shot in Ottapalam Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Films about food and drink Cooking films Films directed by Rajeevnath