5 Sundarikal


5 Sundarikal is a 2013 Malayalam romantic anthology film. It contains five short stories on love about five types of women. The stories are directed by Shyju Khalid, Sameer Thahir, Aashiq Abu, Amal Neerad and Anwar Rasheed, and feature an ensemble cast. The film was produced by Amal Neerad Productions. The music directors were Gopi Sundar, Bijibal, Prashant Pillai and Yakzan Gary Pereira. The film reached theatres on 21 June. A promo song by popular Kochi-based rock band Black Letters was also released.
The featurette Sethulakshmi is an adaptation of M. Mukundan's short story "Photo" while Kullande Bharya is based on a Chinese story, "The Tall Woman and Her Short Husband", by Feng Jicai. It is narrated by Dulquer Salmaan.

List of short films

Plots

Sethulakshmi

Sethulakshmi, a schoolgirl, has a hobby of collecting the photos of newly married couples from newspapers and pasting them in a notebook. Her close friend comes to know about her interest in taking photos. They decide to go to a studio nearby for taking their photos. This decision changes their destiny. They go to the photo studio and have their picture taken only to find out that it will cost them Rs. 25. They are asked to bring the money in two days. They come up with only Rs. 6.50 and two eggs. The studio owner tells them that he will come to their school and get the balance from their teacher. Both the children state that it is a bad idea. This sends the studio owner into a rage demanding his money. After a moment he calms down and asks Sethulakshmi to come into the film room to take a picture. While there he asks her to strip; she cries wanting to go home. Sethulakshmi has nightmares of that incident that night but does not disclose anything to her parents. She is taken to school by her father the next day as she exhibits feverish conditions. After school as Sethulakshmi and her friend walk home, they see the scooter that belongs to the studio owner. He hands the picture to Sethulaksmi's friend but pulls Sethulakshmi aside and threatens her that he would put her picture on the school wall if she did not come with him immediately. Sethulakhsmi's friend demands to know where the studio owner is taking Sethulakshmi to which the studio owner tells him to go home. Sethulaskhmi's friend is left alone as he watches the studio owner take Sethulakskmi away on his scooter.

Isha

This episode of love opens up with a husband and wife preparing to leave for a party on New Year's eve. While the father is nonchalant about it, the mother is concerned about leaving their daughter Isha at home. She is concerned about her safety and her shenanigans. After the couple leave, the daughter is shown dancing away. However, when she comes downstairs, she is aware of someone inside her house. By then it is too late as she wakes up tied to a chair in her house. Shen then notices that the thief has on a mask and after a few attempts at trying to free herself, the thief asks her to quiet down. After Isha continues to struggle, it is revealed that she has an Asthma issue and asks the thief to get her the inhaler which is in her bag. While getting the inhaler the thief inadvertently removes his mask. He threatens her to be quiet after she asks to be untied. As the thief begins to search drawers, Isha lets him know in which drawers the house valuables are. After taking all the jewels in the house, the thief is set to leave when Isha proposes an idea. She tells the thief that if he were to spend New Year's eve with her at home she would show him more of the expensive stuff in the house. After the thief releases Isha, she exhibits behavior that is not trustworthy to the thief, so he pulls out a gun. He puts it back when he realizes that Isha is doing what she promised to do. While Isha is excited about this stealing adventure, the thief is only interested in expensive things. As the night moves on, Isha gets very comfortable with the thief, even seducing him. They celebrate the New Year on the terrace with some intimate moments. At this point, it is obvious that the thief is drunk from the vine that belonged to Isha's father and Isha uses this to her advantage and ties the thief to the very chair she was tied to. The true suspense is revealed to the audience after this. No one is who they seem to be!

Gauri

The short film tells the love story of a married couple living in a hill station. After materializing their love affair through a registered marriage, Gauri and Jonathan Antony choose the place to begin their married life. Jo is crazy about trekking while Gauri is a dancer and teaches art to her students. On the eve of their wedding anniversary, a tragedy occurs which changes their life.

Kullante Bharya

A newlywed couple comes to stay in an apartment. The husband played by Jinu Ben who is only 5 feet 1 inches is shorter than his extremely tall wife played by the 6 feet tall young newcomer Reenu Mathews. The colony neighbors begin to gossip about them. As the couple lives happily, they expect their baby to add to the joy. But destiny has something else in store for them. The whole film is pictured from the point of view of a person who is bed-ridden after an accident. It is reminiscent of the photographer in wheelchair observing his neighbors in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

Aami

A businessman, Ajmal, faces a row of events during his journey from Malappuram to Kochi. His affectionate wife tries to keep him awake during the drive by asking a few tricky questions. The night journey becomes an eventful one and changes the course of his life.

Cast

Sethulakshmi

The first film Sethulakshmi was by cinematographer Shyju, debuting as a director. The film was an adaptation of the story "Photo" by M. Mukundan. Two child artists, Baby Anikha and Chethan, played the lead in his segment. Tamil theatre actor Somasundaram, who acted in Aaranya Kaandam, was signed to play a photographer in the film, setting foot into Malayalam films.
Sameer Thahir cast Isha Sharvani opposite Nivin Pauly in his segment. Isha, who made her Malayalam debut with this film, said that Sameer's story - written by Sijoy Varghese - explores the love between two strangers. This segment was completed in January 2013.
Aashiq Abu's featurette Gauri is period film about a group of people going in search of a promised land. Biju Menon and Kavya Madhavan were signed to play the lead. Singer Rimi Tomy stated that she would be acting opposite Tini Tom, making her acting debut. In March 2013, Jayasurya was also signed up for a role. The shoot of the portion was held in Munnar and other locales.
Amal Neerad cast Dulquer Salmaan and Reenu Mathews, who acted in Lal Jose's Immanuel, as the lead pair for his portion. Debutante Jinu Ben was given a prominent role. Neerad said that the story was loosely based on an ancient Chinese short story, "The Tall Woman and Her Short Husband".
Fahadh Faasil stated that he and Rima Kallingal would pair up in Anwar Rasheed's segment of the anthology. Rima Kallingal was replaced, and Honey Rose and Asmita Sood play the lead female roles in this film. Anwar said that the story unfolds on an eventful night and can be called a road movie.
The directors pitched in for each other as well. Anwar Rasheed's portion was filmed by Amal Neerad, Shyju Kahlid handled the camera of Sameer Thahir's film, Aashiq Abu's film was shot by Rajeev Ravi and Amal Neerad chose his assistant Ranadive to operate the camera.

Soundtrack

The list of songs is as follows:
S.NoSongSegmentSingerMusic directorNotes
1"Amor Amor"Kullande BharyaAnna Katharina ValayilGopi Sunder
2"Ekantham"Title SongKunal Ganjawala,Sreya RaghavGopi SunderTheme song
Lyrics: Rafeeq Ahamed
3"Kaana Dhooram"AamiNeha NairYakzan Gary PereiraLyrics: Neha Nair
4"Manthara Katte"SethulakshmiNeha NairYakzan Gary PereiraLyrics: Rafeeq Ahamed
5"Mazhaneer"GauriGayatri AsokanBijibalLyrics: Sunil Raj Sathya
6"Thammil Thammil"IshaPreeti PillaiPrashant PillaiLyrics:Kavalam Narayana Panikkar
7"Theera Lahari"IshaPreeti PillaiPrashant PillaiLyrics: Kavalam Narayana Panikkar

Awards