Cousins (2014 film)

Cousins is a 2014 Indian Malayalam language romantic comedy film directed by Vysakh and scripted by Sethu. The film stars Kunchacko Boban, Indrajith Sukumaran, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Joju George in the title roles. Vedhika and Nisha Aggarwal play the female leads, while Pradeep Rawat, Kalabhavan Shajon, Kailash, Miya George, Shiju and Renji Panicker 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 moderate success at 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

 * Kunchacko Boban as Sam, Arathi's love interest turned husband
 * Indrajith Sukumaran as Georgy, Malli's love interest
 * Suraj Venjaramoodu as Pauly
 * Joju George as Tony
 * Vedhika as Arathi, Sam's love interest turned wife
 * Nisha Agarwal as Mallika/Malli, Georgy's love interest
 * Pradeep Rawat as Nagarajan
 * Kalabhavan Shajon as Veerappa Gounder
 * P. Balachandran as Guruji
 * Shiju as Chandrarajan
 * Santhosh as Devarajan
 * Vijayakumar as Rajarajan
 * Abu Salim as Itty, restaurant manager
 * Sreedevi Unni as Arathi's and Mallika's grandmother
 * Vinaya Prasad as Threasa, Sam's and Georgy's mother
 * Sunil Sukhada as Pauly's and Tony's father
 * Ponnamma Babu as Pauly's and Tony's mother
 * Kamalinee Mukherjee in a cameo appearance
 * Miya as Ann, Sam's ex-girlfriend (cameo)
 * Ranji Panicker as Doctor (cameo)
 * Balachandran Chullikkadu as Varkey Master (cameo)
 * Kailash as Peter (cameo)

Production
Vedhika was signed to portray Kunchacko Boban's love interest and Bhavana as Indrajith Sukumaran's love interest. But she was later replaced with Nisha Agarwal as the team felt that somebody who is not a complete Malayali would be apt for the role. Filming locations include Bangalore, Kochi, Pollachi, Kodaikanal and Athirapilly.

The filming started on 10 August 2014 at Bangalore Palace, 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 inr 8000000. Kamalini Mukherjee did an item number for the movie.

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

Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics and audience alike. The good aspect of the movie would be the cinematography, which managed to visualise the movie in the best way possible. The art direction of the movie was commendable and added to the rich look of the movie. To conclude, "Cousins" passed to meet the expectations with excellent scripting and a highly predictable storyline.". {{cite news|title='Cousins' Movie Review: