Manorathangal

Manorathangal is an upcoming 2024 Indian Malayalam-language  anthology film. The anthology features nine featurettes based on M. T. Vasudevan Nair's nine short stories: Olavum Theeravum, Kadugannawa; Oru Yathra Kurippu, Sherlock, Silalikhitham, Vilpana, Kadal Kattu, Kazhcha, Abhayam Thedi Veendum, and Swargam Thurakkuna Samayam.

The anthology is presented by Kamal Haasan. It comprises an ensemble cast including Mammootty, Mohanlal, Fahad Fazil, Biju Menon, Nedumudi Venu, Siddique, Indrajith Sukumaran, Asif Ali, Mamukkoya, Vineeth, Indrans, Aparna Balamurali, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Surabhi Lakshmi, and Ann Augustine. The anthology will release on 15 August 2024 on ZEE5.

Cast

 * Mohanlal as Baputty
 * Mammootty as Venugopal
 * Fahad Fazil as Balu
 * Parvathy Thiruvothu as Sudha
 * Harish Uthaman as Vishwanathan
 * Biju Menon as Gopalankutty
 * Shanthi Krishna as Maluwamma
 * Joy Mathew as Raghavan Mama
 * Madhoo as Gita Parekh
 * Asif Ali as Sunil Das
 * Nadhiya as Balu's Chechi
 * Kailash as Achu
 * Indrans as Kuttinarayanan
 * Nedumudi Venu as Madhavan Mash
 * Renji Panicker as Pathmanabhan
 * Siddique as The Man
 * Indrajith Sukumaran
 * Ishit Yamini as The Woman
 * Naseer Sankranthi as Karyasthan
 * Indrajith_Sukumaran as Keshav
 * Aparna Balamurali as Bharathi
 * Mamukkoya
 * Vineeth
 * Surabhi Lakshmi
 * Ann Augustine
 * Durga Krishna
 * Narain

Production
The anthology consists of nine short stories by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. It was conceptualized by Nair's daughter, Aswathy V. Nair, during the COVID-19 pandemic to commemorate his 90th birthday. Initially, she selected 20 stories, but eventually narrowed it down to 10, and finally settled on nine. While her initial intention was to focus on stories with female protagonists, she also included stories with male protagonists after discovering several compelling narratives. Explaining her decision, she stated, "I wanted women as the protagonists but discovered many wonderful stories with male protagonists. Ultimately, I chose stories with an abiding human element, with emotions of love, lust, greed and revenge, etc". Aswathy also directed one segment titled Vilpana. According to Onmanorama, the anthology draws inspiration from Stories by Rabindranath Tagore (2015), a television series based on the works of poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Aswathy served as the creative producer. The series began production in 2021. By January 2022, six of the films had completed production, including Silalikhitham, Vilpana, Kadal Kattu, Kazhcha, Abhayam Thedi Veendum, and Swargam Thurakkuna Samayam. Priyadarshan-directed Olavum Theeravum is a remake of the 1970 film of the same name. It began production on 10 July 2022 and wrapped up on 17 July 2022. Priyadarshan also directed Silalikhitham. Kadugannawa Oru Yathra was initially supposed to be directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery. But Ranjith replaced him and began production on 16 August 2022 and wrapped up on 26 August 2022. Olavum Theeravum completed filming in July 2022 in Thodupuzha, which was made in black-and-white format. Initially, the series was produced for Netflix, but the platform rejected the anthology reportedly due to the addition of new segments starring Mohanlal, Mammootty, and Fahadh Faasil which increased the production cost. Later, ZEE5 acquired the series.

Release
The trailer of the anthology released on 15 July 2024 on Occasion of M.T. Vasudevan Nair's birthday. The series will release on the OTT platform ZEE5. The series was initially planned for release in September on Occasion of Onam but later preponed to 15 August 2024. Apart from Malayalam, the series will have release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada languages.

Controversy
During trailer launch of the series, Asif Ali was supposed to present a memento to Ramesh Narayan, but Ramesh allegedly refused to accept it from the actor, leading to widespread criticism about his behaviour. He responded that he was music director of Jayaraj's segment of the series, but he didn't got invited to stage on launch event and he was disappointed. He also clarified that he didn't hear the announcement and didn’t know that Asif Ali is presenting the momento.