Mollywood's rising fascination on food

While there have been many international films revolving around food like Julie and Julia that have left us salivating, Mollywood hardly considered food or cooking as a prominent premise, till its potential was revealed through certain films in the recent times. They have even left the viewers cravings for piping hot puttu and kadala, a lip-smacking spread of sadya, sinfully smooth and sweet halwa and refreshingly aromatic sulaimani, and served as catalyst for more movies to be cooked up around food. Take a bite of some of these ‘mouth-watering’ movies.USTHAD HOTELThe film based on the conflict of interest between a cooking enthusiast, Faizy, and his business-minded father was indeed a treat for the audience. The turn of events took us all to the legendary Ustad Hotel run by his grandfather — a haven of delicacies and their tasty stories. The film that bagged numerous awards, including national recognitions, had many memorable dialogues crafted around savouring food. For instance, lines like ‘Every sulaimani (special coffee) needs a bit of mohabbat (love) added to it’ caught on like wild fire among film buffs. The artistically captured cookingsequences also made the film a delight to watch.SALT N' PEPPERSalt N’ Pepper’s narration of the love story of two gourmets — where thattil kutti dosa played cupid — was quite new to Mollywood. Not only did the film turned out to be a delightful gastronomic tour, but also served as a trendsetter. It also grabbed the attention of youngsters who undertake cooking adventures, as well as age-old culinary experts, for its tips like adding banana to make soft chapatti dough and keeping onion slices on ears to stop tears while chopping them.It also produced two one-of-a-kind ‘stars’ — thattil kutti dosa and Joan’s Rainbow cake. In the food fests organised in the state after the film’s release, these food items were the star attraction.KAMMATH and KAMMATH Though the movie is based on the theme of conflict between hoteliers, the film provides a handful of mouth-watering moments, especially when Mammootty lists the various kinds of dosas in the opening song. And it dominates the initial few minutes of the movie, flying around in various shapes, sizes and colours. The track, Dosa nalloru dosa veno, also urges one to go on a dosa tasting tour and is one of the bestsequences in the film.RASAMThe upcoming movie by Rajeev Nath has a delectable story revolving around the life of a traditional dehannakaaran (cook). Indrajith plays the son of such a chef and going by the look of it, the audience might get a ride through our age-old sadya rounds. Mohanlal also plays a prominent role in the film, where he mentors Indrajith. Being a food enthusiast who owns many restaurants, the megastar can sure spice up the script with tips from his ownexperiences!