Cousins (2014 film)

Sam (Kunchako Boban) 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 (Indrajith Sukumaran), Pauly (Suraj Venjaramoodu) and Tony (Joju George) 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 old girlfriend (almost-wife)'s sister, and uncovers a life-threatening mystery on how to save her from a dark and mysterious brother.

Vedhika was signed to portray Kunchacko Boban's love interest,[7] Bhavana was later replaced with Nisha Agarwal as the team felt that somebody who is not a complete Malayali would be apt for the role.[8] Filming locations include Bangalore, Kochi, Pollachi, Kodaikanal and Athirapilly.[9]

The filming started on 10 August 2014 at Bangalore Palace,[10][11] where a majority of filming took place over the next weeks.[12] 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 ₹80 lakh (US$110,000).[13][14] Kamalini Mukherjee did an item number for the movie.[15]

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

The film received negative reviews from critics and audience alike. Asha Prakash of The Times of India rated 2/5 stars and wrote "Vysakh's Cousins insults a viewer's intelligence. At first, you wonder if you are witnessing the remake of a Kannada or Telugu masala entertainer; but no it has been made purely for Malayalis. The story is dramatic, beyond tolerance, and the narrative illogical. As you leave the hall, one question remains, why was the money - spent on making the songs - not put to better use?".[16] Nicy V.P of International Business Times rated 2/5 stars and call it "A Poor Attempt to Bring out an Entertainer" and wrote "The first impression that you get from "Cousins", directed by Vyshakh, is the fact that it rarely manages to engage audience. The movie, which is touted as a comedy thriller ends up being a highly predictable movie with the least comic experience. 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" failed to meet the expectations with poor scripting and a highly predictable storyline.".[17] Paresh C Palicha of Rediff.com rated 2/5 stars and wrote "Cousins is not an auspicious beginning to the festive season as it is crass and hackneyed. Sethu's script is pedestrian, and caters to front benchers, providing them a thrill per minute, thanks to comedy, comic and a hugely mounted song.".[18]

Veeyen of Nowrunning.com gave 1.8/5 stars and call it "Average" and wrote "A disaster of colossal proportions is what 'Cousins' is. Vysakh's new multi starrer that has hit the screens this festival season might just about manage to scrape through it but it's very unlikely that these 'Cousins' will find any likers or takers thereafter. 'Cousins' does prove a few points though. It demonstrates how a film that has a running time of a couple of hours and several more minutes could be cooked up from a story that is never there, and it also confirms that you could get some of the best actors around working in it.[19] Akhila Menon of Filmibeat.com rated 1.5/5 stars and call it "Repetitive And Outdated" and stated "A movie which attempts to narrate an outdate story line, in the shadow of visual richness. The repetitive story line and the not-so-engaging script by Sethu are the major negatives of the movie. Director Vysakh manages to make the movie look rich and colorful; but fails to make the narration of the plot engaging and interesting.[20] Behindwoods rated 1.5/5 stars and said "Attempted comedy entertainer that turns out to be stereotypical. The entire film appears to have had the intention to bring out a lot of laughs in the beginning and slowly delve into the depth of the script as the suspense unveils. But, the movie unfortunately fails to deliver its intent, as a result of some poor writing, causing many restless moments".[21]

Indiaglitz.com gave 6.5/10 stars and stated "'Cousins, is one movie that works largely for its fun quotient though in a hollow basement. If taken lightly, the movie will entertain you for two hour and ten minutes.Serious viewers are cautioned from trying this regular package . For every others, have a pack of popcorn 'keep away the brains and enjoy the fun stuff".[22] Raj Vikram of Metromatinee.com wrote "Sethu's script is a huge let down and Vysakh's best efforts dont get registered principally because of this. It is unfortunate that such a highly budgeted venture has such an inane storyline. 'Cousins' is like an old product which was lying in some non descript corner. Taking that old product and trying to present it as new with a gaudy makeover is indeed what the makers attempted ,practically. Well, isnt it unbecoming to sell a product well past the expiry date?".[23]