“Do you know where you get the best food in town? On film locations. And once you get used to the awesome food there, you may not even think about taking up another job!” claims actor-producer Maniyanpilla Raju. A foodie and “merciless food critic”, he adds that good food makes a film unit happy.
The industry has a well-oiled system in place, with mess chiefs taking care of the daily menu of the crew and production chiefs delivering them on time to the location. MetroPlus caught up with a few such culinary kings to find out the ingredients that go into the food for the stars and the star-makers.
‘No cakewalk’
“This is no cakewalk. A small mistake can upset the entire project. So I have sleepless nights when I take up a project,” says Manohar Mohan a.k.a. Mess Mohan, an industry veteran with 33 years behind him. Currently working on two Mammootty-starrers, Madhuraraja in Kochi and Maamankam in Kannur, he recalls that there was a time when labourers were brought from Chennai to run the mess.
Manohar Mohan a.k.a. Mess Mohan with Mohanlal | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Later, local producers took over that department and hired people on contract. “I still remember setting up a kitchen in producer Suresh Kumar sir’s house for Poochakkoru Mookuthi,” he says.
Change is the constant. And the menu for film units has seen complete makeovers. “It has become an elaborate affair with 15 to 20 items for lunch, whereas, earlier, there used to be two vegetarian side dishes plus fish fry and fish curry,” Mohan adds.
Setting up the mess
“A challenge for mess chiefs is that the mess is usually away from the sets and so food has to be prepared early to be delivered on time to the location. Our work starts by 3.30 am-4 am. The production chiefs arrange for transportation of food to the location,” says Leneesh Vaikom, Mammootty’s personal cook for 10 years and a regular in all his projects. He adds, “The mess for Unda in Kasaragod was 25 km away from the town. We had to cover that distance daily for purchasing provisions.”
Leneesh Vaikom with Mammootty | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
In cities, there are people who rent out their space for film units to set up the mess and location managers take care of this. When the shooting is outside Kerala, the menu is tweaked according to the availability of ingredients. “We were on the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan for 1971: Beyond Borders and had to source many ingredients from Delhi,” says Jaffer Kanjirappally, another veteran in the field.
To prepare food for a 100-150 member crew, a mess chief needs six to eight employees. “But a big project needs more hands, as in the case of Lucifer when we had to take care of 2,500 people. In such cases, we prepare ghee rice or biriyani instead of rice and curries,” Mohan says.
Jaffer Kanjirappally | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Leneesh too had to deal with a big crew in Kayamkulam Kochunni. “I was associated with it for a year and on certain days, the number of people on the sets touched 600. Since the crew had artistes from other States and a few foreign actors also, food had to be prepared accordingly,” he says.
Breakfast at 7 am, lunch break at 1 pm and dinner by 8 pm is the usual schedule. Rasheed VS, a production chief for a decade now, says that his duty entails not only delivering the food on time but also arranging for required furniture, non-stop supply of tea and refreshments such as tender coconut water and fruit juice on the set.
“Now it has become a norm to serve lime tea after lunch. Another interesting post-lunch favourite is peanut candy and banana, thanks to Raju chettan [Maniyanpilla Raju] who began the trend with Anandabhadram,” adds Rasheed, the production chief of Oru Yamandan Prema Katha and Trance.
Challenges involved
He recalls the challenges while working in Venu’s Fahadh-Faasil-starrer Carbon. It was shot at 12 locations, that too in high-altitude spots in Wayanad, Attappadi, Kattappana and Theni. “We carried the food in a jeep and navigated the rocky terrain to reach the location. Then we had to take the food carriers all the way to the top,” he says.
The production chiefs also have to ensure that food is packed in separate containers, since some artistes/technicians prefer to have food in their caravans or rooms. “Dietary restrictions of artistes have to be factored in. For instance, an actor working in Virus is on a keto diet, whereas another actor on the set prefers more of salads and wants dinner at sharp 6 pm,” adds Rasheed.
Cast and crew of ‘Virus’ having lunch at a location in Kozhikode | Photo Credit: S Ramesh Kurup
Lapses can happen, like food might fall short or there might be excess food. “We faced such situations in Parava and Trance. The only way out was to pack it and distribute it among junior artistes and some orphanages. We can’t afford to waste food,” Rasheed says.
The rate per head now is ₹260-290 per day and all mess workers come under the Mess Workers Union affiliated to FEFKA. The mess chiefs point out that the field has become competitive. “Some of them quote less rates to get more projects. Also, production controllers have a huge say in the whole system,” Mohan says.
Nevertheless, there can’t be any compromise. “The film may or may not do well. But there should be no complaints about the food!” Maniyanpilla Raju sums up.
ON THE MENU
Breakfast: A choice of two, such as puttu/appam, idli/poori, idiappam/ghee roast or batura/pongal. Steamed bananas, boiled eggs of chicken and duck and upma are a must on every set. The Upma can be made of rava, semiya, ragi or broken wheat.
Lunch: There is rice [matta/ponni and white rice], daal, avial, koottukari, thoran, sambar, pulissery, rasam, buttermilk/curd, fish curry, fish fry and beef or chicken dishes. Lead artistes and chief technicians have the luxury of having an extra vegetarian and non-vegetarian dish
A lunch spread from a film location in Kochi | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Tea time: Banana fritters, bajji, neyyappam, parippuvada or even porotta with beef
Dinner: Kanji is a must. Payar thoran/curry, dry fish fry, pappadam and chicken fry/thoran go with it. Chappathi is sought-after for lunch and dinner
STAR ATTRACTIONS
Leneesh: Mammootty loves fish, especially river fish. He insists that the coconut-based fish curry should be yellowish and less oily
Maniyanpilla Raju: Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi are foodies and it’s a joy to watch them have food
Joju George: Pazhamkanji used to be my favourite. Now it is no longer served on sets. I bring home-cooked food to the sets if we have a long schedule.
Rasheed: Kumbalangi Nights had night shoots on many days. We put up live counters serving porotta, dosa and piping hot black tea and chukku kaapi.