Akkara kazhchakal Promo

‘Akkara Kazhchakal’ is a hot new television sitcom on Kairali TV (language: Malayalam) focusing on the life of expatriate George Thekkinmootil.

‘Akkara Kazhchakal,’ now in its 38th episode, is shot with a video camera and the most exciting part is that none of the cast and crew are paid!.

George,the proud owner of Thekkinmootil Insurance Corporation, who carries a thick Kottayam accent, his wife, Rincy (a nurse), their two ‘American Born Confused Desi’ kids plus a few acquaintances, like his assistant Gregory a.k.a ‘Girigiri’ and Mahi and Babykuttan – two naive male nurses and recent emigrants form the core characters. This comical and refreshingly sarcastic sitcom chronicles realities behind Malayali expatriate life in the United States (U.S.).

What started off as a weekend project by two young New Jersey-based Malayali expatriates, Abi Varghese and Ajayan Venugopalan, has now acquired a cult status on the net, so much so that it has been picked up by Kairali TV, U.S.A. “For both Abi and I, filmmaking has always been a passion,” says Ajayan, scriptwriter and co-director of the series.

“Abi, an alumnus of New York Film Academy, has a production house called ‘Infamous Coconut Productions.’ He happened to hear my music album ‘Spandangal’ and we decided to collaborate on projects. We wanted to start off with something small and hit upon the idea of a sitcom based on American Malayali life. It allows us to stick to one storyline per episode and allows the viewer to get on-board anytime,” adds the software engineer from Palakkad.

“Simply put, its just two people with a camera, a light and a bunch of actors,” explains Abi, who “moonlights as a finance manager.”

All the actors, including Josekutty Valiyakallumkal who plays George, Sajini who plays Rincy and Jacob Gregory who plays Girigiri, are theatre enthusiasts. The two directors meet for lunch during weekdays and discuss ideas for the script, which Ajayan later writes and by Thursday it is sent out to the actors.

With its main theme centring on cultural differences, you would think that non-resident Indians would understand it better.

“In fact, many of our themes are universal,” says Ajayan. “We incorporate such issues as generation gap, dieting, politics at work and Malayali entrepreneurship; just that it’s within an expatriate context.”

With a total online viewer-ship per episode numbering 50,000 and counting, evidently the formula has clicked.

“It has been a surprising ride so far, because the only publicity has been through word of mouth. It is great to see George and the others getting mobbed by fans at functions and that too by the younger generation, for many of whom this is the only Malayalam programme they watch,” observes Abi. Source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkara_Kazhchakal