Much of the late 90s and the early 21st century was a terrible period for Malayalam cinema. Mammooty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi were trying to outdo each other in terms of the number of mediocre films they acted in. Shaji Kailas and his imitators had run Malayalam cinema into dust. This period was also marked by regressive portrayal of women in movies.
It was people like Ashiq Abu who helped revive Malayalam cinema. Salt n Pepper was like a breath of fresh air when it came out. Ashiq was probably the first filmmaker to give us a good look around Kerala's cities. He (or maybe it was the writers) also set this film in an interesting milieu. The male lead in Salt n Pepper works in an archaeological department. The female lead is a dubbing artist. The two of them bond over food in a case of mistaken identities. Baburaj was hilarious as the cook who provides moral support to the lonely and hard drinking hero. The film also features scenes where the female characters drink beer and have fun, a welcome change from the regressive nineties.
The writers Dileesh Nair and Syam Pushkaran packs it in with interesting, humorous and poignant scenes and references. So a lot of the credit goes to the writers as well.
