Where Kerala's history
sets the scene.

Weddings, celebrations and film shoots at the Tharakan family's 18th-century tharavad, 20 km from Kochi.

Plan an event Scout the location

Teak-panelled halls, red-oxide floors, carved wooden ceilings and lawns that hold five hundred guests. The house has stood for generations of family weddings. Now it opens its gates for yours, and for the stories filmmakers want to tell.

A floral stage set up on the lawn A long dinner table set with candles and marigolds

Weddings & Events

A family home, made for gatherings.

Kerala's great houses were built for celebration: wide verandas for elders, courtyards for music, lawns for the whole village. Ours still works that way. Hold the wedding, the engagement or the reception here, and every photograph has three centuries of craftsmanship behind it.

Lawns for up to 500 guests. When the sun goes down, the house is lit up and becomes the backdrop for the whole evening.

Check your date
Carved arches on the veranda, lit at night Curtains of warm fairy lights hung from trees A brass urli with floating flowers and oil lamps A decorated stage with marigold strings and brass lamps The veranda lined with lamps at night

Film, ad & photo shoots

A period set that doesn't need building.

Real teak, real laterite, real age. The house gives production designers a genuine 18th-century tharavad, inside and out, with Kerala's backwaters and paddy fields a few minutes away.

Already on screen

Inside the house
A hall with carved wooden panels and a timber ceiling
Carved teak halls
A steep wooden staircase rising through a panelled room
Original wooden staircase
A long dining table in a wood-ceilinged hall
The long dining hall
The arched front veranda lit at night across the courtyard
Arched verandas, day or night
Black and white photograph of the full facade
Two-storey facade & lawns
A fisherman in a canoe on the backwaters
Backwaters nearby

Made for

Feature films and series, ad films, music videos, fashion and editorial shoots, and pre-wedding photography.

Easy for crews

Twenty kilometres from Kochi, so crews can stay in the city and travel in each morning. Bring caravans for make-up, wardrobe and rest; the house has no rooms set aside for crew use.

Talk to the family

Send us your dates, crew size and the scenes you have in mind. We'll set up a recce and work through power, parking and access with your line producer.

Request a recce
The tharavad in daylight, seen across the lawn

The House

Once home to a minister of Travancore.

This tharavad was bought by Thachil Mathoo Tharakan (1741–1814), Commerce Minister to Maharaja Balarama Varma of Travancore, and has been in the family ever since. It first stood in Alleppey; later its main portion was taken down, timber by timber, and raised again here in Ezhupunna.

Across Kerala, houses like this are being torn down or modernised. Very few keep their original character. The Tharakan brothers, John, George, Thomas and Hormis, look after this one so it stands for the next century too. Opening it for weddings and films is part of how it lives on.

"Reading about the tharavad is knowledge. Living in it is pleasure."
The front of the house lit up at night

Good to know

Bring the caravans.

The tharavad is still the family's home, so its rooms aren't available for overnight stays or as changing or green rooms. Wedding parties and film crews bring caravans for getting ready, make-up and rest.

Tell us how many you're planning when you enquire, and we'll work out the arrangements with you.

Getting here

Ezhupunna, between Kochi and Alleppey

The house sits in a quiet village of churches, temples, canals and coir work, about 20 km south of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry and 40 km north of Alleppey.

Puthenveetil Parayil
Ezhupunna, Alappuzha District
Kerala, India
Open in Google Maps →

Enquire

Tell us what you're planning.

Rates depend on the date, the size of the gathering and what you need, so we quote each event and shoot individually. Send us the details and a member of the family will get back to you.