Anarkali (2015 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anarkali
Anarkali film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySachy
Written bySachy
Produced byRajeev Nair
StarringPrithviraj Sukumaran
Biju Menon
CinematographySujith Vaassudev
Edited byRanjan Abraham
Music byVidyasagar
Production
company
Magic Moon Productions
Distributed byKalasangham Films
Kas & Right
Release date
  • 13 November 2015 (2015-11-13) (Kerala)
Running time
170 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Anarkali is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language romantic thriller film written and directed by Sachy and produced by Rajeev Nair. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Biju Menon with Priyal Gor, Miya, Sudev Nair, Kabir Bedi and Samskruthy Shenoy in supporting roles. The music was composed by Vidyasagar.[1][2] The plot follows Indian Navy officer Shanthanu who arrives at Kavaratti island.

Principal photography began in February 2015 and was shot mostly in Kavaratti, Bangaram and Agatti in Lakshadweep. Anarkali was released on 13 November 2015. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success.[3]

Plot[]

Shanthanu Varma, a former navy officer, pines over Nadira Imam, whom he loved 11 years ago. Since Nadira was a minor back then , he had to leave the Navy because of his affair with her. Presently, Shanthanu travels to Kavaratti, Lakshadweep to work as a deep diving inspector.

On reaching there, he meets Aatta Koya (Suresh Krishna) who was awaiting his arrival. During the checking procedure by the coastal police, a man is found to have fake documents. He escapes from the cops by jumping into the ocean. Shanthanu, on seeing this, jumps in and catches him. This turns out to be a planned mock drill called Gemini, conducted twice in a year.

Shanthanu's friend Zachariah works as the lighthouse operator at Kavaratti. When Shanthanu goes to meet him, Zachariah hides due to the past issues between them. But Shanthanu succeeds in finding him regardless. Seeing Zachariah's anguish in seeing him, Shanthanu reveals the real motto of his arrival to Kavaratti- to find Nadira's brother Naseeb Imam, who works at the naval base in Kavaratti. On hearing this, Zachariah gets triggered as Shanthanu is still not over Nadira. But Shanthanu consoles him to help him find Naseeb.

The movie cuts back to 11 years ago when Shanthanu and Zachariah were working in the navy. There he met Nadira and fell in love with her, who was his commanding and flag officer Jaffer Imam's daughter. Jaffer finds out about their relationship and strictly refuses the affair. They were presented at the naval court, where Shanthanu comes to know that Nadira was a minor. But Nadira was firm in her decision of being in a relationship with Shanthanu. She says that she will prove their love to everyone after being a major. These words surprised Shanthanu as he didn't expect that. Shanthanu and Zachariah were dismissed.

Lakshadweep being an island, a helicopter takes off to the city from there ,once a week. When Shanthanu and Zachariah go to the helicopter, they meet the man who pretended to be a thief when Shanthanu first came to Kavaratti. He says that he is going to Kochi. On his departure, Shanthanu feels something strange. He checks the man's identity and gets shocked when he finds out that he was Naseeb. He feels helpless as his final hope of meeting Nadira went in vain.

Then he narrates what happened after 5 years . For the first few years Shanthanu and Nadira keep in touch through recorded CDs, which Jaffer eventually finds out and prevents her from sending.They lose all contact but till date Shanthanu is awaiting her, and so is she.

Coming back to present times, Shanthanu is telling his story to everyone in Kavaratti.All of them sympathize with him. They tell him that they will help him find her. After some days Naseeb comes back and meets Shanthanu. He informs him that Nadira is still waiting for him, but she left home due to everyday fights with her father over his name.

Shanthanu wanted to meet her as soon as possible. So he decides to take the helicopter from there. But the helicopter could only be used for urgent purposes.So he and Zachariah come up with a plan where Shanthanu acts as if he is poisoned so that he can go to the city for medical care since the medical options available there were limited and didn't include modern equipment. For that, first the Kavaratti medical superintendent Dr. Sherin Mathew (Miya) has to confirm that he is in need of emergency medical attention. When taken to the hospital she confirms that he needs emergency medical care and he was immediately taken to the city along with Zachariah and Naseeb. On their way to Kochi, Shanthanu vomits blood, and Zachariah comes to know that he wasn't faking it. Zachariah panics and tell the pilot to reach their destination faster.

On reaching there, Shanthanu, in his half wake state sees Nadira waiting there for him crying as Naseeb already informed her. He is taken to the hospital where all his relatives, Nadira and Jaffer are waiting eagerly outside the ICU. Doctors inform them that he will be fine. He insists on meeting Nadira, and Jaffer allows her to be with him.

After some days they are shown to be together. They go to a religious place and a man over there says that their names had a strange yet blissful connection. Shanthanu was another name for Prince Salim and Nadira meant Anarkali alluding to the famous love story of Salim and Anarkali.

Cast[]

Production[]

Casting[]

Story of the film is based on two Naval officers, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Biju Menon in the Indian Navy. Bollywood actor Kabir Bedi was cast as Nadira's father, Jaffer Imam, who is a commanding officer of base hailing from Lucknow and Sachy said that both Kabir and Priyal would speak mostly in Hindi and English in the film.[4] Priyal Gor and Miya were signed for the lead female roles. While the former would play the main lead as Nadira Imam, teenage daughter of a Rear Admiral in the Indian Navy, the latter's role is that of a supporting character, Dr. Sherin Mathew, who works in Kavarathi.[4] Director Shyamaprasad was selected for a pivotal role and his character Commodore Madhavan Nair was said to be crucial to the film.[4] Samskruthy Shenoy was later chosen to portray Duvha, a "Pucca Muslim woman" from Lakshwadweep, who is a medical student who left her studies shy of 1 year, due to a love affair and works as a physician assistant.[5] Other supporting roles were given to directors Major Ravi, Renji Panicker and Madhupal. Sujith Vassudevv and Vidyasagar were signed as the cinematographer and music director, respectively.

Filming[]

The makers faced objection from the Sunni Students' Federation (SSF) against shooting the film in the Lakshadweep islands. The makers had permission to shoot the film in Agatti Island, Kavaratti, Bangaram Atoll, and Tinakkara Island in February 2015, however, a day before they were to reach the islands, the Lakshadweep administrator H. Rajesh Prasad revoked their permission informing that the SSF has filed a petition with him signed by the local Imam stating that "cinema is un-Islamic" and allowing to shoot would create communal issue. Sachy informed this to a senior official with the Ministry of Home Affairs, who called the administrator to Delhi and urged him to clear the permission and if there's a law and order issue then the central forces can be deployed. Permission was issued as soon as he reached the Island. Sachy recalled that most of the locals were in support of the shoot when they arrived Kavaratti. Nevertheless, he faced opposition when he had to shoot a crowd scene, as the islanders were Islamic followers they said their women are not to be featured in cinema.[6]

Soundtrack[]

Anarkali
Soundtrack album by
Vidyasagar
Released23 October 2015 (2015-10-23)
RecordedVarsha Vallaki Studios
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length23:14
LanguageMalayalam
LabelSatyam Audios
ProducerVidyasagar
Vidyasagar chronology
Eli
(2015) 		Anarkali
(2015) 		Uchathula Shiva
(2016)

The soundtrack was released on 23 October 2015 with songs composed by Vidyasagar and lyrics written by Rajeev Nair and Manoj Muntashir. The "over and over" song was written by Radhika Nair and composed by Sreevalsan J. Menon[7]

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Aa Oruthi"Vineeth Sreenivasan, Manjari4:20
2."Ee Thanutha"Karthik, Shweta Mohan4:09
3."Sahibaa"Hariharan4:41
4."Mohabbath (Hindi Version)"Shreya Ghoshal, Shadab Faridi Nizami5:22
5."Vaanam"K. S. Harisankar4:42
6."Over n' Over"Dominique Cerejo2:51
Total length:23:14

Release[]

Anarkali was released on 13 November 2015.

References[]

  1. ^ Anarkali debut attempt of Sachi with Prithviraj and Biju Menon in lead role – Malayalam News. Cochin Talkies (3 February 2015). Retrieved on 2016-01-19.
  2. ^ Anarkali Malayalam Movie Review, Rating, Box Office Report | Bollywood,Hollywood,Malayalam,Tamil,Telugu. Firstshowreview.com (9 June 2012). Retrieved on 2016-01-19.
  3. ^ Prithvi turns deep sea diver – Malayalam Movie News. Indiaglitz.com (3 February 2015). Retrieved on 2016-01-19.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Prithviraj turns deep sea diving instructor – Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (3 February 2015). Retrieved on 2016-01-19.
  5. ^ Samskruthy is a student in Anarkali – Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (2 April 2015). Retrieved on 2016-01-19.
  6. ^ Sebastian, Shevlin (20 July 2016). "Director Sachy's experience in his debut hit film 'Anarkali'". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Anarkali (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – EP – Vidyasagar – Apple – iTunes – Music". Apple – iTunes – Music. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""