August 15 Movie Review : Death of a director and writer

There was a time when nearly every film of director Shaji Kailash was pronounced a blockbuster even before it released. He was among the most successful filmmakers in Malayalam Cinema especially in the 90’s. With a plethora of hits like Thalasthanam, Ekalavyan, Commissioner, The King, Aaram Thamburan, Narasimham, Shaji was indeed in demand among producers for a long time. S.N.Swamy is another well-known name in the history of Malayalam Cinema. Swamy has been the screenwriter for blockbuster movies like the CBI Diarykurippu Series, Irupatham Nootrandu, Moonam Mura, August 1, Naduvazhikal etc. So when Shaji Kailash and S.N.Swamy came up with a plan to work on the sequel to August 1, a popular action-thriller directed by Sibi Malayil, written by S.N.Swamy himself and starring Mammootty in the lead, it must have sounded so wonderful right?

Well the answer is a yes and a no. Yes because it would have been great to see all these big names unite and deliver an interesting sequel to a wonderful movie. But it’s also a no because of late both Shaji Kailash and S.N.Swamy seem to have kind of lost their magic touch. Shaji Kailash without his firebrand writers- Renji Panicker and Ranjithhas been feeling handicapped and his recent misadventures like Drona 2010, Red Chillies, Sound of Boot, Ali Bhaietc have only gone on to illustrate the same. Same is the case with S.N.Swamy when you compare his recent works like Janakan, Sagar Alias Jacky, Rahasya Police, Positive etc. Added to this is the fact that August 1 was a taut action-thriller based on the popular book, The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth ( which also generated a movie of the same name based on it ).

Anyways due to the love for August 1, the faith in Mammootty , the unstinted hope that Shaji and Swamy would pull it off and also for the fact that I had nothing else to watch over the weekend, I had no other go but to watch August 15. There’s nothing much in terms of the story/concept if case you have already seen August 1. The older movie dealt with a young CM thrust into power (Sukumaran) who through his work gets very popular with the people but also earns the wrath of his detractors who then decide to get him eliminated and take the help of a trained assassin (Capt.Raju) and its upto Dy.S.P Perumal ( Mammootty ) to solve all the knots and bring the story to an interesting climax. The film was an adrenaline rush and proved to be very commercially successful too.

August 15 begins with the C.M of Kerala, V.G.Sadasivan (Nedumudi Venu trying hard to carry off as V.S.Achuthanandan) suffering a cardiac arrest, throwing the official machinery into a state of chaos. It’s then discovered that the cardiac arrest wasn’t a natural occurrence and was probably induced by a poison administered somehow. This sends the top police brass into a tizzy and then the onus is on Perumal (Mammootty) once again to handle the case and look at solving the mystery in his own characteristic style. This in a nutshell friends is what the story is. To a casual observer who is not well versed with Malayalam Cinema or Kerala politics, the film is likely to just come across as a film, which though touted as an action- thriller, has hardly any thrills on offer.

But for someone who has been following Malayalam Cinema and/ or is well versed with Kerala Politics the pain is increased two-fold. Not only is the story a pale copy of the original, the treatment is amateurish and extremely archaic. The way events unfold so leisurely can even get on your nerves at times. The identity of the assassin and the people behind his entry is revealed very early into the film. With that being the case then enough care must have been taken to ensure that the audience is otherwise kept spellbound by what ensues after that. Sadly nothing like that happens. You can go out for a snack, a smoke ( if in a single screen ), to make that long call back to your girlfriend/boyfriend ( don’t even think of making this a date movie ) or whatever else you want to do and still come back and feel that you haven’t missed out on anything.

And what do you take out when you leave the auditorium after you finish the movie? Well most likely it would be the fact that the film actually tries to end up being a propaganda vehicle for the current LDF Government in Kerala. With constant references to the Communist Ideology, a top cop proud to be more of a “comrade” than a cop, references to the so called conflict between the present C.M and his party secretary and of course the constant back ground ‘lal salaam’ theme all go on to wear out your patience. When Sai Kumar is trying to talk about how it’s the party that’s more important than individuals and that he has only respect for the C.M, you can actually feel that the audience has had enough and the catcalls are justified. That in a nutshell summarizes what’s wrong with the movie.

What was Shaji Kailash thinking when he wanted to show the involvement of the Cyber-Cell in the film? Well the unit functions not like a smart, state of the art technical support wing of the police as it should be but rather as some cheap call-centre. The constant reference to Wikipedia while showing Mammootty researching about poison on the internet is also unknowingly funny.If there is anything worth talking about in the film then it is nothing other than the way Mammootty has been presented. He looks extremely fit and dashing and is very much the ideal cop as required for the role. But then does it mean that that you must continue to show him in slow motion shots throughout the film?

Siddique is decent but then he’s no match to Captain Raju in the older movie who really carried out the role of Gomes the assassin with a lot more panache. Among the supporting cast veterans like Madhu, Nedumudi Venu, Thalaivasal Vijay etc carry out their roles as usual. Lalu Alex is completely natural in the role of the ADGP who is jealous of his colleagues, but at some point of time even his antics begin to wear you out. There is no scope for romance in the movie (thankfully) and hence the two heroines – Shweta Menon and Meghana Raj have nothing much to do in the film. All said and done August 15 is another reminder that one if cannot match the heights of a landmark film ( forget exceeding it ) then its better not to tamper with it with a plan of making a sequel or a prequel. If their last few movies weren’t enough then this one is more than enough to strongly suggest that Shaji Kailash and S.N.Swamy should gracefully retire and refrain from inflicting such films on us. What’s in store for them in the future? Only time will tell of course, till then lets wait and watch.

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/august-15-movie-review-death-of-a-director-and-writer/