Masterpiece (2017 film)

Masterpiece is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language action crime thriller film directed by Ajai Vasudev and written by Udayakrishna.[2] It stars Mammootty in the lead role, alongside Unni Mukundan, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Mukesh, Gokul Suresh, Maqbool Salmaan and John Kaippallil.

Masterpiece
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAjai Vasudev
Written byUdaykrishna
Produced byC. H. Muhammed
StarringMammootty
Unni Mukundan
Varalaxmi Sarathkumar
Mukesh
Maqbool Salmaan
John Kaippallil
CinematographyVinod Illampally
Edited byJohnkutty
Music byDeepak Dev
Production
company
Royal Cinemas
Distributed byU. K. Studios
Release date
  • 21 December 2017 (2017-12-21)
[1]
Running time
160 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Principal photography began on 17 April 2017 at the Fatima Mata National College, Kollam and was completed by the end of November in Kochi. Deepak Dev composed the music for the film, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Vinod Illampally and Johnkutty.[3]

Masterpiece was released on 21 December 2017 and became a commercial success at the box office.

Plot

In Travancore college in Kerala, two student groups named Real Fighters and Royal Warriors always quarrel over various issues. Simultaneously, a new student named Vedika joins their college and the groups war over who will win her over. When Vedika says she is in a relationship with Unnikrishnan, who is meek and introverted, the Real Fighters make Unnikrishnan a member of the group and asks him to reciprocate Vedika's feelings. One night, Unni is caught by police for drinking and driving, although he is released later without any charges. Vedika is found dead behind the men's hostel of the college, her father Shivanandan, a politician urges the police to find the killer at any cost.

The police under ACP John Thekkan IPS begin their investigation. Later, the investigation leads to Unnikrishnan, who received the last phone call from Vedika before her death. John Thekkan arrests Unnikrishnan forcefully and questions him. Later Unnikrishnan is found dead inside the police interrogation room. This leads to a quarrel between the police and the students in which John Thekken gets seriously injured and hospitalised. In his absence, The investigation is handed over to ACP Bhavani Durga. At the same time, a person named Edward Livingston aka Eddy joins the college as the new professor in English literature.

The ACP orders to arrest Roshan, who is the leader of Royal Warriors. This is because according to an evidence the murderer is observed to be nearly 6-ft tall and Roshan has a similar physique. This leads to yet another dispute between the police and the campus and the police is prevented by the Home minister from entering the campus. Professor Cherian, who is the college vice principal and also Roshan's father talks to Edward about his life as a divorcee. He tells Eddy that Roshan is innocent as he was at his mother's house at the night the murder happened. In a meeting between the police and campus, Eddy talks to the officials that the students are not responsible for the murder and also that the police is responsible for Unnikrishnan's death.

After few days, Shivanandan sends his goons to the college so that the suspected students can be handed over to police. But Eddy intervenes and thrashes the goons. He also unites the two student groups and fight them together. Later, new men are appointed in the college as workers in various department fields. Eddy closely watches their body language and understands that they are police officers. He warns the students not to leave the campus at any cost. Despite his warning, Roshan and his friends leave to attend a wedding reception, wherein they are spotted by the police. John Thekkan, who is back on duty apprehends them and gets hold of Roshan, while his friends escape. Roshan is taken to a hideout, but Eddy and team tracks them and saves Roshan.

Eddy and the students promise to the police and media that they will find out the murderers of Vedika and Unnikrishnan within 10 days. Eddy asks Roshan to reunite his parents, who have been separated, which he does. Roshan's friend Mahesh tells the team that his girlfriend Ramlath is being forced by her family for an alliance which she doesn't like. He goes to meet Ramlath, but is arrested by police and Ramlath is taken to custody by SI Ramachandran, who is John Thekkan's close friend. Ramlath is forcefully taken to his guest house where Eddy saves her by defeating Ramachandran. Eddy finds out that it was John Thekkan, who murdered Vedika and later instructed Ramachandran to murder Unnikrishnan.

John had a grudge against Vedika as she along with her Ramlath discovered John Thekkan's illegal relationship with Minister Seethalakshmi, who is the wife of a deceased politician Krishnadas. It is revealed that Krishnadas was murdered by Thekkan and Ramachandran when he found out his wife's extramarital relationship with Thekkan, who was raised by him. Ramlath who understood all these informed Vedika about the same and Vedika, who wanted to inform Unni about the incident was kidnapped and killed by Thekkan and Ramachandran. Unnikrishnan was arrested on purpose and was killed as Thekkan understood Unni had known certain facts about Vedika's death. After Ramachandran reveals all these to the public, he is shot and killed by Thekkan who tries to escape, but Eddy overpowers and kills Thekkan with his pistol.

Later, Cherian along with Roshan and Mahesh leave for the police station to see Eddy. However, they are shocked to see that the real Edward Livingston, eager on knowing about Eddy's identity, Cherian and students learn that Edward Livingstone is himself revealed to be an IPS officer named Anto Antony from the Central Home Department and also that the police disguised as workers in the college, were actually his teammates.

Cast

Production

Development

In October 2016, Uday Krishna stated that his next screenplay, features Mammootty as a lecturer and would be directed by Ajai Vasudev, and it would be set at the backdrop of a college campus.[4] The film was announced in February 2017 at a ceremony held in Dubai by producer C. H. Muhammed as his debut production venture.[5] In July 2017, film's title was confirmed as Masterpiece.[6] According to Ajay Vasudev, the plot is "something happens in the college and that's what Masterpiece is all about."[7]

Casting

By February 2017, actors Mukesh, Maqbool Salmaan, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Arjun Nandhakumar, Kailash, and John Kaipallil were confirmed to be in cast,[5] while Unni Mukundan was hired by Ajai Vasudev to an important role, though he had not officially signed at the time. Mukesh was reported to appear in a role of vice principal at the college, while Unni Mukundan's character was confirmed to be not a student. Regarding the character of Mammootty, Ajai Vasudev said, "He plays a strict college professor who doesn't mollycoddle his students, a rough and tough character with a short temper. The characterisation is very much on the lines of the larger-than-life roles."[8] After the character was just described by Ajai to Mammootty, he liked it very much and himself chose the appearance and developed the characteristics.[9][7]

In April 2017, Gokul Suresh[10] Maqbool Salmaan, John Kaippallil[11] and Santhosh Pandit were confirmed in prominent roles.[12] Pandit allotted one month date.[13] In the same month, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar,[14] Poonam Bajwa and Mahima Nambiar was confirmed in the female leads.[15] According to Ajai Vasudev, "All three actresses have important roles in the film."[15] Uday Krishna revealed that Varalaxmi would play an IPS officer Bhavani Durga and Poonam Bajwa a lecturer.[11] None of the actresses is as a love interest for the hero, as the plot lacks such a thread.[7] Captain Raju also plays a role.[16]

Filming

The principal photography was commenced on 17 April 2017.[10] Unni Mukundan joined on that day.[17] The films's action was coordinated by 6 stunt coordinators—Kanal Kannan, Stunt Shiva, Stunt Silva, Jolly Bastin ,Siruthai Ganesh and Mafia Sasi, to minimize the similar pattern of stunts in the film.[9][18] Set in Kollam city, film's first schedule was shot at the Fatima Mata National College. Mammootty joined on 10 May.[19] Fight scenes were filmed at the college in 12 days.[9] Poonam Bajwa was part of the college scenes.[20] Second schedule began in early July, shot mainly at a location in Calicut.[21][22] Mammootty rode a Harley-Davidson Street motorcycle for a scene that was shot on a day in late August.[23] Final schedule of filming began in November and Mammootty's action scenes were shot in Kochi in three days. Then the team moved again to Kollam where a five days filming was planned.[24] Filming concluded in November end in Kochi, with some crucial scenes in the movie shot there in final days.[25] Filming took place in more than 115 days.[18]

Soundtrack
  1. "Master of the Masses" - Jack Styles
  2. "Madhu Mozhi" - Madhu Balakrishnan
  3. "Mylanchi" - Jassie Gift, Chorus
  4. "Wake Up" - Jyotsna, Haricharan
  5. "Dinam Dinam" - Rony Philip
  6. "Kaalam Poyeettum" - Jassie Gift
  7. "Mele (Promo Song)" - P. M. Shan

Release

The film was released on 21 December 2017.[1] On the release it was dubbed in Tamil as Perasiriyar Chanakyan and it was released in 2019 in Tamilnadu. It was also dubbed in Hindi as Dashing Jigarwala 2. The satellite rights of that version were sold to Mazhavil Manorama, while the Tamil dubbed version was premiered on Polimer TV on the day of the Pongal festival. The satellite rights to the Hindi dubbed version were sold to Star Gold. The film also has a Kannada dubbed version under the title Professor. In 2021, It was also dubbed and released in Telugu as Great Shankar.

Reception

Critical reception

Masterpiece received mixed reviews from critics.

Sify rated 3 out of 5 stars and concluded the film as a masala entertainer.[26] Deepa Soman of The Times of India gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Masterpiece falls flat at many areas and sadly lacks the kick of a commercial, festival release. The so-called mass scenes are aplenty but they aren’t entertainingly impactful enough for a film with a runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes."[27] Behindwoods gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Masterpiece is a typical thriller. Mammooty's fans will find it more entertaining." The Hindu cited that the film is an excuse for hero (Mammootty) worship.[28] The Indian Express went on to say that the film is yet another wrong decision by Mammootty.[29]

Box office

The film was a commercial success and became the first-ever Mollywood movie to be dubbed in Russian.[30][31][32] Masterpiece had a release in UAE/GCC regions on January 4, 2017. Reportedly, the movie released in 68 screens across UAE/GCC and the Mammootty starrer was off to a flying start. There are also reports that Masterpiece has crossed the 2K shows count at UAE/GCC regions.[33] The film collected ₹5.11 crore from its first day and ₹13.54 crore from 3 days from Kerala box office.[34] The film collected ₹5 crore from Tamil Nadu box office, which made it highest grossing Malayalam film in Tamil Nadu, which was broken by Kurup in 2021.[35] It is running in 103 screens and has crossed the 13k shows mark in the theatres. The film collected around ₹40 crore from worldwide box office in its final run.[6]

References
  1. "Masterpiece teaser with Mammootty in new avatar will release this month". Malayala Manorama. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  2. Madhu, Vignesh (21 December 2021). "Masterpiece Review: A typical mass entertainer". onlookersmedia. Retrieved 22 November 2022. The film has all the necessary ingredients of a mass masala entertainer
  3. Jayaram, Deepika (14 August 2017). "Ajai Vasudev's Mammootty starrer titled Masterpiece". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  4. Sidhardhan, Sanjith (27 October 2016). "Mammootty plays a college lecturer again". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  5. Kavil, Sadiq (23 February 2017). "Udayakrishna with Mammootty Film after Pulimurugan". Malayala Manorama. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  6. "Masterpiece motion poster released". Kerala Kaumudi. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  7. Meera Suresh (25 November 2017). "Mammootty's 'Professor Eddy' packs a punch in Masterpiece". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  8. Sanjith Sidhardhan (27 February 2017). "Unni Mukundan to reunite with Mammootty, this time for a campus thriller". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  9. Varghese, Robin T. (16 December 2017). "മമ്മൂക്ക തന്നെയാണ് ആ ലുക്ക് കണ്ടെത്തിയത്; അജയ് വാസുദേവ്". Malayala Manorama. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  10. "Gokul Suresh to team up with Mammootty". Deccan Chronicle. 14 April 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  11. Sidharthan, Sanjith (26 April 2017). "Varalaxmi and Unni Mukundan are police officers in Mammootty's next". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  12. "This is how netizens reacted to Santhosh Pandit teaming up with Mammootty in Ajai Vasudev's movie". International Business Times. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  13. "Santhosh Pandit to act in a Mammootty film!". Mathrubhumi. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  14. "Mammootty, Varalaxmi to team up again?". Asianet Newsable. Asianet News. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  15. Deepa Soman (18 April 2017). "Poonam Bajwa Mahima Nambiar join Mammootty's next film". The Times of India. Times of India. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  16. Madhavan, Anusree (13 November 2017). "Captain Raju on Nadodikkatu film". Mathrubhumi. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  17. Jayaram, Deepika (27 April 2017). "Unni Mukundan starts shooting for Ajai Vasudevan's Mammootty starrer". The Times of India. Times of India. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  18. "Mammootty to surprise fans with a stylish entry in 'Masterpiece'". Mathrubhumi. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  19. "This is Mammootty's look in the Ajai Vasudev movie". IB Times. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  20. Thomas, Elizabeth (13 December 2017). "Enjoying the big screen comfort". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  21. "Second phase of Masterpiece begins". Kerala Kaumudi. 8 July 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  22. Sidhardhan, Sanjith (9 July 2017). "Mammootty resumes shooting for Masterpiece in Kozhikode". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  23. Prakash, Asha (31 August 2017). "Mammootty does a Harley". The Times of India. The Times of India. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  24. "Mammootty's Fight in Kochi". Kerala Kaumudi. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  25. "Masterpiece shooting completed". Malayala Manorama. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  26. "Masterpiece review: Has its moments here and there". Sify. 21 December 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017.
  27. "Masterpiece Review {2.5/5}: Masterpiece falls flat at many areas and sadly lacks the kick of a commercial, festival release". The Times of India. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  28. Praveen, S. R. (22 December 2017). "'Masterpiece' review: excuse for hero worship". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  29. "Masterpiece movie review: The title of this Mammootty starrer is a misnomer". Indian Express. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  30. "Mammootty and director Ajai Vasudev to team up for the third time". The News Minute. 28 June 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  31. "This Mammootty film becomes the first-ever Mollywood movie to be dubbed in Russian". International Business Times. 31 May 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  32. "Mammootty-Ajai Vasudev film is titled 'Shylock'". The News Minute. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  33. "Three biggies starring Mammootty announced". The News Minute. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  34. "Box office collection: Masterpiece tops chart, beating Aadu 2, Mayaanadhi, Vimaanam, Aana Alaralodalaral". International Business Times. 30 December 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  35. Menon, Akhila R (23 November 2021). "Kurup Box Office 11 Days Report: Beats Masterpiece & Pulimurugan With Tamil Nadu Collections". Filmibeat. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
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